Proud to be sore.
I walked 25 kilometres yesterday!
* insert applause here *
For the 4th time I walked the Dam-tot-Dam-loop, an organized walk from the Dam Square in Amsterdam to the Dam Square in Zaandam. As my friend K, who joined me, and I were both hopelessly untrained (I'd only done long-distance essaywriting since Italy) we started out a little anxious, but we made it in a fairly decent time - it took us from 9.15 am till 3.30 pm, including lunch. So we can be proud!
Kudos also to maruchina , who did the 17 km route with her father, and to my friend J, who did the 17 km with her sister and was coaxed and cajoled by said sister to set the world record time of 3 hours, 15 minutes. I don't know if that's good, or just plain crazy, but it's certainly an achievement.
Maybe next year we can do some sort of organised walk together and raise money for a good cause, as a lot of the walkers did. (Only probably we should tie J's sister down, for I won't be able to do that sort of speed.)
The funny thing about walking is that as long as you keep going, you're fine, more or less. Or at least I am. It's the sitting down that does you in. When we got to Amsterdam Central Station, K's train left pretty quickly, and I had about 10 minutes before mine left. So I gently (very, very gently) sauntered toward the right platform, bought a drink, sat down... and suddenly heard the PA system announce a platform change!! So I had to run down the stairs, accross the station, up some other stairs... oh, the pain, the pain....to see my train leaving right in front of my nose. I could've touched it! I know Dutch Rail wants to be punctual and I'm usually all for it, but when you announce a platform change in a very busy, noisy station, shouldn't you at least give the people a minute or two extra to get to the right platform?
* frustration *
Anyhow, eventually the next train came and a girl (well, woman) my age sat down next to me, but she was struggling with two bags and a suitcase, so when I gave her a hand we got chatting. She was British and shared my love of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. We were having such a nice time that she completely missed her stop at Abcoude and had to hurriedly get off in Woerden, which is not one, but two stops down... I felt rather guilty!
Then my stop came, and I tried to get up.
And failed.
I tried again, feeling 80 years old, and stumbled onto the platform... swearing under my breath all the time. But I got home, took a long hot shower, got into my pj's, and felt so nice and rosy that I was in bed by 9 pm and slept for 13 hours. Oh, 13 lovely, wonderful, delightful hours. I caught up on all the sleep I missed last week!
Although I felt my muscles burning when I woke up in the middle of the night, I'm fine now, apart from my knee, which is stiff and a bit sore. Keeping active would solve the stiffness, but I have a lot of translating and studying to do today so it'll just be sitting on my butt. It will be ok tomorrow.
However, considering the amount of damage I've already done to my body (like tearing every available ligament in all of my knees and ankles) it's not too bad. And I feel completely satisfied and relaxed after yesterday, being out in the sun, having fun, chatting, relaxing. Yay for walking! Peak District, here we come.
* insert applause here *
For the 4th time I walked the Dam-tot-Dam-loop, an organized walk from the Dam Square in Amsterdam to the Dam Square in Zaandam. As my friend K, who joined me, and I were both hopelessly untrained (I'd only done long-distance essaywriting since Italy) we started out a little anxious, but we made it in a fairly decent time - it took us from 9.15 am till 3.30 pm, including lunch. So we can be proud!
Kudos also to maruchina , who did the 17 km route with her father, and to my friend J, who did the 17 km with her sister and was coaxed and cajoled by said sister to set the world record time of 3 hours, 15 minutes. I don't know if that's good, or just plain crazy, but it's certainly an achievement.
Maybe next year we can do some sort of organised walk together and raise money for a good cause, as a lot of the walkers did. (Only probably we should tie J's sister down, for I won't be able to do that sort of speed.)
The funny thing about walking is that as long as you keep going, you're fine, more or less. Or at least I am. It's the sitting down that does you in. When we got to Amsterdam Central Station, K's train left pretty quickly, and I had about 10 minutes before mine left. So I gently (very, very gently) sauntered toward the right platform, bought a drink, sat down... and suddenly heard the PA system announce a platform change!! So I had to run down the stairs, accross the station, up some other stairs... oh, the pain, the pain....to see my train leaving right in front of my nose. I could've touched it! I know Dutch Rail wants to be punctual and I'm usually all for it, but when you announce a platform change in a very busy, noisy station, shouldn't you at least give the people a minute or two extra to get to the right platform?
* frustration *
Anyhow, eventually the next train came and a girl (well, woman) my age sat down next to me, but she was struggling with two bags and a suitcase, so when I gave her a hand we got chatting. She was British and shared my love of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. We were having such a nice time that she completely missed her stop at Abcoude and had to hurriedly get off in Woerden, which is not one, but two stops down... I felt rather guilty!
Then my stop came, and I tried to get up.
And failed.
I tried again, feeling 80 years old, and stumbled onto the platform... swearing under my breath all the time. But I got home, took a long hot shower, got into my pj's, and felt so nice and rosy that I was in bed by 9 pm and slept for 13 hours. Oh, 13 lovely, wonderful, delightful hours. I caught up on all the sleep I missed last week!
Although I felt my muscles burning when I woke up in the middle of the night, I'm fine now, apart from my knee, which is stiff and a bit sore. Keeping active would solve the stiffness, but I have a lot of translating and studying to do today so it'll just be sitting on my butt. It will be ok tomorrow.
However, considering the amount of damage I've already done to my body (like tearing every available ligament in all of my knees and ankles) it's not too bad. And I feel completely satisfied and relaxed after yesterday, being out in the sun, having fun, chatting, relaxing. Yay for walking! Peak District, here we come.