"Never again!". It's regarded as one of the most common used quotes after finishing the Parish Walk (PW). Finishers usually go two ways; really mean never again or think its something they have to do again, but look to improve their time. As soon as I crossed the line on Sunday 23rd June 2013, I was thankful it was all over, but I certainly do not remember not wanting to do it again. I hugged and shook hands with the friends that had come down to see me come in. After being given the stamp of approval from Kate (she stepped on my foot when she came in for the hug) I saved the last and biggest hug for my main support throughout the night Wendy. I quickly recognised that, put simply, I wouldn't have got through it without her. I can't understate that good support is so critical.
So with the silver foil blanket wrapped around me (to try regulate my body heat) I was in the car heading home. No more tears, just sheer exhaustion. My mind and body had never felt like that before. I was stiffening up, my feet were throbbing in my trainers and my shins felt like they had been battered by a lead pipe. Arriving at home, I got pulled out of the car, foil still wrapped around me and most importantly the PW medal around my neck. I got inside and got the trainers off and then stripped off but left the socks on. Dealing with my feet could wait until I had at least a cup of sugary tea. I got into bed but could not sleep as my legs were aching. I must have lay in my bed for an hour or so reading and responding to messages of congratulations on my phone. I then decided I needed to get in the bath and I could then pull off the socks. Don't worry, there will be no pictures of what my feet were like in this blog. I will just describe them! Pulling the socks off when I was in the bath made sense. Yes, it was sore but other than a few toe nails coming off, the pads and heels of my feet looking like they had been blow torched, they were ok..... The relief of the bath was good and I sat in it for a while with a beer to try piece together what had happened over the past 24 or so hours. I could feel myself drifting off and thought I better get out and get back into bed for some decent sleep. As I got up and out of the bath, awkwardly, I suddenly felt dizzy and fell backwards into the bath. Fortunately, the water had near enough all ran down the plug hole by then! Hannah walked in with my legs over the side of the bath to ask what had happened. "Did I finish the Parish?" was my response. I desperately needed some shut eye.
My parents had come down to see me after lunchtime and I crawled on my knees to get from the bedroom to the front room. It was at this time, I was relieved to remember that I had booked Monday and Tuesday off work. The rest of the day I spent in bed and every so often dragging myself to the loo. The 15 metres felt like an expedition!
I woke up on Monday and was buzzing. Yes, legs and feet were sore but head was in a better place after a good nights sleep. I am sure it would have felt so differently if I hadn't had made it to the finish. I spent the day on the sofa with my feet up with a notepad next to me and it was intended for what I could have done better. I made notes of what had happened during the walk (that's why I can recall a lot of this first PW for this blog if you were wondering). What did I decide I would of done differently? Nothing. It was my own unique experience and I was going to learn from it sure, but I had got through it and had found out so much about myself in the process. I had kept to roads in my training and had gone past some great looking countryside and hills to venture on, so this was going on my list of to do's. Go and enjoy the stunning Manx countryside. Mike came down to see me during the day. As my feet were up and uncovered, his first expression was "OOOoooo" and got his phone out to take a pic. I remember telling him to delete it as I didn't want people seeing it. Seems ironic as I have now wrote about it. A picture is worth a thousand words I guess. Just google 'parish walk feet' for an infamous picture if your that way inclined. Mine were thankfully nowhere near that bad.
Tuesday was awards night at the Villa Marina. I went with Wendy and drove in with my slippers on. My legs were still achy and my feet were on the road to recovery but nothing would of stopped me going to pick up that finishers award. It took a few weeks for my feet to recover sufficiently enough for me to get back out on the roads wearing my PW t-shirt with my chest puffed out. Paul had got to the Villa early and had got a table near the front with his brother and parents and saved us some seats. He had posted a PB of 19:40:20 and looked like he had suffered in the aftermath as I had. There were a few walking around gingerly and I even spotted a couple wearing slippers like myself. The presenter announced that from a field of 1,321 starters, a record 215 went full distance with 89 completing it for the first time. All finishers receive an award for completing the course and it was going to be a long night as 215 were due up on stage, with some walking significantly quicker than others. I was up pretty soon on the countdown and shuffled across the stage. Yes, it was uncomfortable but it felt good collecting the cherished finisher award.
As each walker was going up and receiving a deserved round of applause, it was apparent the lower the finishing number the easier people were walking across the stage. Another piece of simple logic sprang to mind, walk quicker, get it over and done with sooner and my body won't feel it as much..... As I said, simple logic. We all know its not that simple. I also thought how the hell did people walk so quick. I put it down to them having walked for years and it was a process of getting quicker through experience and insane amounts of training to harden their bodies to it. I came to this conclusion as the majority of walkers in the top 20 were classified as veteran with only a couple of younger guys.*
The evening ended with Michael George receiving his winner's trophy and I thought back to when he had finished, I was heading to Ginger Hall nearly 27 miles back. His speech included a tribute to the guys that had toiled through the rainy night and were coming in in the last couple of hours, which I remember thinking was a nice touch.
So what does it mean to finish the PW for the first time? Everyone will have a different response to this question of course, but I will try to sum up my feelings about it. I certainly didn't feel shocked I had made it around, I was more relieved as I had kept telling myself I could do it. It was having this belief in what I could do that gave me the biggest buzz. What else could be achieved now? It had given me empowerment into a new world of things to experience. In short, it was a life changer and it opened doors which had been shut for so long in my 'non-active' years. Yes, the parish is unpredictable and painful to complete, but if it wasn't, it would feel less of an accomplishment. At the end of the day it's Manx to the Max!
To top it all off, myself and Mike were selected as "cover stars" for Dermot O'Toole's excellent PW book 'The Ultimate Challenge'!
