Miles today: 15.3
Miles Total: 178.5
Hello! I hope this finds you well, and I hope you are feeling better than I am.
These past few days have been super rough. Terrible, actually. Let me start with the fact I had just brought bread and pears, put them in the same bag as my bananas, and 7.5km later (about an hour and fifteen minutes), I lost them.
That's not what made it so bad. As we were planning on making a spaghetti dinner that night, there ended up not being a kitchen in our Hostel. So as a back-up, I would have had bread and fruit for dinner, but I ended up having no food. Luckily, there's always a pilgrims menu, so I spent extra to get a Pilgrims Meal.
But today, today was, as I said, absolutely awful. My ankles have never hurt in this way before. It was a transitioning injury that moved from the arch of my foot, to my ankle, to my shins, to my knees. The pain would crawl up my left leg and jump to my right leg. Shifting from spurts of intense jaw-clinching pain to a smaller annoying aches. I have experienced pain far worse than this, however the pain has never endured for so long (every step for about seven hours).
Every step of my 25km (17 mile) day, both yesterday and today, I would cry out in my head and my heart, asking the same question, 'why'? I will go off tangent real quick and say, I do not know why I kept walking. My body screamed 'no' and yet my feet continued to move. And eventually, I made it to the hostel! I felt an over-joyous victory in finding myself on a bed, off my feet. I shed a few tears, found myself angry, upset, and annoyed at myself because I could do nothing about this pain. Although sports taught me how to deal with pain and move past the hurt, I had never trained my mind to get over the emotions that come with enduring injuries.
I now know that I have strength, both physically and mentally to surpass the conditions my body places on me. Even though tomorrow will be hard, I know I can make it. I know that if I must slow down and listen to my body, I can, because walking is no race. I can make it a race, but what do I learn? Who can I talk to? No one and nothing. I have learned to slow down and take in the small pleasures, because when you lose sight of happiness, everything becomes dark.
On a happier note, we made it to Burgos. It is a huge city, we walked near two-thirds of our trek on hard pavement. After waking on dirt and rocky-muddy paths, pavement is hard. The pounding of feet is so much different than my home in nature. There was advertisements, loud cars, continuous streams of busy people. I don't think I like it that much. The modern houses, (apartments), many shops and pubs. It was crazy!
When we went to go buy snacks and lunch for our next day, the supermarket was the size of Wal-Mart's food selection, but there was sooo much food! It was like heaven came down and rained upon us nectar and ambrosia. The Cornucopia didn't know it should stop, and the fountain of youth gave us gifts of soda, juice, milk, and tea. Anything you could ask for, it was there. Except peanut butter. I am going home and eating peanut butter by the spoonful.
We found a hamburger place with fries and a frozen yogurt place around the corner. It was a great day after walking. Now it is nearly ten and I wish to say more, but tomorrow will be a hot trek through the Meseta, or the desert.
P.S. I have a neighbor who is Darth Vader! (He uses the power of the force to annoy others with his snoring...)
Please count your blessings! I have been forgetting to count mine!
Mims
Special thanks for the day go to:
Harold and Ruth Westlund, Grace Kyser (Nomey), John Overton
Thanks as well to our mile sponsors!
Patrick March, Janine Russell, Richard Metzler, Marsha Goodsell, Pat and Harvey Kirpatrick
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