It was the first time I'd ever done the Shine Walk and it was tough. To be honest I didn't realise how hard it would be, I had been following a training plan and doing lots of long walks for the past 6 weeks and I consider myself relatively fit and active. However, I think as it was at night when my body is used to being asleep, which made it feel much harder and it was a bit of a shock to the system!
Walking for 10 hours straight takes it's toll on your body and after a while the pain started to set in, my legs felt heavy and painful and my feet started to burn with pain. I also nearly collapsed after the event whilst waiting for a taxi due to sheer exhaustion and low blood sugar. The funny thing was though, through it all, my back didn't hurt once!
The cheering, clapping volunteers and passers-by kept us going throughout and without them I'm not sure I could have carried on, not to mention the copious amounts of chocolate, snacks and refreshments en-route!
The pain we went through that night though is nothing compared to those battling cancer and this is what I had to remember as I continued on through the pain, as well as over the next couple of days when I could barely walk!
The whole event raised 5 million pounds for Cancer Research and I'm so proud that I was part of it and proud of myself that I managed to walk for that distance, considering 4 years ago I could barely walk following my scoliosis surgery. It shows how far I have come, and what is possible.
I hope to work myself up to actually running a marathon one day to support the Scoliosis Association and of course I'll always continue to support Cancer Research UK and all their amazing work.
If you fancy sponsoring me for the Shine Walk event you can still do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/LouiseLaurie/ :-)
Bye for now!
Louise x
