That's Life......

By the time my entry went in for The Parish Walk (PW) in March 2013 I only knew (personally) two people that had completed the whole 85 miles. Of course, I had heard of some of the winners before and I can still remember the first time I saw one of the "top walkers" on Parish day. I drove past Robbie Callister on the road to Dalby whilst the thousand year storm passed over the island in 2008. With his distinctive style and his record in the competition, he was (and still is) one of the most recognisible guys in the Isle of Man.

My work colleague Paul Corris, who had put the idea in my head to enter, was very helpful in providing an insight into his experiences of finishing the PW. It was great to be able to speak to someone so passionate about it. This obviously was born out of his rivalry with his brother and I could tell this motivation helped spur him on to want to progress year on year. The other finisher I knew was another work colleague called Sam Fletcher (I will come back to him in future blog posts.....).

One of the first things I did was work out the average speed I needed to do to complete the 85 miles. Keep above 3.5mph average for the duration and it should see me home. Simple logic. Ok, how fast had I been walking on those previous walks I was challenging myself with? On average around 15 minute miles at 4mph. That got me thinking, the pace was going to have to increase as the inevitable drop off on the day could see me timed out at one of the parishes. I had been using endomondo (tracker app on my phone) but after it drained the battery on my walk up to Ramsey, I decided to invest in a more reliable GPS watch. I could then pour over the data and plan what times I could expect to hit each parish. Getting the pace up should be relatively easy shouldn't it? Well, not quite. I remember feeling so self-conscious going out with the aim to walk faster for the first few times. What are people thinking? What would the old me think if I was driving past? You must look stupid! It's not easy going quicker is it? It's certainly tougher than what others make it look! My legs are aching! You've bitten off more than you can chew. This is when I had to start thinking about the mental side of the challenge and quickly sort it out before it derailed the training side.

Earlier in the year, I was sat on a train on the London underground where I had seen an advertisement of a book that had helped the Olympian cyclists Victoria Pendleton and Sir Chris Hoy achieve their goals. I recalled the advert had a monkey looking out of a box. After a quick look on the internet I found it and read a couple of reviews and instantly bought it. The book was The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters. What helped me in reading this book was the fact I was fully bought into it. I could picture scenarios that had happened in the past and the author presented a logical explanation of why I had felt like I had. In a nutshell it explains:

"The Chimp is rather tricky as it's the emotional machine that we all possess and if offers emotional thoughts and feelings in a very constructive OR very destructive way so it can be your best friend or worst enemy. Interestingly, you can't choose your Chimp – it was born when you were born and you need to accept it." 

I was introduced to a fine walker that had completed the PW by my auntie and after asking her for some tips to take on board she came back with (among others) this gem "where possible, cut everything negative out of your life. This includes people, as their insecurities can drag you away from your goals very easily". It struck a chord immediately. Fortunately, in my life the majority of people I have come across are very genuine and supportive. Then there are the few that can only be described as toxic. The book helped me to not only control my "chimp" but to actually start to understand others actions too. I reached the stage where I learned to use the negativity to fuel me and to drive me on towards my goal. In my mind, the thought of pissing off the couple of detractors by succeeding was now officially part of the challenge. I can't understate how powerful for my mindset the flipping of this negative into a positive was.

As Frank Sinatra sang in one my favourite songs - That's Life:

I said that's life
(That's life)
And as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks stomping on a dream
But I don't let it, let it get me down
'Cause this fine old world, it keeps spinnin' around

With the mental side being worked on, I was back on track and able to concentrate on the training and planning for the big day. I knew I was in a good place when out training a white van went past me and the passenger leaned out and shouted "Walking *anker!". I actually found that funny as it was a twist on the famous Inbetweeners tv programme scene at a bus stop. The rest of the walk had me humming "Peter Miller is a *anker, is a *anker." Recalling that incident, if that would of happened the day after my failed run across the prom I might not have found the humorous side and stopped before I had even got going.....

One of the most important things I had to sort out was finding someone to do my backup and support me on the day. I had heard the stories of tears and tantrums between walkers and other halves and opted to stay clear of that potential hot spot. I needed someone else who was reliable, committed & would have a calming influence on me when I needed it the most. Wendy Sharkey my son's godmother was my number one choice and I was delighted she said yes to my request. The bonus was she already had experience of supporting in the PW. If you haven't got your support sorted for this year do it now as a priority!

Back to the physical training. I had continued with the gym until the middle of March and then prioritised getting out on the road and walking instead and trying to push my pace up. Living in Ballabeg, I had on my doorstep the S100 course (4.5miles) for a shortish walk where I could try walk as quick as possible and I also devised a 10 miler up around Cringle to the top of Ballamodha down to cross four ways and back home. I would do a mixture of these walks 3 times during the week (usually starting at 5:30am) and at the weekends went on bigger walks to get time on feet and test out eating on the move. I also thought it would be a good idea to walk on most of the course so it wasn't going to be alien to me on the day. A memorable walk in the middle of April took me from my house over to Rushen and up the "notorious" sloc for the first time. In fact, I remember my head was going to explode going up Ballakillowey which made the sloc feel quiet pleasant in comparison! I will never forget seeing the remains of the heavy snowfall the island got back on the 26th March of that year. Which leads me to still believe to this day the top of the sloc is the coldest part of the island, unless you are walking it on a baking hot parish day with the sun on your back! I continued on to the roundtable before heading down to Dalby and getting into Glen Maye. One of my mates, Charlie, who grew up there said "the old post office hill leading up to Foxdale mines would be a good road to train on.....". So I thought yes, I'll give that a go. Injebreck is steep but the tarmac road is lovely to walk on unlike this hill. A broken road with melting ice water running down and 15 minutes to climb it. I made it up to the top and went over the cattle grids past the Foxdale mines. Turned right at the top and headed back to the roundtable before heading back home via the whiskey run track and Grenaby. Around 22 mile at an average of 4.3mph. I was happy with that due to the hills involved.

A week later I walked the first part of the PW from the NSC to Rushen to give me a good idea what the roads and terrain were like. It was also one of the first times I had walked with someone else. Paul Corris joined me and from mile one I knew it was going to be a long 18 mile in total. He popped in his earphones and told me he would meet me down the road. I had to remind myself he was on a training walk too and pushing for a good time in the PW. Although my pace was improving, when I compared it to an experienced Parish walker like Paul it was a test for my newly discovered inner chimp as he quickly disappeared off into the distance!

All in I had done approximately 250 miles training before the Parish Walk in 2013 and was hoping it was going to be enough. I had continued to lose about a stone a month up until June and in total lost just over 5 stone. I felt as fit as I have ever been and full of naive confidence. One question I had asked all the finishers who I was getting advice from was "how do you know you can walk 85 miles?". There was one week to go and I was about to find out for myself......