I have recovered from my swollen foot so decided to go for a walk yesterday.  I bullied my sister into coming as she is also doing the walk.  We started off and within about 5 minutes I got into second wind.  We had a nice walk into town and then looped back round.  It was a really nice day in Edinburgh, which I hadn;t prepared for.  Needless to say I now have a very burnt face, not a good look!  There were a lot of other moonwalkers out yesterday which was nice to see.  We did a good 12 miles yesterday and considering I have not been out walking for 2 weeks I was very pleased.

This is me and my sister Kim at the start of our walk. (Im on the right)

Well my plan for a 20 mile walk today got ruined yesterday when i was bending down and I had a contracture in my foot!  As the night went on my foot just got more and more swollen.  By the end of the night my foot was so swollen I couldn't put any weight on it and had to be helped up the stairs!
My foot is still very swollen this morning but I can hobble on it.  Its very frustrating but Im going to have to wait for the foot to go down a bit.
x

Its only 4 weeks to go until the walk and I can honestly say I am getting nervous!  I have been a bit lazy the last couple of weeks so when my car broke down I decided it would be a good idea to walk home one night after work.  I chose wednesday.  Scott dropped me off at the bus stop on his way to the golf (yes I am a golf widow!) I had a 25 minute wait on the bus so decided that I would walk the 2 miles from where he dropped me off into work.  It was ok and didn't take me too long.  After a full days work I got changed and did some stretching before setting off.  It was a really nice warm afternoon, maybe a little too warm.  As I started off I could feel my legs were sore and I needed to stop.  This was after about 100 yards so I knew it was going to be a struggle already.  I was walking on a flat, good surface but every 50 steps or so I felt the need to stop.  Its very difficult for non-McArdles people to understand how we feel but my legs were so heavy I felt I could not take another step.  I felt like I was bearly able to lift my head or breathe.  Im glad I am able to write this post as most of my training has been fairly straight forward.

As I say I was stopping every 50 steps or so just trying to get into second wind.  I almost stopped at the bus stop and got my money out but I plodded on knowing that this feeling would pass and I would get into second wind.  I have not felt like that for a while and I found myself doing something which I have tried very hard not to do - everytime I stoppped I got my mobile phone out so it looked like I was stopping to read something.  I couldn't believe I was doing it, I was back to being embarrassed.  I know that the people speeding past me were probably not even looking at me but I felt like a fool stopping all the time, especially when I was all geared up and looked like I should have been running not stopping every two seconds.  I have tried very hard to get over this embarrassment and I really thought I was there but obviously old habits die hard.  Since walking with the group last year in Wales (if anyone is thinking of doing it you really should it was fantastic) I thought I had moved on a bit and could proudly stop if I need to.  I guess I need to work a little harder on that!

I kept going and eventually got into second wind.  This probably took around 15 minutes.  Its amazing how different your body feels when you are in second wind.  My legs felt lighter and it was not a continuous fight to keep going.  I think because I had been working for 8 and a half hours and it was a it warm I needed an energy boost as I just didn't feel quite right.  I always carry some jelly sweets so I had them and felt a lot better almost instantly.  The route I decided to take home is quite hilly.  I found this very difficult and struggled getting in to second wind on the hills.  I was heading towards Edinburgh City Centre and walked through Morningside and into Bruntsfield.  I had a quick stop in at Coco Chocolate to say hi to my manager and then onwards to town.  I decided to cut through Holyrood Park and then I gave in and got on a bus.  All in all I managed 9 miles plus the 2 I had done in the morning.

Im hoping to go out on Sunday for a long walk so fingers crossed.  I think its definately better for me to walk first thing in the morning after breakfast so I think from now on I will be sticking to that.  The countdown really is on.

xx

Not long finished a 17.53 mile walk.  Im pretty exhausted!  It was a very cold and windy walk.  It felt like the wind was constantly blowing in my face.  I almost didnt't go out today as I just was not in the mood but I really had to push myself to go out as I have had a very lazy week.  I walked into the city centre and did a loop back round through Portobello and Musselburgh.  I almost got on the bus numerous times and very nearly cut the route shorter but I had a word with myself and pushed on.  I was walking through Leith Links minding my own business when I got smacked on the leg with a football. I bas bare legged from the knee down and it was cold so I can only describe it as being a stinger.  Im pretty sure its going to leave a mark!  I decided to walk on and not even look back to keep my dignity! If the ball had been closer I would have kicked it back and aimed for his face, instead I just walked on pretending nothing had happened and trying not to look at my calf with the ball imprint on it.  All in all I cant say I enjoyed the walk today but its another few miles added.  My legs hurt already so I know the next few days Im going to be hobbling around.

xx

I did a little 8 mile walk this morning, I never thought I would be saying that!  I didn't really feel like doing a big one today as I was working yesterday, myself and Mary were doing two chocolate schools yesterday.  Yes you can come and learn how to make chocolate with us!  Its quite a tiring day so I was pretty tired.  I thought I would have a nice long lie in this morning but couldn't sleep past 8.30 so decided to get up and go for a walk.  I actually really enjoyed it.  I felt very good and it only took me 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I made sure I stretched properly when I came back and its amazing the difference it makes.  Feeling a bit more confident this week.  I need to try and do a long one sometime this week but I have a busy week coming up and finding the time is hard.
Just a little shout out to Scott's auntie Heather who ran the London Marathon today.  Amazing.  She was doing it for Alzheimers Society so well done to her.

xx

Oh also just to say thanks very much for all the comments I really appreciate it.  I hope everyone is enjoying the blog.  Andrew is passing on any facebook comments as I am not on there so they are gettign to me. 

xx

Well folks I have bettered my walk of 13 miles last week with one of 15 miles yesterday.  Alison and I decided we should go for a long walk together to get some practise in.  I met Ali at the top of Leith Walk, this is a stones throw away from the centre of Edinburgh.  We then walked down to the bottom of Leith and along Seafield towards Portobello.  The sewage works are along the seafield route which made us walk slightly faster due to the smell!!  We walked along the promenade at Portobello and then onto Joppa and a straight road to the little town called Musselburgh (an old fishing town with a harbour, hence its name).  The first part of our walk was pretty cold and windy, especially along the prom.  There was a lot of sand blowing in our faces and the waves were crashing.  As we walked in Musselburgh we could really feel the heat of the sun and I wished I had brought some sun cream (im a little red in the face today!).  We were both feeling ok at this point and as we got to the end of Musselburgh racecourse we swung back round and started the journey home.  I think its always at this point that psychologically I start to think its almost over!  I tried really hard yesterday not to do this though.  We wlked a slightly different route back and walked the top road, parallel to where we had been.  We gave ourselves a target of reaching the chip shop before having a boost (chocolate bar) and then ate them like mad women when we reached there.  Just after we had eaten the boost and were crossing a little side road Alison got really bad cramp in her calf and was hopping about like a mad woman trying to get on the pavement!  I know its cruel but I got the complete giggles.  I managed to tell her how to stretch off her calf through the giggling though so Im not completely awful.  We were about 4 miles from home at this point so it was not looking good.  Alison managed to stretch it and carry on though.  We had many discussions about how bad we were feeling and how we couldn't possibly think of doing anothe 11 miles when we would reach our destination.  We alos discussed whether once we have done all our training are we going to get to the point where we dont feel bad until the 20th mile or so.  Through the pain neither of us could see it! 

Alison is now cursing the day she said yes to my proposal of doing this moonwalk.  We were both at the stage where stopping was not really an option in case we got cramp so we were trying to time every road crossing to happen at exactly the time the green man came on or when there was no traffic and we could cross.  We did well at this and the relief was huge when we could see our end point.  All we could manage at the end of the walk was a high five and a bye with no stopping.  I got to the car and had a stretch (6 second rule obviously!) before climbing in and driving home.  I sat down to relax and did a good stretch a couple of hours later.  During the rest of the night I decided to keep stretching and I think that really helped.

All in all I dont feel too bad today.  I have a little stiffness and Im a bit sore but Alison is feeling exactly the same.  Its usually a couple fo days later that are worse for me so I will see how tomorrow goes!  So a good weekend in general, and my football team beat the champions to go into the final of the scottish cup where we will play our local rivals Hibs.

xx