Sponsored by
Best foot forward for charity
WALKING, walking, and walking. I'm walking again and today nearly did for me.
Last year, you may recall, I entered for "The Moon Walk" - 26 miles of madness all through the night in aid of Breast Cancer.
While I was walking I swore I would never do it again. It was fine for the first while, and then the agony set in.
The problem was I hadn't really trained properly. I joined up with only a couple of weeks to go and thought myself a pretty efficient walker.
Boy was I wrong! Ten miles in your legs does not fit you for 26.5 miles of non-stop walking. I was determined to finish and conked out the minute I got home and could not speak to anyone for hours.
The next day I felt like a mermaid. I don't know who belonged to my legs but it certainly wasn't me! My toes were curled up and I felt as if I was about ninety five and not doing very well on it!
Then a funny thing happened. A few days after the walk the benefits kicked in. I felt fine again, in fact I felt fantastic. I wanted to run and skip and dance with well being. I wasn't expecting that.
I also thought of all the girls who were going through the whole breast cancer experience and who were not feeling 100% and wouldn't for a while and possibly never.
My lovely friend Marian, who loved my Moon Walk stories and was the reason I walked it in the first place, died in July and I miss her sorely. So when it was decided that the Moon Walk would be taking place in Edinburgh again this summer, I put my name down.
I do think it's a good thing to do something constructive with grief. I can only be sad for so long, then I get fed up with being sad, and want to do something.
This time I'm going to do it properly. I have got proper shoes and socks, I am not going to a Ball the night before, I am going to eat the right food and drink enough water.
Finally, I am going to put in enough practice miles. You'll probably start seeing lots of ladies pounding the pavements soon, as I already know of lots of people in Angus who have entered.
Getting the miles into the legs is a challenge. The Moon Walk website is helpful. It lays out a fitness programme to be followed, which should ensure fitness on the night.
The other thing that I have bought is a pedometer. This is the best toy I've had in a long time. It counts the number of steps you take, tells you the number of miles you've walked, but best of all it tells you the number of calories you have used up. I love that bit.
Today I walked for about 14 miles. That meant I took about 22,000 steps and used up about 600 calories. So no restrictions at tea time for me!
To tell the truth, I love walking. I notice so much more. I hear birdsong and streams flowing. I see little paths and lanes that had previously gone unnoticed, and it is just such a simple and free thing to do.
Thoughts can run freely too. Sometimes I think about all the other things I could be doing, but then I think that I happily waste three hours in front of the TV. Walking doesn't seem like such a waste of time then, and the telly time is used for the unfinished tasks.
Sometimes I think of times when the only way to get from A to B was to walk. What about the people in Africa and India who think nothing about walking 15 miles to school or church, or just to fetch water?
Perhaps they have to carry a sick child to a hospital. No waste of time then, and infinitely harder than my small gestures.
At other times, the thinking is creative or productive; a problem gets solved, a solution is found, a story is remembered, a memory is cherished. You can laugh or cry, sing or shout, listen to tapes or just meditate. Bliss.
My husband and I once walked the West Highland Way. We still say it was one our best holidays ever. Sometimes we talked for hours about children, housing, parents, world affairs or pets. Other times we were just companionably silent.
At others we sang our way through our complete repertoire of songs, or reminded each other of favourite films, TV programmes, stories and jokes.
In retrospect, the best bit about it was that the phone didn't ring and there was no question of wondering what to do next. Putting one foot in front of the other was the task, getting to the next B&B was the target, eating a huge meal for energy and sleeping the sleep of the just for rest.
Simple pleasures all of them, but wonderful memories in the bank. I know walking is not everyone's cup of tea, but for me it is the ideal way of keeping fit, mentally physically and spiritually. Very New Age! Very old-fashioned!
- Jo Middlemiss is a Personal Life Coach, living and working in Edzell. If you would like to sponsor her for the Breast Cancer Moon Walk you can contact her on (01356) 648 329. Every penny goes to research into breast cancer, which is experienced by one woman in ten.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Brechin
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
