I posted here a few weeks ago for vibes before the 50 mile, 3 day MS Challenge Walk I was doing on the Cape. Thanks so much to those to gave me good vibes. I wrote a recap on my blog about it with pics but here's an abbreviated version on the event from Sept 3-5.
Thursday night--we headed down, checked in, got fun swag (MS society buff--which was awesome and fun to wear), went to Olive Garden for carbs. I wanted to meet my fundraising goal and was $400 away so I sent out a last minute plea on FB and promised strangers on Twitter to do weird things for donations and exceeded my goal. Weird things included dressing up like a puppy and doing yoga poses and jumping around in weird places wearing my MS buff. I exceeded my goal for a total of $1600 raised for MS!
Friday--I was tired because I had bad stomach cramps all night. Met up with the rest of the team (6 in total). My stomach revolted against me before the walk. By Mile 2 I had full blown (emphasis on the blown) GI distress. It was 80 something degrees and I had 20 miles to walk. Worried about dehydration and not wanting to blow up every porta-potty, I took some Immodium from a stranger who saved my life. Hydrated throughout the day and finally my belly stabilized with water, bananas and diluted Gatorade. Finished 20 miles strong with a couple small blisters, tight hip flexors, and slight heat rash under my knee brace. Soaked our feet, got 15 min massages (free), and had my blisters drained and bandaged by a podiatrist in the medical tent. A couple people were taken to the ER for dehydration that day.
Saturday--Hot hot hot. It was close to 90 degrees and about 1000000% humidity. Hobbled a bit during another 20 miles. Hydrated like crazy. I was peeing so much my teammates were getting annoyed. One of our teammates who didn't train had very bad tendonitis and the medical staff pulled her from the walk fearing her tendons might rupture. More blisters, including one that popped while walking which was nasty, more heat rash from my knee brace, ended up jogging a bit to give my hip flexors a break. Ended with foot soaks, massages, blister draining (filled up a whole syringe!), and a candle ceremony which was really beautiful.
Sunday--Woke up hobbling again. It rained a bit in the morning but it was just spitting by the time we started walking. Finished the last 10 miles strong with the team without my knee brace because the heat rash was too painful. The easiest day mentally but physically it was rough.
The Walk was set up great--mostly along the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Rest stops with snacks, water, gatorade, medical staff, toilets were every 2-4 miles. The bike support team was always going by to cheer us on, offer help, give us mileage stats, play music, etc. I got a massage on Monday that left me bruised as all hell. Had trouble walking for a couple of days, nothing too bad. My feet were swollen for days and blisters are still healing weeks later. I had blisters within blisters within blisters.
It was an awesome experience and I will totally do it again next year. Thanks for the vibes and support!
buffaloeggs.blogspot.com 2016 Races: Hop Hop Half Marathon 2:05:09 Pac Crest Half Ironman 7:13:40 9/10 Aluminum Man Oly Tri 11/27 Space Coast Half Marathon