Two weeks on

Well it’s two weeks since the Moonwalk and, provided I’m not looking at my feet, it seems so much longer since it all happened.

My feet are still full of holes. Even 10 days after the event I was still getting blisters coming to the surface, I think it must have just been a build up of all the walking I’d done. Touch wood I haven’t had a new blister in 5 days now. Most nights you can find me with my feet soaking so I can give them a good scrub afterwards. I’m going to treat myself to a posh pedicure in a few weeks time – but my feet are still too sore for other people to be prodding them about at the minute.

But even with all the pain and hassle I’ve had with my feet, it still ranks up there as one of the best nights of my life. It was bloody hard work, but the sense of achievement has finally sunk in. It did take a few days though, and even now, having walked 26 miles, I still can’t quite comprehend 26 miles – if you see what I mean.

I’ve seen all my friends photos of the events, so it’s nice to have a record. I wish I had taken a few more myself, but towards the end I was so focussed on just getting over the finish line, the photos kinda fell by the wayside. Which is a shame, but not something I will beat myself up over. Unfortunately I can’t find any photos of me on the Action Photo website either because their site is pants. Which means I have no record of me actually crossing the line which is definitely a shame – or of me getting my medal. Oh well.

On the plus side, I have raised over £350 and it’s still coming in. I can’t get over people’s generosity in the current climate. It made it all worth it, and I hope the money does some good, and that I will never be in need of it.

I’m going to hang my bra up in my craft room and frame my medal. One thing I’m not doing, is signing up for next year. I am disappointed because I wanted to do the Edinburgh walk - having never been to Scotland. But it’s not worth the grief, or the antibiotics. I’m going to get my bike out and start cycling again as I really enjoyed being out in new places and exploring the countryside and coastal paths etc. If my Moonwalk friends all sign up again though, I have said I will volunteer because the atmosphere on the night was great and it would be nice to do some of things I didn’t do – like stand back and take it all in, and watch other people cross the finish line.

But for this year, all I have to do now is send off my oodles of sponsorship money.

Thanks for reading xxx

The aftermath

I walked out the exit and there stood Steve and then I just started crying. It had stopped raining and I pointed at some empty grass and said I wanted to sit there. As we sat down Amanda came over with her husband and 3 littlies.

I managed to get my accessories off and got on the floor. I took my trainers off and couldn’t believe the state my feet were in, no wonder they hurt so much. Steve fetched out a flask of tea and a bottle of Asti (I’m cheap, I prefer Asti to Champagne LOL) I had some of both, and they were both beautiful! Me and Amanda swopped experiences and Steve was very good at looking after me. Diane had headed home once she crossed the line, and Amanda said that she had seen Sam cross the line but that she then passed out and was taken to the medical tent. We really had put ourselves through it hadn’t we. I'd seen 2 people collapse in front of me on the way round as well.

Then after half an hour it started to rain again. We started packing our things away and I got my brolly out. We split up from Amanda and co and made our way to the edge of the park in order to catch a taxi. It was only a short distance but it took so long to walk it. I had my crocs on, but as I had blisters under my toes and on my heels, I couldn’t walk in any way other than to shuffle flat footed along the floor. We got a taxi and headed over to Charing Cross, by this time it was absolutely lashing it down. Someone really was watching over me weren’t they? At the station I needed the toilet again, getting down those stairs was such hard work! I got myself a Burger King breakfast – I was so hungry by this point I would have eaten cardboard.

As we sat on the platform Steve said ‘Isn’t that your friend?’ and up walked Sam. I thought she had gone home, but she had been in the medic tent for over an hour so we got the train home together and swapped a few more stories.

Getting off the train in Ashford was definitely a comedy moment as we held on to the doors and backed out of the train. Then laughed as it took us so long to get in the lift, the doors started to close on us. Then at the barriers the attendant had to let us through the wide gate so we didn’t have to worry about getting stuck in them as they shut. Oh the fun!!

Steve went to get the car and then drove me home. I hobbled up to the bath and then went to bed for a couple of hours. After my sleep I had another bath and then set up camp on the sofa for the rest of the night. I still don’t think it’s sunk in quite what I have achieved. But everyone keeps telling me how proud of me they are. Which is nice.