Following my unplanned Sunday outing, my joints were pretty hot and sore, knees especially, hips somewhat, and my foot pain was near the high end of its normal range. As I sometimes say, I can have this pain without doing anything....and I use that as justification both for doing, and not doing certain things - cunning eh?
So for a couple of days I'm moving noticeably awkwardly but by today, Wednesday, the joints are less painful, though there's some new muscle aches, but anyone would expect that. So a walk to the supermarket and back seems like a reasonable idea. Bit of a slow uncomfortable plod though!
After the weekend I researched the poles and the supports. Managed to find a pair of longer poles on eBay for £10.50 and decided on a pair of knee supports - they arrived today - impressive looking `items that are probably intended for weightlifters or something!
About Me
- andrewalking
- Walsall, West Midlands, United Kingdom
- Fifty-something male re-discovering walking!
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Getting Ready...
Things to think about then! Proper shoes, for a start off....and as a vegetarian of many, many years standing (not to mention the years sitting down!), of course I don't want leather...an ethical wares website has a pair that look as though they mean business and don't cost an arm and a leg (turns out they are made by Hi-Tec - I was aware they have a number of non-animal shoes in their range). In the course of reserching these I find out that the heels of shoes for running and for walking are quite different (one slopes out the other slopes in...I don't remember any more detail).
My brother (older) recommends I should get walking poles and tells me he got a pair for twenty quid, which doesn't sound too bad - chuffed to find a pair on ebay for a tenner. While I'm in this frame of mind I order replacements for my very well worn orthotic heel inserts and start thinking about supports for my joints - fairly sure my knees will need some, what about my ankles? And will the wrists want support holding the poles - no problem there as I already have two different types of wrist support which I use at work according tto the state of my joints, the job I'm doing etc. Decide my ankles will probably be ok and defer buying knee supports for the time being.
Better start doing a bit of walking then! Start with a walk round to the cash machine at the local supermarket and a loop round the back streets home. I like to think its over a mile, but probably its really only about half! Enough for the first week...
The following week when I have to fetch my prescription from the chemist, I walk up town and come back by a circuitous route - more circuitous than I intended in fact, as I don't really know where some of these roads lead, and it beomes apparent that I can't just take a right turn and find my own street. I actually don't really know where I am for a while, though I am pretty confident I haven't wandered into the next town and eventually I do work out where I am and which road will lead me home....at least 2.5 miles, surely?....well maybe not...
The shoes, poles etc. arrive and I arrange to go for a walk with the said older brother at a local country park. The weather's great - bright and dry, warm, but not too hot. Discover that the poles I bought don't extend to the same length as his - can this be right? They do seem to help and are fairly comfortable to use, but by about two thirds round the route, I am thinking I would want wrist supports - speculating whether I could use them with my most robust supports which have a kind of splint in them.
By the end of the walk, I have definitely had enough for one day. I ask my brother how far we've done and he says he thinks its about two miles. Two miles! I'm thinking - four times that on June 6th! I would have sworn it must be more than three....
Still there's time to build up. We'll do another walk next week, maybe a little further.
But I don't have to wait that long. The reason I'm supporting Walsall Samaritans is that I'm a volunteer there. I get a message that one of the volunteers due on duty that day is stranded overseas due to the Icelandic volcano that shut down most of Europe's airways. Trouble is we're not quite sure what shift that volunteer is booked on, and can't contact the one person who can tell us. Eventually I decide to go over to the Centre to try and sort things out. My partner is out in the car, so I walk up town to get a bus....which I miss by just a few minutes. There's an hour before the next one, but if I start to walk, I'm sure that other buses join the route further on. This proves to be true, but studying the timetables at each stop, it always seems to be at least 40 minutes till the next one (I am puzzled by three buses that pass me between stops, which don't seem to correspond with any listed times). Eventually I walk all the way and arrive 10 minutes before the expatriate volunteer would have been on duty, so am able to take their place. My joints are really protesting by now....convinced that must be 4.5 miles, tell myself well its probably only 3 or three and a half.....so I suppose its just 2.5 then! Oh well...
My brother (older) recommends I should get walking poles and tells me he got a pair for twenty quid, which doesn't sound too bad - chuffed to find a pair on ebay for a tenner. While I'm in this frame of mind I order replacements for my very well worn orthotic heel inserts and start thinking about supports for my joints - fairly sure my knees will need some, what about my ankles? And will the wrists want support holding the poles - no problem there as I already have two different types of wrist support which I use at work according tto the state of my joints, the job I'm doing etc. Decide my ankles will probably be ok and defer buying knee supports for the time being.
Better start doing a bit of walking then! Start with a walk round to the cash machine at the local supermarket and a loop round the back streets home. I like to think its over a mile, but probably its really only about half! Enough for the first week...
The following week when I have to fetch my prescription from the chemist, I walk up town and come back by a circuitous route - more circuitous than I intended in fact, as I don't really know where some of these roads lead, and it beomes apparent that I can't just take a right turn and find my own street. I actually don't really know where I am for a while, though I am pretty confident I haven't wandered into the next town and eventually I do work out where I am and which road will lead me home....at least 2.5 miles, surely?....well maybe not...
The shoes, poles etc. arrive and I arrange to go for a walk with the said older brother at a local country park. The weather's great - bright and dry, warm, but not too hot. Discover that the poles I bought don't extend to the same length as his - can this be right? They do seem to help and are fairly comfortable to use, but by about two thirds round the route, I am thinking I would want wrist supports - speculating whether I could use them with my most robust supports which have a kind of splint in them.
By the end of the walk, I have definitely had enough for one day. I ask my brother how far we've done and he says he thinks its about two miles. Two miles! I'm thinking - four times that on June 6th! I would have sworn it must be more than three....
Still there's time to build up. We'll do another walk next week, maybe a little further.
But I don't have to wait that long. The reason I'm supporting Walsall Samaritans is that I'm a volunteer there. I get a message that one of the volunteers due on duty that day is stranded overseas due to the Icelandic volcano that shut down most of Europe's airways. Trouble is we're not quite sure what shift that volunteer is booked on, and can't contact the one person who can tell us. Eventually I decide to go over to the Centre to try and sort things out. My partner is out in the car, so I walk up town to get a bus....which I miss by just a few minutes. There's an hour before the next one, but if I start to walk, I'm sure that other buses join the route further on. This proves to be true, but studying the timetables at each stop, it always seems to be at least 40 minutes till the next one (I am puzzled by three buses that pass me between stops, which don't seem to correspond with any listed times). Eventually I walk all the way and arrive 10 minutes before the expatriate volunteer would have been on duty, so am able to take their place. My joints are really protesting by now....convinced that must be 4.5 miles, tell myself well its probably only 3 or three and a half.....so I suppose its just 2.5 then! Oh well...
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Unexpectedly, without really planning to, I found myself agreeing to take place in an 8.5 mile Fun Run. Fortunately there was an option to enter as a walker - running would really be out of the question for me!
The walk is called the Great Midlands Fun Run and is taking place in Sutton Coldfield on June 6th (a Sunday) for what I think is something like the eighth year running (pun unavoidable - sorry!).
I'm one of a group of two dozen or so participants who are taking part to support Walsall & District branch of Samaritans. It's a voluntary organisation that totally depends of fundraising and donations so getting sponsorrship is important to all the Walsall Sams Fun-Runners and Walkers!
Agreeing to take part set me a few things to think about - like the 8 miles more than the 0.5 miles I might normally walk.
Now, I have done a sponsored walk before - many years ago, when I was a mere secondary school pupil (about 13 I guess) I walked 24 (yes 24!) miles and raise something like 30s. - it was that long ago, old shillings - 30 shillings being about £1.50 in todays money, but worth a whole lot more of course - people sponsored you for things like a penny a mile in those days....
And over the years I've done my share of walking - a memorable walk from Durham to Newcastle on Tyne, having missed the last train comes to mind - but that was in my youth, as was the walk from Bloxwich to Rugeley - I can't remember why I did that, must have had time to fill. And in my younger adult years lots of walking on holiday etc. of a more sensible kind - public footpaths in scenic areas and so on.
But the thing is, over the past few years, my various body parts, especially those involved in the ambulatory arts, have complained so much that I've virtually stopped walking anywhere, or in fact much at all that involves bearing my weight on my limbs.
So what to do - no way out now - I've started collecting sponsor money - I was amazed how quickly and geneously people responded when I sent out messages to some of my Facebook friends with a link to my fundraising page http://www.everyclick.com/andrew-walkingforsamaritans and then there's the paper sponsorship form that some people have signed up to...
The walk is called the Great Midlands Fun Run and is taking place in Sutton Coldfield on June 6th (a Sunday) for what I think is something like the eighth year running (pun unavoidable - sorry!).
I'm one of a group of two dozen or so participants who are taking part to support Walsall & District branch of Samaritans. It's a voluntary organisation that totally depends of fundraising and donations so getting sponsorrship is important to all the Walsall Sams Fun-Runners and Walkers!
Agreeing to take part set me a few things to think about - like the 8 miles more than the 0.5 miles I might normally walk.
Now, I have done a sponsored walk before - many years ago, when I was a mere secondary school pupil (about 13 I guess) I walked 24 (yes 24!) miles and raise something like 30s. - it was that long ago, old shillings - 30 shillings being about £1.50 in todays money, but worth a whole lot more of course - people sponsored you for things like a penny a mile in those days....
And over the years I've done my share of walking - a memorable walk from Durham to Newcastle on Tyne, having missed the last train comes to mind - but that was in my youth, as was the walk from Bloxwich to Rugeley - I can't remember why I did that, must have had time to fill. And in my younger adult years lots of walking on holiday etc. of a more sensible kind - public footpaths in scenic areas and so on.
But the thing is, over the past few years, my various body parts, especially those involved in the ambulatory arts, have complained so much that I've virtually stopped walking anywhere, or in fact much at all that involves bearing my weight on my limbs.
So what to do - no way out now - I've started collecting sponsor money - I was amazed how quickly and geneously people responded when I sent out messages to some of my Facebook friends with a link to my fundraising page http://www.everyclick.com/andrew-walkingforsamaritans and then there's the paper sponsorship form that some people have signed up to...
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