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.......