The Walk

The first couple of miles were really quite surreal, walking along in the middle of the night surrounded by half dressed people. I scooted past quite a few people to start with as at the beginning I can easily do a 4 minute mile, so I got to see a lot of bras. All the way around Hyde Park and through Green Park and St James’ it was full of groups of people who obviously had people walking somewhere but there were clapping and cheering everyone on and everyone was in high spirits. I must admit, I got a little teary at this point as the enormity of what I had taken on hit me. I was going to spend the next 8 hours walking on my own (even though I was surrounded by people) tackling the hardest physical challenge I had ever attempted, at a time when I usually get tired and go to bed and I KNEW my feet were going to be ripped to shreds at the end of it. And the more people clapped, shouted my name (written across my front) and cheered me on, the more upset I got.

I also got a couple of texts from people on a craft forum I visit and from friends I had asked to text me, and I realised how many people were supporting me. I had to focus, and by the 3rd mile marker I had picked myself up and was ready for the challenge in front of me. By 4 miles, we started to pass people from the first group who were on their way back from the half moon – OMG!

As I came past the Cabinet War Rooms and out on to Parliament Square there was a huge bottle neck as we waited to cross the roads. I had to ring Steve and talk to him for the 10 minutes I was queuing as I really didn’t want to get dejected at this early stage. There were quite a few bottlenecks along the route, but none as bad as that one. Then we were past Big Ben and walking east along the Embankment, just like walking from the office to the station, except it was 1 in the morning and I was dressed in a bra. The amount of revellers who stopped to cheer us on, and horns that were honked, was really amazing. It really lifted my spirits, and even though there were a lot of drunk people around, there were no negative or leery comments, they just stood aside and clapped us on. It has restored my faith in people a little I have to say.

We walked along the river and could see some of the earlier groups making their way back along the other side, that was quite amusing. We then headed up towards Ludgate Hill and past St Pauls. The first toilets loomed but there was no way I was waiting in that queue! We headed up towards London Bridge and over it. I was little disappointed we didn’t walk over Tower Bridge, but there you go. We were then on the South Bank and walking all the way back down past the Tate Modern, the Globe, the SouthBank and the Eye etc. I found this section quite difficult actually, it was very busy and the paths were quite narrow, meaning I couldn't overtake anymore. I was glad I knew the route but I still had to look at the floor to avoid the bollards, dropped bottles and discards ponchos etc, and it made me feel quite dizzy. At mile marker 9 they started to split the full mooners from the half mooners and then on the far side of Westminster Bridge it all thinned out quite a bit. I did see one new sight though, Houses of Parliament with the lights off, the lights are all still on when I go home from work. I also had to laugh at one of the ladies at mile marker 9 who thanked us all for walking past her LOL

It was as I drew level with my office that I saw Diane up ahead so I sped up to catch her. As we walked past the London Fire Brigade lifeboat raft, they opened their 2 toilets up for us. We only had to queue for 5 minutes and it had loo roll. Yay to the firemen!

Then it was on and on along the south embankment, past MI6 and around the back of Battersea Power Station. We got in to Battersea park and they were giving out oranges and bananas. At this point we were between 11 and 12 miles along and I was starting to get a bit light headed and dizzy, this made me feel sick but I knew that if I didn’t eat anything I was going to get worse. I had rationed myself to half a mars bar every 6 miles, so I had that, and then a biscuit bar and my half a banana, a couple of energy sweets and a good gulp of water – even though we weren’t supposed to gulp it, and after an hour the dizziness went but the sickness stayed :-(

Then it was over Albert Bridge and in to Kensington and Chelsea. We walked along the Embankment for a while and passed the 13 mile marker – woohoo! I have to say that between 13 and 19 miles it was pretty uneventful, and I had been warned that this was the most difficult part of the walk. The chatter died away, it just wasn’t fun anymore, by this time it was gone 4 in the morning (exact details are already a little hazy) we were all tired, exhausted, my feet were getting really quite sore and the route was backwards and forwards through residential areas. I lost my bearings of where we were and apart from Harrods and the Albert Memorial, we didn’t pass many ‘sights’. One highlight was the two drunk lads around 15 miles who proceeded to stand either side of the walkers, shouting our names out and making us hi-five them.

At 16 miles me and Diane both put our ipods on. We just had nothing left to say so Scott Mills filled the conversation gap. At 18 miles we stopped for toilets and I popped a couple of blisters and changed my right socks, my left foot was sore but not too sore so I didn’t want to take my trainer off. If I had, I would have seen the blisters and convinced myself they hurt. We got some oranges as we passed the Institute of Cancer Research. It was also between 4 and 5 that the sky started to get lighter which meant I could take less blurry photos. I also got a phone call from my dad at about 5:30 which gave me something else to focus on.

Around 19 miles we got to Sloane Square and I knew we would then head back down to the river. I had it in my head that once I was back on the river, I was ‘going home’ in that it was a pretty direct route back to the tent. However, I was starting to struggle. My feet were getting very sore, my legs were feeling like lead, my shoulders ached and I was bored. Bored of walking, bored of being tired and sick, bored of my feet hurting, and until I got to the 20 mile marker, I couldn’t start the backwards countdown I had promised myself.

And then we were back on the river and I was passing the 20 mile marker. Sam rang me to tell me she was just passed the 22 mile marker. I must have got my second wind or something because I became a lot more alert. At 21 miles I got the horrible ripping sensation across one of my toes which meant a blister had spread. I knew there toilets in the next mile somewhere so I told Diane I would stop there for the toilet and to pop some more blisters. She carried on whilst I went to the loo and sorted my left foot out. I popped the blister on my toe but also found a HUGE blister on my heel. I had to pop that as well to get it back in my trainer and OMG did it hurt. I put a Compeed on it but then had to ring Steve for 10 minutes until the initial burning agony had passed. I wasn’t proud of my language but I was in so much pain and I still had 4 miles to go. I knew in context it wasn’t far, but at that point it could have been the moon. Steve talked me through it but then I had to just get on with it. I put the phone down, had a little cry, dried my tears and carried on. I swopped my ipod to my Moonwalk playlist and turned it up really loud.

Because I was now limping quite badly I wasn’t using my muscles properly and I was seizing up. I willed my legs to move faster but they just wouldn’t. I felt like I was going so slowly and the people I had spent 20 miles overtaking were now overtaking me! I texted Amanda as she had been finished for nearly 3 hours by now and although the four of us had agreed to meet at the finish line, I wanted her to know I didn’t mind if she went home. She texted straight back to say no way was she going home, she was staying to cheer me over the finish line. That meant so much to me. That someone who I had only known for a few months, had only met 4 times, was prepared to stay around and cheer me on really lifted my spirits.

As I came back up towards St James’ Park, I started texting everyone I could think of. I’d been updating my Facebook status and had got quite a few texts back from that, so I sent a few more updates, and replied to anyone who had texted me. That kept me occupied for about 20 minutes by which time I was coming back up the Mall. The number of people cheering us on started to increase as they waited for their walkers to come back. I took one earphone out so I could hear the encouragement and also the music.

At 24 miles I went back over Wellington Arch and I suddenly realised how close I was to the end, because it was also so close to the start. However, the mile between 24 and 25 was so so long. It truly was the longest mile of my life, it was on a slight incline, it was all in a straight line and I could just see forever, and people continued to come past me. I couldn’t ring Steve as he was now on the tube to get to the finish before me. Based on the texts I was sending to Amanda at every mile marker, I was still doing an 18/19 minute mile but at the time it felt like I was crawling so slowly.

Then I passed the 25 mile marker and just around the corner I could see the whole path back to the tent. The end was in sight!

Steve had come out of the tube at the wrong exit and was therefore in a race to the finish. I had wanted to have my photo taken at the 26 mile marker but I just couldn’t stop and I didn’t think it was fair to ask other walkers at this stage. As I went past the marker Steve rang to say he had just come past the 25 mile marker, I knew then he wasn’t going to see me cross the line which was a big disappointment but I couldn’t stop and wait for him, it sounds silly but I just could not stop I had to get to the end.

The marshalls for the last 0.2 were brilliant, they could see I was really struggling and were shouting my name and clapping me on. And then as I came up to the barriers funnelling us to the finish line Amanda came running over to give me a hug and send me over the finish line.

And then there it was in front of me, the finish line. The plans to stick any missing tiles on to my bra (I’d only lost 3 to be fair) to smile sweetly at the camera and take in everything around me just went out the window – I managed to look in the cameraman’s direction and I think I might have managed a smile, I don’t really know. I was pointed to the people with the medals and then the little bit of metal I’d walked 26.2 miles for was around my neck.

Then I looked up to get my bearings and realised that my bag tent was right down the other end of the enclosure – nooooo! I rang Steve to tell him I’d crossed the line and he said he could see the finish and couldn’t believe he’d missed me. I think he was more disappointed than me at that point, I just had sheer relief flooding through me. I headed past the Walkwear stall but again, I just couldn’t stop. I headed for the toilet and then got my bag and headed for the exit.

At that point it started to rain, I just looked up at the sky and laughed until I cried, literally, it was as though someone was waiting for me to cross the line before they let the rain fall. I would have loved to have stopped and had a look round but it just wasn’t worth the agony of slowing down and having to get going again. I also couldn’t face going back up to the finish line to see some others cross the line. Oh well, I was over, that was all that mattered really.