Four down....how many more???

Four toenails have now dropped off...how many more d'ya reckon will? Those that remain have had several coats of silver nail polish to help stick them in place, but if they're gonna go, then they're gonna go!
I had my finger nails done today and I casually asked if I would get a discount for only 3/4's of a pedicure, the nail technician just stared at me in a sad sort of way..(it may have been that she was Chinese and didn't understand me)..no sense of humour!

 - I did also mention on facebook that I was going to make a necklace with my four toenails...again....you lot have no sense of humour...as if I would.....

Life appears to be back to normal nearly a month on from the 'big race', I'm back at the gym regularly, and apart from the toenails, nothing else has dropped off!
I met SS yesterday for our usual Wednesday workout, mainly treadmill and weights. For a change I did a hill climb and this felt great rather than plodding on the flat. Today, as I had the morning off, I again went to the gym, and did a bit more cardio.
It was great to do a bit more hill climbing (accompanied by The Killers), some cross-training and some rowing, and again a circuit of weights.
Whilst there I did see a notice for 'Boxing Circuits' so might investigate that further as it sounds interesting!! And might help me keep Chris in order......

SS  and I haven't got anything planned, and that worries me a little.......I need something planned to keep me training......no goal and I find it easy to slow down a little!! In previous blogs I have said I'm not doing anything as daft as 85 miles again...but it would be nice to have something to aim for.....a few shiny medals for some marathons might be good....

It's  also quiet at home at the moment as 'the lodger' has now moved into his own new lodgings, and took 'lodger number two' with him.
'Lodger number two' you might ask.....was a friend of 'lodger number one' who came to stay but got the dates wrong....( yes, I know calendars came out with the Romans, but he was from 'up North' and knew 'nowt') and ended up lodging with us for a week as well. Actually, as a point of interest...well, to me anyway....he is the only student I have ever met who is soooooo anti-vegetarian it's untrue, I was tempted to put a carrot on his plate just to see what would happen......
Anyways, 'the lodger' has been back a couple of times for his tea...not sure whether its for the stimulating conversation regarding my toenails, or my cooking skills......I think I washed my hands after fiddling with my feet.........

Back on track!

Three weeks on..and I made it to the gym!! It was great to see SS, so that I could hit her hard for making me do the centurion race!!

I was a little dubious about being there, I was desperate to start exercising again, (and I think the family wanted me to run off some of my bad mood!) but I was a little worried that it might actually hurt...so it was with some trepidation that I stepped on to the treadmill - in my shiny new asics I might add!!

I wasn't actually certain what I would be able to do, so started off with a low incline power walk, which felt OK, nothing fell off, so I pushed the speed up, and up, and up until I was running, and that hurt a bit, so I dropped down again and stuck with power walking for 25 minutes, until I thought 'what the heck' and sprinted for the last 5 minutes which actually felt OK by then.....or did until I stopped and then I was very wobbly!!

My feet, which everyone expects me to be suffering with, especially as I have lost 3 toenails, don't bother me at all, but currently I am ready for bilateral hip replacements and a knee replacement!!
Anyways, as I was in the gym, I thought I might as well get my moneys worth, so SS and I did a circuit of weights too. I always worry that without exercise I am going to slip backwards quickly, as it is surprising how quickly muscle tone disappears, but I was able to lift the same weights as 'pre Surrey' so 'resting on my laurels' wasn't quite as damaging as I was envisioning....perhaps the donuts were though as my shorts were a tad tight......

Saturday morning was a 'walk free' morning. Chris had organised a BBQ and 'sleepover' with the youth group kids, but due to our typically British weather the sleepover didn't happen....I had already mentioned to SS that I couldn't walk.....I suppose that I could have phoned her Friday evening and  said plans had changed......but....well.....no excuse really...I wanted a lie in!!

I did however go to the gym Saturday.....I was sooooooo stiff Thursday and Friday that the word 'GYM' was not a nice word but by Saturday I felt good enough to go again and was able to do a lot more -

30 mins run treadmill
10 mins X trainer
5 mins rowing (1000 metres in 5.02 seconds - is this good or not, as I don't really have any idea, I know I can do it a bit quicker, but what should it be???? )and then a circuit of weights, and this felt good, definitely back on track!!

So good in fact, that I took the dogs out when I got home. Poor Chris has been chief dog walker for the past 3 weeks as I've been out of action, but as I'm now able to get to the gym, I can't really expect him to carry on!!
Mali, Golda and I headed up to Greenham common, and had a run, we only did the small loop ( the look on Mali's face was a real "is that it??" sort of look,) but it was enough for Golda and me, and as I said, I feel back on track......

Not that back on track though, that I said yes to SS when she asked if I wanted to do the 'Humber Hell' or the 'Death March' walks with her......mmmmmm, the names sort of give it away a little........!!!

Toenails.....

Two weeks ago, at the end of my 'big race' I was quite proud of the fact that I had all ten toenails, especially as SS had lost one of hers.....but, alas, I am now down to eight.....do you think I would get a reduced rate pedicure???

It's amazing the bits of you that drop off or wear out when you race walk....my right knee is still aching like crazy, I have done as I was told by the consultant and rested for a fortnight, (to be honest I couldn't do anything else!!) but even now I still feel tired and know that I did too much.....but how long does it take to recover??

Sitting still for too long and you get stiff and lose muscle tone....training too soon and you damage muscle fibre.....plus, I'm getting 'twitchy'...I'm getting to that stage where I really need to be 'doing something'. So...the consultant said two weeks.....it's two and a half on Wednesday...so I'm going to meet SS at the gym and try a little jog on the treadmill and see how it goes........I might need a week off afterwards, I might be fine....at any rate, it's about time we had a Costas....hey, I might be twitchy due to the caffeine withdrawal...

I am also very keen to try my new trainers!! I bought them last week, when my feet were still a tad swollen, so haven't actually tried them on yet......they are my faithful friends, good old asics 1160's.....it's a bit sad...but I keep taking them out of the box to look at them...see, I definately need to get out more.....

I would like to say that I had used my two weeks of non-training wisely...that I had caught up with jobs around the home.....sorted my South Africa photos.....read my new book on Nelson Mandela..but I haven't....I've been pooped - I've worked, come home, cooked tea, and been in bed by 8pm.

 The most productive thing I have done is cut my toenails, and now, as mentioned, two of those, alas, are no more.......

Bemused...

Today I was given £20 sponsor money....not for the walk I did, but for saying that I was 'done' with long distance race walks......and even though people have said 'well done' for what I did, more people are impressed that I'm not doing it any more and are glad that I've 'seen sense'.....does anyone else find that a bit odd or is it just me??!!

Yes, I know my distances have been a bit extreme, but that's where the word 'challenge' comes in.....no-ones going to cough up a fiver for something that's easy are they......everyone bungee jumps..... or 'races for life'......how many can you name that have walked 85 miles (in one go, and not SAS!) for charity eh?!

But I am surprised how many people out there have thought that I am mental over the years....but haven't told me...apart from my brother Tim (nice bit on your blog, thanks bro - www.challengemenace.blogspot
)who is always questioning my psychological well being, and suggesting that I take up cycling.....??

Talking of exercise...I haven't been able to do anything...absolutely zilch....my leg is still extremely painful, the swelling has subsided but the muscle cramps/spasms which seem to extend from my right butt cheek all the way down to my calf muscle are excruciating! Normally I would have put my trainers on and 'run the knots' out, but at the moment I am very wary of causing more damage to the muscle fibres...this, unfortunately, doesn't help ones 'ambience' either.......I NEED to run for my sanity ( and for the sanity of those around me!!) - it keeps me sane, it releases the endorphins, those little 'happy hormones' that stop me snapping at people......(Chris, read this as an apology, it's as good as you're gonna get!!!)

Anyways, I might be a nutcase, but with gift aid, it's nearly £700 for Happy's, I think that was worth an achey leg

Done....

I can't believe it's a week since I last added a post...I could say it's taken me this long to find the time to sit and type, but in all honesty, its taken me this long to be able to climb the stairs to the attic to retrieve my computer.....

No....I didn't finish the hundred miles.

Disappointed? a little. I felt that I had really trained for this race, and to be honest, if I had  trained any more I don't think that  I could of improved my timings or distance...and I think it's also a case of how much you 'want' something. If I'm being honest, I was really narked when SS sped off into the distance on the first lap, but that is the difference between us, she has the hunger for the prize, I want to finish a race preferably not dead!
So, well done to my friend SS, who not only completed the 100 miles, but is also now a member of the elite Centurion Club and has the number 1094.
Me, I walked for a solid 23 hours and 55 minutes and covered a distance of 85 miles, without stopping once, OK, I did go to the loo  but that doesn't really count.

Did I enjoy it? The camaraderie is awesome each time you pass the checkpoint which comes around every 1.92 km, here you are handed drinks and encouraged to have snacks (if anyone offers me a fairy cake ever again I shall heave) but I found it a very lonely, boring walk...particularly at night. At midnight the temperature dropped, a mist came up and there was a spooky silence. I'm convinced I started hallucinating as I kept picking my feet up thinking I was stepping over boxes or rabbits....so did I enjoy it....no...not really.
What kept me going was knowing that I was doing this for the kids at Happy's and that it wasn't about me. When I felt low I turned my iPod on and listened to my Zulu music...I reminded myself how fortunate I was that I had two legs and I was walking....and I kept telling myself I was done...this was the last big race.......

2PM on Sunday came, and as said I had literally walked my feet off doing 85 miles, it was great seeing Chris at the finish line as there was no way I could have found my way home, SS decided on another night at The Marriott Hotel - which, incidentally, if you are ever at Lingfield Park, is a super duper hotel!( have the scrambled eggs for breakfast -yummy!)

Once home, the damage was assessed, and apart from 2 blisters (biggies) one to my Rt big toe, and one to my Lt 2nd toe, my feet felt fine, I even had a full complement of toenails-woohoo- what was causing me a problem was my Rt calf muscle and thigh which was so cramped I didn't know what to do. By the end of a mornings work on Tuesday, my calf felt like it was going to explode!

Being in the right place, I asked a colleague to have a look.....even though I knew I wasn't a risk for a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) I was showing all the clinical features - shiny swollen calf, cold numb toes, cramp, pain.....so to err on the side of caution I had a blood test to test for something called a d-dimer which can be an indicator of something going on......normal comes back as a reading under 500......mine was 1616.......uh oh!!

So.. heparin injection into the stomach.... and off to the hospital for a scan, especially with the history that I had recently flown to and from South Africa which is also a risk factor for DVT....

Anyway, a happy ending....the scan revealed no blood clots...the consultant told me that severe trauma had obviously raised my d-dimer levels and that I was a 'bit of an idiot' to walk 85 miles in one day, she did however soften when I said it was for charity.(could have given me a fiver for said charity...)
So, home, with instructions to 'elevate to reduce swelling' and 'mobilise as able' but I suppose not at the same time??
The pain is incredible...so it's taught me another lesson that some people, probably those wheelchair-bound kids at Happy's ,experience this limb rigidity and spasticity all the time,` and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Will I race walk again? I've promised SS I will do the 50th Ridgeway40 with her next May, and yes I will, 40 miles is a piece of cake (!!!), but for anything longer, I am definitely done...I have nothing to prove, but want my legs to last a lot longer.

I have always said that running is easier, and as I enjoy that I will do more of it, especially as Mali is good company.......don't worry SS, I will still do the Gym on a Wed and will still walk on a Saturday, you can't keep the Costa's out of a girl....I'll do all of that......as soon as I can bend down to get my trainers back on.......