The countdown has begun, even though it is still 6 months before I leave for Spain. So, what to do in the meantime? Prepare. One of the biggest issues for people that walk 500 miles across Spain is their feet. Blisters are the norm for many, as are shin splints, sore knees and backs. Walking day after day for over 30 days will take a toll on you body no matter how much one prepares. I hope to minimize these ailments by conditioning my body before I start walking.
I have been pretty active before starting my camino training, riding my bike, walking and hiking when there is somewhere to hike to. I'm just getting started with my training and in goes something like this:
120 miles a week on my bike. This usually consists of three rides a week on mostly flat terrain. On occasion I ride a fourth day by riding to the USS Midway Museum where I volunteer a couple of days a week. My walking includes carrying my backpack weighted with what I will be carrying in Spain. 8 miles a week, which I will increase over time. The bike gives me the stamina I will need and the walks with the pack hopefully will prepare my feet and legs for what lies ahead.
People talk about the "Call of the Camio". Those who have heard it will know exactly what I mean. It's a whisper at first, a fleeting thought which is easily dismissed. But soon it is incessant. It starts to fill you mind. Invariably conversation turns to it. You read books about it, seek out other pilgrims. You dare to call yourself a pilgrim.
There is a sense in which we are all pilgrims the moment we decide to leave behind a life of certainty and start a journey of discovery into the unknown. One source describes a pilgrimage as "a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance". I know that in the strictest sense it is a physical journey to a real place of significance, but I think that the journey starts long before your feet hit the dusty roads. It starts inside your head.
I wish I had the talent to make a video like this one. It was made by a woman who walked the Camino in 2005 and when I came across it, it hit home for me. For me it says, "This is the reason I'm walking". The music is, Time by Chantal Kreviazuk
