After a grueling 27 days with no rest, I finally made it back to the comfort of my own home. I’m sat here now, relaxed in my living room writing this with no immediate agenda to get back up again. It’s nice.
This is just a quick overview of my experience out there; what I’m describing as an odd combination of Forest Gump and a hobbits journey.
I’ll start by answering a couple of FAQ’s I’ve had already. Firstly, I’d like to think that the time I completed this in will finally put an end to people calling it “my walk”. I averaged around 40 miles a day; just try walking that in a day! I did do a lot of walking obviously; I’m only human. I would estimate that I ran for approximately 60% of the time, which equates to about 80% of the distance. My running patterns and pace changed (slowed) a lot over the 4 weeks.
Did I enjoy it? Yes, a great deal. I spent most of my time in pain and feeling like death, but I did actually enjoy myself. I am either a sucker for punishment, or I really enjoyed the experience of travelling and meeting new people.
And that really was the key; all of the people I met along the way were all fantastic and so supportive; particularly at the later stages where I could no longer hide the pain in my face. Everyone was so good to me; it really puts some faith back in humanity.
How much weight did you lose? Quite a lot, about a stone I think. To be expected of course, but just to be clear, this was not due to lack of eating and I’m not in a rush to put it all back. Contrary to popular belief, I ate really well on route for the most point. However, running and walking for 10-12 hours of every day without a rest is eventually going to have an effect on muscle mass and body fat. Although I personally don’t think I’ve done too badly out of it.
And finally: Would you do it again? No.
My next update (coming shortly) will be a slightly more detailed account of my route, and a day by day learning curve through mistakes and perpetual stupidity. Watch this space!
