Training for ‘Walk the MS Mile’
I’m now training every evening. Getting fitter so I can walk the ‘MS Mile’.
Training time
Every evening at about 5 o’clock I’m out training, doing a walk with my rollator. I increase the distance every few days.
D Day is Saturday 12 September and takeoff is at 11.00 outside M & S in Berkhamsted High Street. I’m excited at the thought of trying to walk a mile. That’s the incentive for the training. It is a long time since I undertook anything like this.
Effects of MS
As my MS has continued its inevitable progress I have considered it more and more unlikely that I would be physically capable of anything like the MS Mile. Its late August,I have been training for over 3 weeks and I have reached the stage where I look forward to going out to exercise every evening. Its therapeutic and enjoyable. There is no ‘hop, skip and a jump’ about my progress, walking is now a slow process for me.
Sad to relate there have been a couple of days when I have not been able to go out, other commitments. There was one very hot evening, I was really struggling to make the distance. The effort to lift my left leg and take a step was almost too much. When I had finished and struggled back into the house I was a wreck. I sat down and did nothing for about 20 minutes; it was the heat.
Where do I train?
The cul de sac where I walk my lengths
My training is walking lengths of a cul de sac, it’s just a few yards from home and it’s level. Our house is on a hill so walking along the pavement outside the house is a definite no-no. I reckon end to end the cul-de sac is 50 yards. I count a length as there and back again.
A mile would be 17 1/2 lengths, by D-Day I plan to be able to walk at least 13 lengths. I do my training in the late afternoon, I hope it is not going to be hot on the 12th ‘cos me and the heat are not on good terms with each other.
Counting the lengths
The little stones, used to count the lengths
I don’t keep a count in my head of the lengths I have walked, that would be far too difficult for my MS addled brain. Instead I put little pebbles onto the seat of my rollator, one for each length. When I complete a length I chuck a pebble away, so very satisfying. When the seat is empty then I have completed my lengths for the day. Its the same counting method that cricket umpires use for balls bowled in an over.
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