I, The Hare, look out of my window in Cambridge and watch the rain pouring down. My thoughts: "Shit. This is NOT what they had forecast! Pleeeeeeeease don't let it rain in Edinburgh tonight!"
On the train and on my way up to Edinburgh, my stomach was a little jittery and full of butterflies! Have I packed everything I need? Yes. I think so: the lit of essentials specified by Walk the Walk (see previous blog entry by Tortoise), marking to do on the train (the joys of teaching never end) and UBER comfy socks for the train ride home. Check.
After a bit the rain stopped, but the temperature has dropped and a bitterly cold wind has picked up. At 5pm I was wearing 2 tops, a thick fleece and still feeling the cold! "Pleeeeeeeeeease don't let it be this cold tonight!" I text Tortoise with this news to pre-warn her; her reply: "It's so hot in Edinburgh I'm sunbathing!" THANK YOU WEATHER-GOD!!
I got to Edinburgh at 9.30pm and catch a taxi to the start point in Inverleith Park. I'm not sure whether the butterflies are from nerves or excitement at the Mission looming ever closer: This is it, weeks of preparation, feeble in comparison to Tortoise’s dedicated fitness regime... will it be enough?
Walking into the park, my eyes were attacked by a sea of pink! It was like a massive bomb has exploded pink everywhere! There was a HUGE pink tent with lots of pink people and lots of pink decor inside. There are thousands of pink people wandering around, with a general buzz of excitement in the air. "How on earth am I going to find the Tortoise?"
After a phonecall, directions, lots of waving, I finally caught her eye. We met with an excited hug & squeal, before deciding what clothes we were going to wear: is a fleece too much/not enough? How about a cardigan? Should the cape be worn? (YES!) We dropped off my bag, met up with the Tortoise’s sister (who was volunteering) and chattered excitedly.
...Then the excitement set in... for the Tortoise at least! After insisting we sparkle ourselves up, both COVERED in silver glitter, Tortoise morphed into Tigger, bouncing around insisting I take pictures of her next to big Walk the Walk feet, and join her in a 'jumping' picture. After several failed attempts at this I had to put my foot down: no more jumping shots, or poses, just a nice, normal picture please!!
Before we knew it, midnight was upon us and the moonwalking began! I knew I would feel tired, but I hadn't really considered that the first 10 miles (which normally I don't think twice about) were quite hard, as my body couldn't understand why at 2am it wasn't in bed, but walking around in a bra... I don't think it helped that we walked around Arthur's Seat in the dark: before I knew it, Tortoise had set up a 'Yawn fine" (although at 1p a yawn, I thought that was a little low!) even for me. I felt much better when we walked back through the city, all lit up in, you guessed it, PINK!
We first stopped for a loo break at the 10 mile mark: a fatal mistake. The queue took 20 minutes, and in that time our leg muscles had stiffened up and it took AGES to warm them up again. A good excuse to eat a Mars bar though :-)
By the 13 mile mark, at about 4 am, we were both feeling the tiredness, and despite walking along the coast with beautiful views, we switched on the ipods: a bit of music & a steady beat to keep us going! Our second loo break at 18 miles, this time 30 minutes! For me this was more fatal than before. When we set off to walk again my knee began to play up again after twisting it during previous training (see earlier blog for details). While I could walk, I could tell it wasn't right, and I was a little concerned that there was still another 8 miles to go.
But NO WAY was I going to give up! I was walking this marathon even if I had to limp, hop or crawl it!! We kept going and at quite a pace! By 20 miles I was really struggling. My knee still hurt, but even worse was an all-encompassing full-body exhaustion. Every step was hard work, and still 6 miles to go! Until this point I had set the pace, but now it was Tortoise who was plodding on ahead. I felt I had to keep up, as I didn't want to slow her down. Slow and steady wins the race: had I burnt out too early?
By this point we had both fallen silent. I knew the Tortoise was tired, but I was amazed at how steadily she persevered. There I was moaning away about my knee and the tiredness, struggling with every step, but Tortoise quietly and confidently just kept marching on, with little sign of exhaustion affecting her!
At the 22 mile I needed to slow down, and did for a short while, but still the Tortoise plodded on, not a single pause in her steady march, so quickly I made myself pick up the pace again.
Needless to say those final 6 miles were a killer! For me it was pure willpower that kept me going. I cannot reiterate how proud I was at how Tortoise kept going, without uttering a single complaint or showing any signs of weakening: it was only in the final mile when I felt the excitement of nearly finishing that Tortoise began to weaken. While I felt an urge to 'sprint finish', Tortoise was just not able to. Fair enough: after 25 miles of PURE AMAZINGNESS I could forgive Tortoise keeping the pace slow now.
At 8.40am two weary walkers crossed the finish line. No sense of joy or elation as you expect to see in any winner; just pure exhaustion felt by both. After a half-hearted smile at the camera, and a weary celebratory hug, we crawled our way towards the food stalls. Tortoise tucked into a sausage sandwich, but the thought of food made me feel queasy. There was only one thing I'd been craving for the last 3 hours: CAFFEINE!! I bought what can only be described as the worst cup of tea EVER, but my God it was AMAZING! Tea had never been so fully appreciated as it was then!
After sitting on the grass in the morning sun, we made one final loo stop, and caught a taxi to the train station. The journey back was hard work. I was so tired, I could no longer sleep. I ate croissants, made gentle conversation with the Tortoise, and enjoyed the comforts of 1st Class. I walked through my door at 3.30pm, having not slept since Saturday morning, and sat down on the sofa. I, somehow, stayed awake until 6.30pm, before sleeping for 15 hours straight!
I survived. Mission completed and no blisters and only minimal aching in my legs. It was a real challenge and I feel proud to have done it! One this is for sure: I could NOT have done this with anyone other than the Tortoise. While we had a few Wales-related-blips, I know that on the night if it had not been for her company and apparent strength, I strongly doubt I would have found the willpower to finish. So thank you, Tortoise. I would also like to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU for your friendship and all that comes with it (including the jumping, glitter, and crazy ideas!).
CONGRATULATIONS on completing the challenge, training so hard and losing so much weight! KEEP GOING! You may doubt at times whether your efforts have made a difference, but they truly have. YOU ARE AMAZING IN EVERY WAY!!!
Prologue:
So what’s next for the Hare and the Tortoise? Well, Tortoise is currently preparing for a 5K run, which we both agree is probably harder than walking a marathon for us! More importantly she has already started planning a second BIG mission, and I already know I will join her on it.
....but not yet, Girl On A Mission! Talk to me in a month's time when the ache in my legs has stopped, and the memories of the exhaustion have faded...
With love, Hare xxx
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