Pain

I´m writing this on day 5 of 11 on the Camino de Santiago. It has been a lot more than I bargained for, to say the least. When it´s all said and done, we will have hiked 270 km. Not bad. When I decided to come along for the hike, I thought, "A little over 167 miles, that would be an average of about 15 miles per day. No big deal, I can walk 4 miles/hour easily..." However, hiking over hills with a backpack on is completely different from walking on a treadmill at the gym.

At this point you may be thinking, "Duh." Understand, though, I didn´t really know what to expect. In my mind, I sort of pictured a trail that meandered through quaint little towns in northern Spain- not a sometimes muddy, sometimes rocky, sometimes barely visible trail that darts back and forth over rugged hills. Almost every time we stop for a water break, my water bottle hisses when I open it because of the change in elevation. Today we hiked 27.6 km in just over 7 hours (the book said it would take 8, but we were seriously hauling). According to my earlier calculations, that should have taken just over 4 hours. Ha.

I think I´m enjoying it, though. I´m too tired and in too much pain to really be sure, but the scenery has been amazing and it has been great to get away from the smog and cigarette smoke of Madrid. It has also been a great opportunity to hang out with friends and get to know them better. We talk a lot while we hike in order to focus on something other than the pain and how far we have left to go. Also, there is nothing like wearing yourself out to make you appreciate relaxing.

At the end of the day, it´s an extremely satisfying feeling to know you´ve pushed yourself to the limit and accomplished your goal. We all have battle scars to prove it, too. My personal claim to fame is the wounds I got on the second day of our hike. Apparently, I did not sufficiently break in my hiking boots before the trip. I noticed that morning before commencing the hike that I was starting to get blisters on the back of my heels. So, I thought I would prevent them by putting on some Compede bandages. I also tied my shoes a little tighter than I had the day before because I thought that was why I was getting the blisters. BAD IDEA. I was actually getting the blisters because the shoes were too small, so I really only compounded the problem. The longer we hiked, the more my feet hurt. But I consoled myself with the knowledge that I had properly bandaged my feet and that the bandages just needed time to work in before the pain would subside. Finally, we stopped for a break and the extreme pain that I was experiencing with every step motivated me to take off my shoes and look at my feet. The bandages were still in place, but as I took off my sock I noticed that there was blood in it. Apparently, my toes were crowded together too much and one of my toenails was cutting into one of my toes. That should have been my clue that the shoes were too tight, huh? But no. After hiking 28 km, we finally arrived at our destination for the day. After enjoying a wonderful meal in a very nice hotel, we were told that we could shower there before going to the albergue. Peregrinos get special treatment!

As I took of my boots, I saw that the bandage had come mostly off of my right foot. Not only that, it had taken the skin with it- a patch approximately 2" square. Not fun. Later that night, the bandage came off of my other foot with a slightly smaller patch of skin. So, that has added all kinds of excitement to hiking. I´m hiking in my running shoes now, which are much more comfortable. However, they´ve been my running shoes for a while and they are getting pretty worn out. So, I think I have about 4-5 blisters on my feet now. I noticed 3 last night, but I was too tired to even bandage them or anything. I think my toenails have been cutting in to my toes, as well. I´ll check all that out tonight. Oh well.

It has most certainly been an adventure thus far. Pictures will be forthcoming, but I currently do not have any way to post them and I´m not sure how long it will be before I do. With all of this said, I´m going to close now. I´ve got a couple more kilometers to hike out to the albergue where we´re staying tonight before I can shower and doctor up my blisters and sunburn. So long!