In this reflective piece by Bill Belew, the author shares a candid account of his personality flaw of pushing things to their limits, often to the point of breaking.
He recounts a particularly challenging day where he experimented with an early start to beat the heat, only to continue walking through brutal conditions.
Despite the physical and mental challenges, including extreme heat, blisters, and back pain, Belew perseveres through a 60 km (37.2 miles) walk.
The day is marked by disappointment, drudgery, and the struggle to find accommodation. Yet, amidst the hardship, Belew finds a sense of resilience and determination to keep going, even as he acknowledges the need for someone to intervene before he pushes himself too far.
Personality Flaw
I have a personality flaw.
Each day I like to post pictures of pretty thises and thats. And maybe I’ll post a picture of a funny sign. I might tell a story with a happy ending. But not all days are sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.
One personality flaw, I have many, is that I push things beyond their limits. I stretch things till they break. You know, to see what is possible. And then when it breaks, I get mad.
Today would be a day that I pushed myself till I broke.
We experimented with getting to bed early, then taking off before dawn, and getting a bunch of miles in before it gets hot. We did good. We were walking at 5am. But. When it got hot, we failed to stop. We kept going
Today was brutal. If you think I’m complaining, you can stop reading now. I’m hoping you will let me share that a lot of my time is a slog. Drudgery. Boredom. Pain. And even feeling sorry for myself a bit. No pity, please.
We really looked forward to Lucca. It was such a letdown. We saw an old medieval wall and another church that was closed. That was the highlight of our day.
We eventually walked a new best – 60 km, 37.2 miles. There was another 37, too. It was 37C. That’s 98.6 F! We were melting.
You’d think that after 900+ miles the blisters would be history. Nope! Two hot spots on my right foot shot pain up my leg every time I stepped. More than 30,000 times my right foot told me, “It hurts, doesn’t it? What did you expect you old coot?”
We walked for 12 hours. There were times I wobbled, times I folded over double because my back hurt so bad. And we still had, 4, 3, 2 hours of non-stop walking to go.
Our evening stay fell through. And then it didn’t. Then it did. While walking I was also trying also to find a place to stay.
“Think happy thoughts!” Good googie moogie. I couldn’t even think.
I was certain that today would be a day that I broke myself. But. I didn’t. I survived. I’ll try again tomorrow to walk myself into the ground…literally.
Will someone please stop me before I do?
