10 Things I Learnt Today

1. I have the best husband in the world...happy to get up at 5 am (even with man flu) to drive me down to London in time for the start of my half-marathon, then battle for almost 2 hours with London Saturday afternoon traffic to collect me again afterwards.
2. Most people are good at heart...like the random strangers who came up to us to make donations as we walked past and the pub landlord who gave us all free lunch.
3. Then, unfortunately, there are the toe rags who find it entertaining to vandalise and destroy the course marking signs, thereby sending some of us off track, and having to go an extra mile.
4. Even after all these years, I still “connect” on so many levels with some of the people I went to school with, who were on the walk today.
5. I can walk 13.1 miles (21.1 km) in well under 4 hours.
6. Walking 13.1 miles in under 4 hours gives me hip and knee pain worse than anything I’ve ever experienced (not even the 10 hour trek in the Alps left me in this bad a state!).
7. I have a ridiculous tendency to plan for every scenario...meaning I lugged a 10 kg backpack along those 13.1 miles as I thought I may need a fleece, spare socks, rain jacket, first aid kit, 8 (!) cereal bars and 2 litres of water when in reality it was warm enough to wear just a tee shirt, the rain held off, water was handed out at various points along the route and I only ate one cereal bar.
8. Lucozade lite (electrolyte replacement drink) is the Elixir of Energy and is possibly the only reason I made it through the last 2 miles.
9. This evening, I’m doing a pretty good imitation of John Wayne’s famous walk.
10.  I have nothing but deep admiration for those brave souls who completed 26.2 miles today.

These boots have walked!