So that went better than expected...

 

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

It didn't start well. The taxi was booked for 08.50 to take me to the Kiltwalk start point in Musselburgh. From a firm I've used many times before, and have always been 100% reliable. Yet come 09.00 there was no taxi. I called. He'll be with you in a couple of minutes said the woman. Hmmm...

09.10 the taxi rolls up. OK, he was apologetic, and then made his best effort to get me there for the start time of 09.30. On the way another wee surprise. Did they tell you it's cash only today? he asked. No. And being late there was no time for a cashpoint stop. So he trusted me, good man. Gave me his bank details and then I was out and off. I could see, across the park, the last of the 09.30 walkers already some distance from the starting point.

So my start time was 09.34. No chance to enact my original plan to do some stretches and take a few photos of the crowd before setting off. So straight into it I went.

Took about three minutes to catch up to the rear of the pack. And another twenty five to make my way through and around the backmarkers to get into my own pace. Then it was just about keeping on going.

There was a plan of sorts, based on the experience of my practice walking these past weeks. My back problem required me to have a sit down and stretch about once an hour, thus three times over the course, to avoid getting into too much pain. But. I don't know if there was some extra shot of adrenaline courtesy of my late start and slow-walker circumnavigation, or just an extra sense of purpose brought on by this one being the real thing, but no sitdowns ensued. I did try to grab a banana at one of the pit stops, but the buggers didn't have the decency to have any, so on I trundled.  

There was a moment, just over a mile away from the end, that some nausea hit me, and I decided to give in and have a seat.  Except that every bench was already taken by walkers who looked in a worse state than me, so on I went, and that slightly sickish feeling had the decency to disappear.  Zero stops.  Happy with that!

I did manage a few photos along the way, all poor quality as I didn't allow myself to stop walking to take them. But it was good to see a classic old Citroen H van still giving service on Porty Prom.

I took this (and forgot to smile) to reassure myself that I was no longer stone cold last.

Some people have a more eccentric approach to Kiltwalk than others...

That heartwarming moment when you get your first glimpse of the final destination in the distance.

Nearly there...

Thank fek for that... 😼

Now I sit here writing, a Kiltwalker who has dined, stretched those aching muscles, and bath-soaked to the point of pink-and-wrinkliness. A contented Kiltwalker. (And the taxi driver has been paid!)

(A smug Kiltwalker who beat his best practice time by over ten minutes! 😁)

Final shot. This is my fifth Kiltwalk finisher's medal. And by far the nicest looking of the quintet. Roll on 2025...?

Of course it's a great feeling to have the walk go better than expected, and to receive such a nice looking lump of metal.  But I don't forget that the real purpose of the day is to raise money for a good cause.  And if  you would still like to donate something you very much still can, and I would be very much grateful.  You can get to the donation page by clicking on this link.

Many thanks to everyone who already donated.

Finally, thanks to Barbara for coming to Murrayfield to prop me up and take some photos.

Kiltwalk is On

 

KILT WILL

Last year I posted here about why I wouldn't be doing Kiltwalk 2023. So it's nice to be able to return the year after with more positive news.

Back then the main reasons for not doing the walk were health related. Some shortness of breath, and, more significantly, back pain. But that I retained hope for the future.

So what's changed? The biggest difference has been provided by Kiltwalk themselves. Not only has the distance come down from 14 to 11 miles, but that alteration to the route has also removed the only real incline that had to be tackled. That was where the breathing got a bit iffy and is not an issue any longer. (The stop/start heart procedure mentioned in last year's post did happen. And didn't work. But my medications allow me to maintain a sensible pace.) The back still hurts, but going to 2 pilates classes a week has helped. And I've learned to swallow my pride...

I used to enjoy the challenge of completing the distance without stopping once. Now the challenge is just to finish. There will be stops. I have walked the course and identified where the benches are. Sit downs will happen, stretching will happen, enough to press the reset button each time. It's a bit like an advance warning of the afternoon naps that will surely become my lot as the years advance...

The boots have been hitting the walkways, the kilt still fits, there are 4 more weeks until the day. Because it's taken me some time to be sure I'd be up to it I'm a bit late looking for sponsorship. Having stopped volunteering with Advocard my chosen charity this year is It's Good 2 Give, which provides support to young cancer patients and their families (I have no personal connection, other than it being supported by Edinburgh Rugby, who I support). You can learn about the great help they provide by clicking on this link.  I'd greatly appreciate anything you can give.

You can donate by clicking on this link.

Kilt Wake?

 

NOT WALKING NO MORE?

No begging this year. Not from me. No long walk, no charity fund raising, no point to the kilt. This year I will not be doing Kiltwalk.

I did register. I did start doing practice walks from early May, gradually extending the distance. I did , once, manage to do over ten miles. And then I stopped. And feel better for doing so. Well, physically at least. The back pain got too much for me and common sense finally overrode pride to call a halt.

But the back has been better since. Maybe that's partly down to cutting out the hours of plodding. But it could also mean that the regular pilates and sports massages are proving beneficial. And that I might continue to improve. Later this year I should be getting the "have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?" treatment on the heart again, but this time with the assistance of a drug that doesn't like me to have grapefruit. So maybe my breathing will be better too...

Hope is a hard habit to shake sometimes. So maybe it's too early to consign the kilt to the grave. Next year I might be begging again.

Walked the walk

 THAT'S THAT THEN

Another Kiltwalk completed.  Possibly my last.  Or possibly not.  It was an early start by my usual standards...

I walked with Darren, who I didn't know very well before.  We both know a lot more about each other after four hours plodding along.  

And that helped a lot.  Chatting away takes the mind of what the body is doing, or struggling to do, makes the time go quicker, and he even put up with me saying how much I was looking forward to a hot bath for most of the last half of the walk...  We didn't really have a stop, other than when forced to at road crossings, and when we picked up a banana.  He could, I suspect, have gone quicker without me, but he never hinted as much.  Good lad - treating old people with respect!

The route was a bit different from past Kiltwalks, and surprised me a couple of times.  Which was also a bonus, as I was busy taking in my surroundings rather than the aches developing in tired muscles.  I did try to take a few photos along the way.  But was so determined to keep walking that most of them were truly rubbish, so here's the best of a bad bunch.  The final pic is really awful, I know, but shows the time we were about to cross the finish line.

So  that's it done.  Many, many thanks to those who donated.  And if you'd like to join them, here's the link.  It's available for another few days.

The day before the day

 

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO...

Tomorrow I don tartan and walking boots, and head off on a bit of a trek round North Edinburgh.  Kiltwalk day has finally arrived.  I am as well prepared for it as I'm going to be, and ready to punish my body in the name of Advocard.  Not without a couple of surprises though.

I had, foolishly, assumed the route would be the same as the one in 2019.  Only in the past week did I realise that we'll be starting, as well as finishing, at BT Murrayfield, and won't be going to Musselburgh at all.  The upside of this news being that the distance is only thirteen and a bit miles now - easy, eh?

The second surprise arrived this morning.  For the first time I was due to be walking as part of a team, with a couple of the guys from the office also doing the distance.  Only to hear that one of them has managed to fall down the stairs and one ankle is considerably bigger than the other.  So now I'm walking with the youngster (well, thirty something...) so I might end up walking on my own again.  I don't want to hold him back.  

But there's always the wee hot meal to look forward to...

News of the outcome to follow tomorrow.  

Meanwhile... if you're tempted to sponsor me to help raise funds for Advocard...  Here's the link.  Every penny is welcome folks.

This shit just got real

 

NO FRAUD THIS TIME

At the end of this post I will be asking you to sponsor me.  Again.  It's for a good cause - honest.  I've written about the work of Advocard in previous posts, so I won't bore anyone with that again, but they provide an increasingly essential service in Edinburgh.

Despite which, in the previous three years when I've done the Kiltwalk, I've always felt a bit guilty about asking for money for what I was doing.  We see enough people asking for support for doing things that are effectively their hobbies, and I have always done a fair bit of walking.  Maybe not the fourteen and half miles required here, but if walking to my destination seems a feasible option then that's the one I'd go for.  Walking that bit further required a bit of effort on my part, but I enjoyed it, both for the challenge it provided and the actual walking itself.  So my guilt was really because I felt a bit of a fraud.  The 'challenge' wasn't really great enough to stop me feeling a bit of a fraud.

Yesterday I did the full Kiltwalk course for the first time in 2022.  And I I won't feel like a fraud this year.  It will probably be the last time I attempt this distance, because my recent health problems have turned it into a genuine challenge, and I admit I struggled.  Had to sit down a couple of times.  Had to stop and do some stretches.   Had to convince myself to keep going whenever I passed a tempting bus stop.  Even that first glimpse of the endpoint, BT Murrayfield, didn't gee me on like it once did.  I got there, but the fun of past years is just a memory.

All of which is a long winded way of saying that if you ever thought about sponsoring my efforts before then this could be the last chance.  I realise it's hardly ideal to be saying this at a time when UKGov is ensuring that so many people are wondering if they can have food or heat this winter, but a lot of those people are the ones Advocard provides advocacy help for.  So anything you could spare would be much appreciated and going somewhere it will be of use to others.

Please click on this sentence to find my donations page. 

Still trying...

 

AS DEBBIE HARRY ONCE SAID...

You know the old joke about hospitals - you go in with one thing and come out with something worse?  Turns out the best jokes are based in truth.

In 2018 and 2019 I did the Kiltwalk charity walk, of around fourteen to fifteen miles, to raise funds for Advocard.  In 2020 there was no mass walk, but I did my own virtual Kiltwalk, down the Water of Leith Walkway, for the same charity.  The 2021 walk only took place in Glasgow, so I skipped last year, but was quick to sign up again for 2022.  Maybe too quick.

I've already posted a couple of times about my efforts so far, here and here.  In previous years there would usually have been about half a dozen posts, all pleading for your money.  My relative reticence is, as the previous posts suggested, a reflection of my own doubts, and lack of faith in these steadily declining physical abilities.  I've mentioned the breathing problems, which continue to make it hard work up even gradual inclines, and the minor heart problem.  This week has brought new revelations.  Some more heart tests on Wednesday unveiled another problem, potentially more serious.  Fortunately walking, and the aerobic exercise it provides, is beneficial in holding this at bay, so that's a relief.

But another walk today also reminded me how slow I will be.  I still haven't done the full fourteen and a half miles - twelve and a half is my longest so far, so there remains a nagging doubt about my ability to complete the distance.  Today's efforts suggest that rather than the three and a half hours I'd hoped to be aiming for, I might struggle to make four and a half.  Oh well...

In the past I've always done these walks solo.  This year, on the day, there will be three or four of us.  All considerably younger than me so I have no intention of trying to compete!  They might even walk with me for a bit until they find themselves bored with crawling speed.  

So here I am again, looking for sponsorship along with the motivation that provides.  And come the eighteenth of September I will make it to the finish line in BT Murrayfield - one way or another.

You can go to my donations page from this link.  

Time is just a concept...

 

TORTOISE 1, HARE 0

A month ago I wrote (here) about my struggles to get up to speed for the Kiltwalk in September.  Time for another update.  And another plea for people to donate a bit for the worthy cause I'll be walking for.

I've done another four walks since then, and keep learning about what my body can do now (hint : a lot less than it used to...).  The first three were shortish, well under ten miles each.  But last weekend I headed out to Balerno, and The Water of Leith Walkway.  

That was the route I used for my 'virtual' Kiltwalk in 2020, which was also the last time I walked the whole of that route.  It's slightly shorter and easier now, for the work that was taking place around the Dean Village has been completed and that avoids the trek up and down the hill which was previously required.  Near enough twelve and a half miles if you do the full distance.

I did.  But slowly.  Very slowly.  On previous Kiltwalks I've always walked non-stop.  No loo breaks.  No halts to have some water, just sling the bag off, slug from the bottle, and bag back on, with only a little drop in pace.  Even at the provided pit stops I'd be shouting "Banana please" about 15 paces before I got to where volunteers were distributing goodies, so there'd be one held out for me as I passed by!  

Not any more.  If I hadn't had a few stops (I can't now remember if it was 3 or 4) I'm not sure I'd have made it to the end.  Most were no more than a minute, a quick sit down to reset the limbs, and off again.  Except the last one.  By then my route was passing close to home, my back was aching, and I was soooo tempted to pack up and go back to comfy chair and a hot bath.  So tempted.  But around 3 minutes on a park bench changed my mind.  Aches diminished, spirit restored.  I walked on to the end.

Which meant I did the distance in around 3 hours 48.  In 2020, on the slightly longer route, it was 3 hours 17.  Oh well.  This is who I am now.  And accepting that, and forgetting about who I was three years ago, is going to be the key to doing the walk.  That and trying to age semi-gracefully....

In 2019 I promised myself that in 2020 I'd try to break 3 and a half hours.  I never got the chance to find out if I could, and now it's gone.  It would be good to at least beat the 4 hour mark.  Or maybe not.  It no longer matters.  Last weekend at least proved to me I will still be able do the distance, as long as I'm 'sensible'.  (Yuk!)

But it's only worthwhile if I raise some money for Advocard, where I'm still a volunteer and providing advocacy for people who have difficulties being listened to.  So if you've read this far... maybe you'd be ready to head over to my donations page and press the big blue 'GIVE NOW' button?  

I did enjoy the walk.  Being back on the Walkway made me realise that I've missed it, with so many lovely views along the way, and the impressive murals in Colinton Tunnel.  If you're in Edinburgh and haven't been I recommend it.  

Walk smarter, not quicker

 DON'T ASK HOW LONG IT'LL TAKE, JUST IF...?

Two days ago I became a proper OAP.  Yesterday I walked more than ten miles.  Today I ache.  Spot the obvious connections.

Once again I have signed up to do the Kiltwalk charity event in September.  My first, in 2018, my sole aim was to get to the end.  For the next I wanted to be quicker, and did the fourteen and a bit miles in three hours thirty three minutes.  Frustratingly close to three and a half hours, so that was to be my aim in 2020, if the same course was in use.  But we know what happened next.  And again in '21.  So here I am, trying again.  The route has yet to be announced, but I know one thing.  I won't be doing it in three and a half hours.

Three years older, complete with the subtle physical modifications that gradual decrepitude  brings.  A clear thickening around the middle.  Two bouts of the oh-so-fashionable covid virus, leaving me with (my GP suggests) a few breathing problems from long covid.  I have finally entered the world of daily meds, for a mild heart condition.  And the dodgy left knee gets ever dodgier.  Intimations of mortality

But the optimistic part of my brain still goes "you've done it before, you can do it again".  While the inner realist reflect on all those changes, and wonders...

I haven't tried on the kilt for a long time. Will it still fit, comfortably enough to wear for so many hours?  I can always get another kilt though. I can't get another body, so I'll have to make the best of the one I've got.

I've now put nine walks behind me, from less than five miles, up to yesterday's first effort at passing the ten mark.  I've learned that I have to pace myself - as the one attempt to push on at something like my old speed resulted in me feeling like shit for all of the day after!  Yesterday's ten and a bit felt comfortable enough.  But took over three hours.  A pace that would take me over the four hour mark on the day.  

It's not as if it matters.  If anyone is going to sponsor me I'm sure they'll not make it conditional on my pushing myself to the point of exhaustion, or covering the distance in a certain time.  The most important thing is to collect some money for Advocard, my chosen charity once more.  And this year, for the first time, I won't be alone in my kilted effort, with at least one other and possibly more joining in.  But there's still this stupid pride thing that us humans do.  And knowing that the one thing about getting old is not actually wanting to feel like you're getting old.  I just wish that optimistic wee voice I mentioned within would learn to shut up.

Click here to be taken to my donations page.

The boots are back, the body isn't

 BOOTS BACK

I may not be pestering people for money this year.  Kiltwalk remains hit by the pandemic and the unknowns it continues to bring into our lives.  There was a virtual Kiltwalk at the end of April, much like the one I took part in last September (https://baclitter.blogspot.com/2020/09/i-did-it-honest-post-with-evidential.html), but that was too early in the year for me.  I'd done no serious walking since that trek down the Water of Leith Walkway so I was in no shape to tackle anything beyond going to the shops.

There is still a plan to hold a 'proper' Kiltwalk, with a large crowd of kilties assembled.  That's set for late August.  But in Glasgow only.  At the moment they haven't even opened registration as there's still a high likelihood that it won't be able to take place.  But if it does, and logistics of travelling through in time can work for me, then I'd be tempted to give it a go.  Or perhaps, given that the covid situation is going a bit better at this end of the M8, it might even be switched to Edinburgh.  The final option would be another virtual walk.  Whichever it might be, if any of these variations do end up taking place, I want to be ready for the possibility.  Which means getting the boots on and doing some miles.

I'm late starting out, at least compared to last year,and the end target date is nearer as well, so I need to get on with it.  I began last week with an easy route of less than ten kilometres, which took just over ninety minutes.  A reasonable time, but I was pushing myself.  Too early is it turned out.  The next day I felt not exactly ill, but a bit shaky, a bit achey and a bit slow.  I felt... old.  Which is hardly surprising - I'll be sixty five next week. Today I walked a fourteen kilometre route that I've used as practice a few times in the past coupe of years, so I know what a good time over the distance looks like.  But I took my time today, hoping not to feel quite so old tomorrow.  The end time was over fifteen minutes slower than my best time over the same route last year.  Oh well.

I'll keep on getting the boots out regularly over the coming months.  Even if there's no end purpose it's still an activity I enjoy, and should be doing me good.  But I think I also need to recognise the effects of the ageing process, the general slowing down and steady erosion my physical abilities.  Maybe comparing my efforts with previous times I've set isn't the best approach for a pensioner...

I did it - honest! (a post with evidential value)

 

VIRTUAL KILTWALK, REAL KILT, REAL WALKING

Many thanks to all those who've donated to my Virtual Kiltwalk page (or those who are still thinking about it...), with the top up from the Hunter Foundation that's well over £400 raised for Advocard.  I did the promised walk today, but since it was a solo effort, unobserved, you might harbour some doubts as to whether I actually bothered to whether I actually bothered making the effort to justify your parting with your hard-earned!  So I thought I'd try to provide a bit of evidence, and show some of the highlights of the Water of Leith Walkway, should you ever feel tempted to trudge that way.

A 5 step guide to walking the Walkway :

1.  Get a 44 out to Balerno

2.  Do some stretches to make it look to passing onlookers like you know what you're doing

3.  Take obligatory selfie with signpost marking the start.

4.  Start walking 

5.  Keep on walking until you get to the end...

The startline signpost tells lies.  How else to explain this one over 20 minutes down the road?  Is this to deter the uncommitted walker?

The first few miles are devoid of recognisable landmarks.  Mostly woodland with the odd break for the back end of spam belt housing outposts.  So the first really photogenic point on the route is almost an hour down the road - the recently completed murals in the Colinton Tunnel.  

The work of local artist Chris Rutterford, aided by sundry schoolkids and the local community, is a multi coloured marvel of words and images and visual stories.  If you're in Edinburgh and you haven't been to see it yet - why not.  This is just a brief excerpt of what's filling the 140m of wallspace.

For the rest of the walk there are plenty of familiar points to show where I've been so I took a few more along the way.  Starting with The Water of Leith Visitor Centre at Slateford.  No time to stop today, but it's a handy loo and sustenance stop if you're going for more of a saunter than a hike.

Twenty minutes more and I'm on my way through Saughton Park.

Followed rapidly by one of the city's most iconic sporting venues...

And then on to a far less recognisable gladiatorial arena...

Featuring the new mini-Murrayfield where I hope I'll be watching Edinburgh Rugby do their thing in X weeks/months time - ?

A little further and frst of the Anthony Gormley men embedded in the river - I'll be giving the Stockbridge one a miss, but the other two pop up a bit later.

Then the most tiring bit of the day - there's a couple of climbs to get up to pass by the scenic prettiness of the Dean Village.

Almost at Stockbridge, so why not a quickie of St Bernard's Well?

I promised another couple of those Gormleys.  Here's the one near Powderhall.

And then on to the same at Bonnington

And that means I'm nearly there.  It didn't feel like it, but coming out on to the sight of The Shore certainly did.

And then I was there, at the Victoria Swing Bridge, a tragedy of it's former self these days.  But the view's still pretty good.

And that was that.  Three hours and seventeen minutes of boot plodding interspersed with fleeting moments of stop-snap-go to take the above pictures.  

Of course the naturally suspicious among you (Hello George - where's my banana?) might justifiably query if those timestamps really show I've done the groundwork.  Might he not have used a bike between stops?  Or even drifted from one checkpoint to another on four wheels?  I accept you suspicion and counter with a screenshot of my step count/pattern, and a map of my walk.  You'll just have accept that I'm not smart enough to fake those.  That sounds credible, doesn't it?

Finally...  If anyone reading would still like to donate then please click on this link.

Thanks again.