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<\/a> 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 \ud83d\ude41 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am the tortoise*.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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*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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 … Continue reading us<\/s> me most of the fall, winter and spring.
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