March in review

The first quarter of the challenge is over – am I on course for victory?

March was a weird month full of ups and down, rain and sun and the end of the month didn’t go to plan at all.

163

Miles
}

45

Hours

29469

Calories Burnt

37

Walks
  • Longest walk – 8.73 miles
  • Shortest walk – 0.5 miles

%

Percentage of walk completed to date

Marching in March

After the mixed bag that was February – I was hoping March would be a more consistent month in terms of weather, energy and ability.

The vast majority of March was spent in lockdown, but rather than continue to get stressed about it… I embraced it. I had decided to set myself a ‘stretch target’ for the month, if I had any chance of making it I would need to forget about walking the same routes and just get out there and walk… even if it literally meant walking in circles.

My Stretch target

If you’ve read some of my previous blog entries you’ll know that I’m not really big on targets. I generally view them as arbitrary numbers assigned to you (or by you) designed to put you under stress.

That being said, I do find myself setting targets when a goal is in sight. They can be a helpful nudge and motivator to gently push in the right direction.

So as I looked at my walking achievements in Feb – I noticed that by the end of March at my current rate I would be ‘close’ to the 500 mile mark. A half of the total challenge done in a quarter of the time… the thought of which made me immediately think I could possibly, potentially, maybe aim for the 2000 mile marker by the end of the year.

Hitting 500 miles by the end of March would mean me walking an extra 50-60 miles than I had been doing each month so far. I decided it was very achievable.

I forgot to factor in life …& death

Once I had set my target – I began in earnest. I figured an extra 1.5 miles a day would be easy and would push me over the target without any massive effort.

I started going out for lunchtime walks – on a good day I could do two miles, and get back to have a bite to eat before starting work again. I managed it for about 4 days. Work got busy, I’d forget to take lunch, it would start raining etc…. The lunchtime walks were hard to set in stone, so I simply couldn’t rely on them.

I decided where possible just to add an extra mile or so onto my daily walk, and that worked well for a while. My children went back to school mid-March, which I thought might actually make walking easier. It didn’t – I found it harder to get out during the day due to work and then I was having to be on hand to assist with homework and revision in the evening. All of a sudden I found myself walking in the dark again.

I managed to reach the 450 mile marker with 7 days left in the month. I did the math – and as long as I walked a minimum of 7.2 miles a day I would do it.

Of course, the moment you have a plan is the moment it all comes crashing down. I was out for, what I hoped, would be a nice eight mile walk. I was about three miles in when I got a very tearful phone call form my daughter. I needed to come home – as our cat has become very ill and was having a seizure. I ran home (luckily there was a more direct route home).

Our beloved cat ( a house cat so we were especially close to him), was very ill we rushed him to our nearest overnight emergency vet (40 minutes away). Where he stayed the night. I didn’t think we would see him again, but the vet called in the morning to say he had made some improvement… and there was hope.

We brought him home but it was clear he would never be quite the same cat again. I was exhausted mentally and physically (the stress was making me ache all over), and I was afraid to walk too far in case I need to rush home again. For the next 3 days I only managed a couple of miles, but to be honest I had lost the drive to walk – I was worried about Jango (our cat) and my children who were oblivious to the writing on the wall… Jango wasn’t getting any better.

Late Monday Jango had another seizure – and it was clearly painful. We gave him pain killers, but it was clear he wasn’t going to last much longer. On Tuesday morning we asked the vet to put him to sleep.

Anyone that’s never owned (or loved) a pet will not understand how powerful the grief associated with the loss of a family pet is. We were all devastated, helping my kids navigate the grief process while dealing with my own was more energy sapping than I realised and although I’d temporarily lost interest in walking – I did walk a couple of token half-miles but I’m not sure I could have walked more if I wanted.

I didn’t reach my 500 mile stretch target… but I did learn that it is unrealistic to assume that walking can be my number one focus all the time.

350 miles
400 miles
450 miles

Overview

March will be a month to remember, but most likely for the reasons we’d like to forget.

I finished the month just under 470 miles, 30 miles short of where I wanted to be.
I’m a couple of days into April now, and I’m starting to feel a bit better and a bit more motivated. over the rest of the year those 30 miles only equate to an extra 0.12 miles per day for the rest of the year.

I still have a fighting chance to reaching 2000 miles.. but I am questioning if I’m being a bit too ambitious, after all this is my first year of the 1000 mile challenge. Let’s see how April goes.

Social media is helping me find some extra motivation and drive:
The Official Walk 1000 miles Facebook page
Find me on Instagram: Instagram
..and on Twitter Twitter.