Just a short note

My body seems to be getting used to the medication. Today started again on a good note.  No pain upon waking. So after breakfast I set out on a 5 km walk.  While walking I thought maybe I could walk 5 days in a row for 5km and then each week of the treatment I could add a km so I would be back up to walking 15km or so by the end of treatment. That way I should be back on track for training for my next Camino. Its a goal. Its nice to have goals. I will just have to see how it goes.

I will say by the end of the walk I was getting tired. That sort of upset me because I look at 5km as an easy walk.  So to be tired after it makes me wonder about my goal. But then I remember there are some people who get energy from the treatment. I hope that happens to me too. One day. Or at least that I can feel a little less tired as time goes on.

I have been doing some research in my down time on the Camino in the off seasons. I am considering it. One down side I see though is the reduced amount of daylight during the off season. I don't think I want to walk in the dark.  Although I will say it was so neat to watch the sun rise that one day over Estella.  Lots to think about and money to save for.

I look forward to keeping up with my walking. Its good for the soul.

Did some walking today

Today I went out for a little walk. I know for most its not a big deal to go do 5k, but for me today it was.  See since starting my treatment plan I have been unable to walk very far. Last week I did get out for 2 miles.  Since I felt better yesterday and also woke not in pain, I decided I would go out and try to do 5km.  Just a starting point really to get back to walking. To test the waters and see if I can walk while doing this treatment.

I am happy to report I was able to do the 5km in just over an hour. Which is not far off what I did prior to the treatment.  I will take the small victories where I can.

I look forward to heading out there again tomorrow! One day at a time....one step at a time....on my way back to 15km a day and more.

We all have our cross to bear.

While on the Camino we saw a group of monks walking. They were

dressed in their normal monk robes, which had to be hot, and one of them was carrying a cross. 

The cross looked to be the same size Jesus would have carried. 

I found myself deeply moved by this. I am not sure exactly how to put it into words. 

There is a cross on the top of this rock.
Reminds me that we all have our
cross to bear, only sometimes its hard for
others to see. 

The fact that there were these men,  walking the Camino as the early pilgrims did carrying the cross as Jesus did for us.  It occurred to me that I should not complain about the heat, or my feet or anything else for that matter. It put things in perspective. 

We all have our cross to bear in this life. Some crosses are more visible than others. Like the photo to the right. At first you don't see the cross. In fact you really have to look hard to see it. But it is there none the less.  There are so many people in this world that carry the cross of "invisible illness". People who are sick, but you wouldn't know just by looking at them.  There are many causes for this. Some are Lupus, Fibromyalgia and Hepatitis C. 

I wanted to share that I am one of those many people who live with a chronic disease.  I felt it was important to share. Partly to help explain the gaps in my 'training' but more importantly that maybe I can be some inspiration to another out there who battles their invisible illness. 

Let me start with a bit of a back history on my illness. I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 1994. So basically I have been dealing with this for 22 years. Wow, that does seem like a long time. I have gone through numerous "trial studies" for treatments with no success.  Each treatment seemed worse than the last. Finally I decided I would just go ahead and live my life, what ever I had left, the way I wanted to live. I would eat heathy, be active and if I wanted a drink I would drink.  As time passed there was major breakthroughs on the medicine for Hep C and they finally found a cure! That was pretty exciting stuff. I had a talk with my doctors and to make a long story short,  I was able to get on this new medication.  The treatment is simple, 1 pill a day for twelve weeks.  The common side effects or headaches and tiredness. So I decided to give it a shot. 

I began my treatment July 12, the day after returning from Italy.  The first week was rougher than I thought it would be.  Most of the week I spent resting or being in bed.  My whole body hurt, not just my head.  As the week went on this seem to be getting better. 

Today I find myself feeling almost normal again and wanting to get back to walking and my training. 

I do know that I might not be able to train as I did while not on treatment, but I hope I can keep my fitness level up. 

I will say that even though I do have days that are rough and hard to get through. Times when I have no energy.  However I know that there are many others who struggle more than I do. It is for those those people I do my camino for. To walk for those who can't. To pray for those that struggle with health issues.  I am determined to not let Hepatitis define who I am.  Perhaps that is why on those days I struggle with lack of energy or pain,  I sometimes have those moments when I fear the worst. 

I am working on not letting those demons fill my head.  One way I find that helps is to walk. 

So I walk.................

I have started a blog about my treatment.  It is just a journal about what I feel and how it goes. Along with a history of my illness.  If you are interested you can find it at https://crazytimelifwithhepc.blogspot.com.


Buen Camino and Don't Stop Walking! 

Summer Vacation-Rome

Last I wrote it was about beating the Camino blues. To beat my blues I began to walk again in preparation for my next section of Camino. Not huge walks, just more to start back after resting and recuperating from the trip. And what better place to walk than in Rome!

My daughter Jessie and her family invited me along on their trip to the Eternal City.  We spent a wonderful 4 days walking around the city and seeing all the sites.  We averaged 10 miles a day, across all sorts of walking surfaces. From cobble stones, to side walks to old roman stone roads, and a few paved ones for good measure.  All in all it was good training, as well as a good time to get away and think of something new and different.

Now I am back home and trying to get back into training and planning. I was hoping for maybe a fall Camino, but I am not sure about finances at this time. Maybe I should consider walking in the cooler weather. Why am I so opposed to walking in the cold, when i trained in the cold last year. Hum.....things to think on.

The Camino Blues

What are the Camino Blues? Well simply put it is the somewhat depressive state one may get after doing the Camino.  However its not just a Camino thing. I have often felt it when I have returned from any vacation, that low, that feeling of being lost and not wanting to go back to the real world.

I have also heard that after anything you train for and build up for after its completed there is a low.
That goes from a 5k to College Graduation to the Camino.  When I first heard of this it was when I was training for my first half marathon.  I didn't see how it could be. I mean why wouldn't I be excited about reaching my goal? Why would that make me depressed?  Then the day came when i did my first half marathon. The day of and the next few days I was proud of myself and excited. Then I began to feel the low happen. It was hard to do the 'rest' part of recovery since I had been walking everyday for months. Then it was as if I had nothing to look forward to, nothing to work for.  So I found myself looking for new adventures.

One of those adventures is the Camino. This years as I came off my week of camino I was faced with some challenges and found the low very low. First I was ill when I returned.  I am not sure if it was dehydration or something I ate, but my stomach was upset for a few days. Which made making the flights home less than enjoyable.

Then once I was better from that I was able to take my sister site seeing around Germany. One morning about a week after my return both my knees swelled up and felt like funny to walk on. Then I noticed my calf was swollen and hard as well. I began to fear that I had over done it and started to worry my walking days may be numbered. I know a bit dramatic, but i was in a lot of pain. Come to find out I did have a bit of a tear and bruise in my calf. After some rest, but still walking some and a few days of Motrin the swelling went down.  I could once again walk without pain and begin to think about the camino.

They often say the best thing to do to combat the camino blues is to start planning your next one.  The planning part is easy for me since I already knew I had more camino to do.  In fact as i rested my legs, with ice packs on them I was already planning the next stages.

Really I guess that is true for most things that bring us down. If we can find something to look forward to, something to believe in, something to work for, we are able to lift ourselves up and dust ourselves off and head on to the next adventure.

Taking Care Of Your Body

Today I went for a massage.  During my massage I got to thinking about how important it is to take care of our bodies.  Not only as an everyday thing, but in respect to the camino as well. After all we are asking, no telling our bodies to walk all those miles. The least we can do is be good to it.

So what does being good to ones body entail? If you think of your body as a machine, say a car, you know that it needs gas and oil to go anywhere. Also periodically it needs a tune ups, tire rotation and such.  Same with your body.

The body runs on fuel we get from our food. To get the most out of our bodies we need to feed it well. Both in training and on the Camino. Which i know is not the easiest thing to do.  I am not advocating any crazy diets but more just eating healthy foods that provide us with what we need.  Good carbs, proteins and fats. They are the gas and oil in our tanks. That and the all important water and hydration.

Let me say a bit on hydration here. Staying hydrated is so important. It seems like such an easy thing to do as well. Just drink water while you walk. Simple.  Yet I have read many stories of people getting dehydrated on the Camino. In fact I had it happen to me as well. I knew I need to drink and I thought I was drinking, yet it still happened. I must say I was sort of surprised I got dehydrated on the second day out. While training I always had my water and drank it before, during and after the walks.  So there I was walking the camino and sipping my water as I went. Ahhh.....there was the problem, I was sipping and not just drinking water.  I think in my head I was afraid to run out of water. Even though we had plenty of water with us and knew there was places to get water on the way.  Also the coffee and the wine does not help with hydration.  I would say to make sure you drink, and I mean drink a lot of water. Especially the first few days. I think traveling also dehydrates one, so if you can keep hydrated you will be better off.

Not saying stay away from the coffee and wine. Just saying to remember to drink water before and after your coffee and wine!

Now that we have fueled ourselves properly and are well hydrated, what other ways can we be good to our bodies?  Massage could be one way. I do enjoy a good massage. I originally used to get them for stress relief. However I have found that the more I walk the massages help to relieve the tightness of my muscles.

Other ideas might be as simple as a long hot bath. Once again helping to relieve the stress put on the muscles while walk and training.  Helping you and your body relax. Add a little aromatherapy if you wish to enhance the bath.

Pedicures and feet massage are another way as well. I would suggest though if you do pedicures close to the time of the camino make sure they do not remove any of the callouses you have built up while training.  I have found you can have strong, tough skin and yet keep them moisturized and they still feel soft.  Yes it may take a lot of cream to get them there, but it can be done.

I guess really it is all about being good to your body. To make the extra effort to make sure your body will be able to do whats being asked to do.  Being aware of your body and knowing what it need to relax after a hard day training or walking.  Rewarding yourself in good ways that do not undermine what you are trying to accomplish.

Just a quick note on weight management. There is so much talk on Camino sites about the weight of the pack you carry. I would like to say if you are carrying extra weight on your body this would be a good time to try to shed some of that as well. I have struggled with my weigh for a long time. It is an on going battle. So I know what it is like.  My first Camino trip I was heavy, and I guess it was a good think I didn't have my pack because I did struggled up the hills.  This past year I work diligently on getting more fit. I am happy to say that this time around when I weighed my pack and myself I was 10 pounds lighter than the pervious year. I still have a long way to go but I will get there.  So for every gram of weight you worry about in your pack, just ask your self if you could shed a few on your body.  Your knees and hips will thank you!

Refueling your body while on the Camino. What I will say on this is simply you will burn anywhere for 1500 to 2000 calories a day walking for 6 hours or so. Your body will need to refuel. This is the time its okay to eat the pastas, the bread and paellas being offered. You will need to eat to keep your strength and energy. Make sure to get your protein as well.  Its nice chicken and fish are offered most evenings.  Once again from what I saw on the Camino it was good wholesome food. Not processed.
So good for your body food.

In closing I guess I just want to say take care of your body and it will take you places you dream to go. Neglect it and it wont be there when you need it.  Treat yourself to a treat now and then whether its a hot bath or a massage at the spa.

Happy Training! Buen Camino!

The Places I stayed

I thought I would share with you the places I stayed during my Camino Experience.  When I pre planned I used Booking.com for the most part.  I know there are many places out there not listed on booking.com but it was a good place to start and to see where things are available.  I love to research and plan so I enjoyed the hours of research.

Yes you can to the Camino doing just Alburgues.  However we choose for us the second time around we wanted the comfort and privacy of our own room. Was it more expensive? Sometimes yes, but then sometimes it ran about the same as two beds would have. That is the beauty of going with another person, being able to share the cost.  Also it was nice to know we had a place to stay each night. There was no race for a bed, fingers crossed for us.  The trick is knowing how much you can really walk in a day.  Who knows next time we might just wing it and see where we stay. 

So here is a run down of the rooms: 

Camino Part 1

One our first Camino we only pre booked Orrison. We knew it filled up fast and we decided we would break up the first day. So glad we did. The other places we just walked in and asked for beds or rooms. We did the bunk bed thing the first two nights and the last two were private rooms. 

Orrison- http://www.refuge-orisson.com/en/#le_gite

Roncevalles at the Monastery- http://alberguederoncesvalles.com/reservas.php

Valcarlos- a little place on the main road 

St Jean

Camino Part 2

I pre booked the rooms for the trip. When looking online it looked like places were filling up and I didn't want us to be with out a room.  We did however end up changing out our last two nights a bit, when we stopped in Lorca and were able to get a room there on the spur of the moment. 

St Jean Pied de Port- La Villa Esponda

Zubiri- El Palo de Avellano-  This one you book directly.  http://elpalodeavellano.com/ptarif_2.htm

Pamplona- Alojamientos Room Pamplona 

Puerto la Renia- Albergue Jakue

Lorca- Albergue La Bodega de Camino ( this one we just picked on the spur of the moment)

Iratxe- Camping Iratxe Ciudad de Vacaciones

Biartiz-Premiere Classe Biarritz very budget hotel