20km port - monaco loop

well thats my last 20km for a wee while!! thank goodness.

Only todays walk felt like I had wasted mine and my coaches time. We had gusty winds today - on the stuff site when I got home it said 40km/hr wind.....I would agree with that. What sucked the most was that I had it head on for 90% of my walk. I spent more time pushing into the wind and trying to walk a straight line than I did trying to keep to any sort of pace. Many times the wind knocked me off the path onto the road and then it knocked a cyclist off her bike right in front of me......I near walked right over the top of her. She was unhurt just very embarrassed. As I came round the port about 6km and started towards the beach, my face started stinging and as I got closer so did my legs and arms.....then I noticed my mouth was getting gritty. The wind was so strong it was blowing the sand from Tahuna Beach up along the road and foot path.....I was getting a pretty good sandblasting. By the 10km mark the wind was just doing my head in.....I can handle walking in rain, in heat, in some cold but I HATE wind. The next section of path way is totally un protected and is open to the sea and bay, the wind here was the worst and it was all I could do to racewalk....more like power walk by this stage. I turned and came down through the centre on the railway reserve thinking now the wind would be at my back.......it would have been but the walkway is sheltered by big trees and so they absorbed most of the wind except for little puffs here and there.

At the 17km mark I stopped at a local business and made use of their outside tap and had a much needed drink. The next 3km is the up hill section and the wind had turned again giving me another head wind...ugh.....off I went again. The only section in my whole walk were I got a good strong tail wind was the last km going up Beaston Road which is the steepest part of the whole walk......... I had images of me angrily shaking my fist at the wind and muttering obscenity's to my self.

Often when I do long distance the tips of my toes get very sore from impacting in the toe box of my shoe. It doesnt happen all the time but once they start hurting it takes a couple of days to settle them. So my last 5km was so painful as it felt like my toes had been hit by hammers. When I got home the nails had been bleeding and I was limping abit.

So in a very slow 2:13 the 20km has been done. I am sure my coach is as disappointed with my time as I am, but he said that it was more important that I do the distance.

20km port - monaco loop