More of Our “Walking” Story

I could begin my “Walking Story” much the same way Thurland did.

1956  - 1995 I was “younger” and could keep in decent shape naturally, without much effort. I was the busy mother of four girls, and a bunch of foster kids and a couple day care kids.

Here is where we differ...

1995 - 2010  for me  got even busier as I ran a full time Day Care in my home. No problem to stay fit when you are lifting kids constantly, running after them, pushing them in strollers, while at the same time pulling a wagon load.

Unfortunately all that lifting took its toll on my back, which was not strong to begin with, after a serious injury back in 1985. So I had to retire from that busy life. Then the weight that was creeping up over the years was starting to creep a little faster.  I tried dieting. I tried walking. I even tried biking (but I spent the entire time wondering who was going to hit me from behind on the roads)  

It was about this time that Thurland got his “wake-up call” from the doctor. It not only changed his life. It changed mine! Up to this point I was trying to keep fit alone. He had no interest. Do you know how much easier it is to accomplish things “together”?  

We both read a book called “Younger Next Year” by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, MD. The basic lesson of the book was that you can “turn back your biological clock”.... and we did!  We started to feel younger than we had felt in quite a while.

I have this thing about falling down stairs. I used to do it constantly when I was a kid. Somehow as I get older I don’t do it so well anymore. It was in walking off the top of stairs that I broke my back. It was falling down stairs from our trailer, just three years ago, that broke my foot and badly sprained the other in one swoop.  So with these setbacks I am very grateful for the strength and abilities I have to be able to walk long distances and carry a back pack.  

We have enjoyed our walking adventures, as you can read on Thurland’s blog.  He didn’t mention a couple short hikes we did on the Appalachian Trail last summer. It takes 6 months to do the whole thing... not on my bucket list!  But to say we did part of it is cool.  We also hiked the back of Grand Manan Island a few times. What a beautiful place! (This blog photo is “the back of the island” Grand Manan)  The Fundy Footpath? Well, I really thought I was going to die out there, but I refused to give up, even when the opportunity came that I could.  We even did part of it again last year. I said my farewells to it that time. I am a walker, not a mountain climber! (Don’t know what possessed me to go back!!!) But I am proud to say I did it! (Third hardest trail in Canada...and that was our first hike! I do not advise other beginners to do it) 

The clock is ticking... the days are numbered... the biggest walking adventure is yet to come! 

Walking is not hard. You just put one foot in front of the other, again, and again, and again...  J

Happy walking!!

Our "Walking" Story ... so far. (A timeline)

- 1953 - 1995ish - I was "younger" and was able to keep in decent shape naturally, and without much effort.

- 1995ish - 2010ish - I had slipped into the habit of many people my age, and developed lazy eating and exercise habits.

- 2010 - the doctor said "diabetes".   I said "if you can handle this with diet and exercise, you'll never give me medication."  I began my diet changes immediately.

- The spring of 2011- the diabetes nurse and nutritionist said, "you should be walking at least 10,000 steps a day." I snorted coffee through my nose, and asked, "when would anybody find time to do that?"  Later that week I saw comic strip that said," how much time will you have when you're dead?"  Good point!

- May 2011- I started biking (because I still was not enamored with the idea of walking) and biked hard all summer, doing 30 km many days, 50 km a few days, 100 kilometers one day and some kilometers every day,  the biggest problem with this was that my wife didn't like biking at all and we wanted something to do together.

- fall 2011 - Lorraine and I started walking together and discovered that we enjoyed the walking ... and each others company. Almost immediately we began laying plans for walking vacations.

- Summer 2012 - began, and completed, the Fundy Footpath. (in the right-hand column of this blog, you should be able to find a link to a 20 minute video we put together of that experience.  (A word of caution here.  Believe the literature when it says that the Footpath is not a trail for beginners.)


- 2013 - I began logging my daily walks and walked 3200 km that year

- winter 2013 - we began to discuss the Camino de Santiago, and interestingly enough both of us felt compelled that we should do this. Almost immediately began making serious plans to that end.

- June 24, 2013 - on my 60th birthday I walked 60 km. (that's the day that I found out that 30 is no where near half of 60. LOL)

- June 21, 2014 - according to "our Camino Clock", we are 63 days from the beginning of the greatest adventure of our lives - at least since raising four daughters. That will be August 24, which is our 40th anniversary, and the day we have planned to leave Saint Jean Pied de Port,  head over the Pyrenees and walk across Spain.  The tickets are purchased. The sabbatical is arranged. The gear is in place. The boots are broken in. And we are ready to go. 

There's only one sad thing I can think of. We still have 63 days to wait.

The Other Half Speaks

The ‘other half’ does speak... though maybe less often J

“The Journey”, as we love to call our walk through life, is a journey we must all take.  Our journeys may be worlds apart in how they look from an on-looker point of view, but none the less, a journey it is!

I have journeyed with my wonderful husband for almost 40 years. He sometimes might have had to nudge me along, or out-right pull me, push me, drag me, to move me along in my journey J but most often he has walked beside me.  A better man would be hard to find.   When he did push or pull it was always because he knew I would thank him later. Thanks Babe! (I call him that when no one is around J )

About our Camino Journey , I have been asked several times, “Do you really want to do this?”  “Whose idea was this?” “Didn’t you see the movie?  Are you really going to do that?”  Here’s the answer.... with no pulling, pushing or dragging... I am going on this journey because I want to!   We are not really sure who first even mentioned the possibility that this was something we should do. It might have been me.  Either way, we are both being equally drawn to walking this walk, this journey, that I believe will be a life changing event for us.  Right now I do not even know what that means, but I am going to find out, be the good Lord willing.

Our "Hill of preparation"

This may not be the most exciting four and a half minute video that you ever watched, but it is a look at where Lorraine I do our preparation for climbing.  It is the only hill in Winchester, and since it's only a few minutes from our doorstep, we use it often.