Discovery: eating [...]]]> Long walk day.  Almost five hours, including one small rest to eat an English muffin spread with Marmite and take off my socks for a few minutes.    I am somehow so much more tired than I was last week–it seems impossible it was only two miles more than last week’s walk.

Discovery: eating on the trail doesn’t really agree with me.  Only Gu and water.  Maybe a little bit of banana.  But a person can’t walk 8 hours or more without eating, so I’m going to have to figure it out.   Marmite is a weird and disgusting substance, but I remembered that it tasted excellent to me at the top of Pikes Peak, so I tried it today.  Weirdly, it tasted very good at hour #3.

It was still great.  There is no feeling I like better than the salty, sweaty buzz at the end of a long, long walk or hike.    Though really, it would be nice if I were suddenly rewarded with a 20-lb weight loss.  Doesn’t that seem fair? Long hike, show the universe you are earnest and devoted, and voila!  Instantly thinner!

Miles this week: 26 (not counting whatever I get in tomorrow)  This is a lot more than last week.  No wonder I’m tired.  And there won’t BE any miles tomorrow, so there.

On the Ipod:  Bel Canto for the first hour or so, then a switch to the classical playlist on my Ipod, which consists entirely of various Baroque strings and the odd waltz.  Lots of Marin Marais today, and some music from the dashing and heartbreaking Joseph Boulogne, the  Chevalier St. George, who is the person in history I remain most in love with.  (You may recognize him in Gabriel St. Ives, yes?)

Snacks: 1 Gu, an orange, English muffin with Marmite, one banana.

The pitch: I have committed to raising $2500 by June. It isn’t a sponsorship, but direct donations to each walker’s tally. The money goes to helping provide screening and care for women who are under- or uninsured, a cause about which I am passionate. If you feel moved to donate, you can do so, here.

The disclaimer: We all have things we care about and no one can give to everything, in time or money.

xoxo,

Barbara