If I had have been asked of my greatest achievement before the end of 2014 I would not have known what to say. Lucky for me I completed something that year that I now consider to be my greatest achievement. I participated in The Bloody Long Walk. What started as a fundraiser, team building exercise & promotion also ended up being the most difficult & challenging thing I have ever done.
My Greatest Achievement: The Bloody Long Walk
The Bloody Long Walk is a 35km walk to raise funds for Mitochondrial Disease, a debilitating genetic disorder that robs the body’s cells of energy. Which causes multiple organ dysfunction or failure and potentially death. When it first came up I was under the impression that I would ‘wing it’. I considered myself to be fit, I ran regularly & generally looked after myself.
They say that hindsight is 20/20, in this case, I would certainly agree. I am tremendously glad that I did do training for the event. Although none of our training sessions could compare to the actual event. The longest we ever walked in training was 17km, just over half of the total course.
The Result
I had to hold back tears after I crossed the finish line. It had dawned on me what I had actually done. I had just walked 35km in 7 hours. The last 10km was along the beach, I ended up getting quite bad sun burn on the back of my legs.
It was physically hard; the sunburn, my hips from carrying a bum bag & the blisters (my preventative measures did work pretty well though).
It was mentally challenging; the last 2km were the worst, I could see the finish line but I had really had enough.
I’m glad I challenged myself to complete the Bloody Long Walk. It will be a while before something replaces this as my greatest achievement.
