Over half way there..............

Personal trainer & I started our walk at 7.15 this morning..........!
We woke up to a bit of a rainy morning & after talking to each other, we decided to try to do a walk and to see how the weather was as we went along, as the rain wasn't too bad & we were up bright & early. After all, it may be raining on the big night. I'm really glad we did as the rain stopped during our third mile.
We looked quite funny, waterproofs on & even a cap, so I guess we looked the part of a serious (mad maybe!) walker! It was also quite windy & on occasions, quite hard to walk. As the miles went by, we decided to try for at least a ten miler. It was going very well, we were keeping up a good pace & Tracey then said the immortal words....shall we do the ten & then carry on along Trimley High Road & do a 14 miler.........??
Oh.
Well, we originally started our training, all those weeks ago, with 6 milers along that straight road, so in a way, it made sense to use it to extend our distance as we knew all the mile markers. I knew we would be ready to do the 14 but I think it was a bit of a shock now that we were actually going to do it. It went well to begin with & I was fine to the 11th. But then I had a bit of a problem. During our walks I find that different parts of my body hurt at different stages, but for the first time, I found that ALL of my body hurt at the same time. I had hit my wall.
I know that I have mentioned about my mental battles before, but this was different. I really had to dig deep because that dreaded "I can't do this" thought came into my head for the first time. I told Tracey not to worry as I was ok really but didn't talk for a while. I had to think about all of the reasons why I am doing this & really concentrate on my walking. I felt very emotional at one point because I thought that if I couldn't do 14, there would be NO way I would manage the 26.2 miles. A very low point.
Getting to the 12 miles & turning back for the final 2 was such a good feeling though & I felt so much better knowing we were on the home straight. I decided to set myself little targets to reach instead of just the 13th mile & this really helped as the more targets I reached, the more I knew we were almost there. I managed to step it out & felt much better. I did the power walking arms for the whole walk today & I found this helped towards the end as you really do use your arms to push yourself along.
We did the 14 in 3 hours 12 & felt amazing.
I felt a real sense of achievement & I think that having that awful mile has helped me for future walks, having gone through it once, I CAN get through it again. Wow.
I really want to thank my very special personal trainer for today as she probably helped me more than she realised. At times, she stepped up the pace a little & that gave me the incentive to push on & at other times, she slowed just enough & that made me able to walk a little faster.
Thanks honey. You are a star & yes, maybe next time, we will carry on that "little" bit further & do the 16!!
xx