I walked a lot this year.

In January I signed up to walk 100 miles with the Pine Pacer Challenge at the Morton Arboretum. I managed 88 miles, finishing 100 miles mid-February. I decided to keep going and added another 60 miles by early April. Connie introduced me to The Conquerors website and we began a virtual walk across the South Island of New Zealand, the Alps-to-Ocean challenge. Early on I worried that couldn’t keep up with Connie’s walking pace and added biking to my routine. First trip out I fell and broke my wrist 🙁 Fortunately it wasn’t a bad break. I couldn’t ride anymore, but I could keep walking.

In mid-May, we decided that if we pushed a bit, we could finish our walk together when she and Larry visited Memorial Day weekend. We both walked 4-5 miles a day to be accomplish this just before the beginning of the parade in Oswego. 180 miles in 50 days. That was fun, though I paid a price with sore feet and a trip the podiatrist. New shoes seemed to solve the problem.

In June we started off on the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia, once again virtually. I decided that a steady three miles a day would accomplish my goal and quickly learned to get the first two miles in early before the heat of the day. I usually finished the last mile or so in the evening.

I did well through June and then my knee began to hurt. At first I tried walking through the pain but eventually that wasn’t possible. I visited Dr. O’Rourke who diagnosed patellar tendonitis and recommended rest, NSAIDs and quadricep strengthening.

Meanwhile, the hare plunged ahead, outdistancing me by about 20 miles!
This week, I started walking 1 mile each morning and evening.

I am the tortoise*.

A tortoise might be a good metaphor for my cancer treatment as well. Every 4 weeks I have labs drawn, visit my oncologist and get a Prolia injection. My numbers are staying steady month after month, which means my medications are still working to keep the cancer at bay and hemoglobin in the normal range. I was recently told I was a boring patient. That’s okay by me; tortoises are pretty boring too.

*I won’t achieve my Cabot Trail (186 miles) goal by the end of July as planned, but I am okay with that. In August I only have a 60 mile trail (Kilimanjaro) as my goal. After that we are going for the 480 mile Camino de Santiago, which I’m guessing will take us me most of the fall, winter and spring.