I had to make a decision. It was 2:00 PM. I had to get to holding by 5:00 or take a sweep van to get there to line up for the march into the Closing Ceremony. With less than 5 miles to go, it might seem that 3 hours was more than enough time but with the pain, the hills and the 55+ miles I’d already walked in the last 2 ½ days, I knew I would be walking slowly and I knew I had to allow myself to rest at each stop along the way.
What to do… Do I tough it out? Or take the time to see someone and risk not having the time to finish. This was a really hard one for me.
When I got to the Medical tent, it was pretty much as I expected, 2 ½ days into the Walk – kind of like triage after a natural disaster, without the blood.
I filled out the form and turned it in. I sat down and decided that I would take care of my feet (a process that has kept me from blisters for the last 2 Walks), fill up my Gatorade and water bottles and put on my sunscreen. If my name wasn’t called by then, I would take that as a sign and tough it out.
Just as I put my sunscreen back into my pack, they called my name.
I took a couple of minutes to describe the pains. He did a quick exam, explained the problem and told me that he would massage the muscles a bit and apply kinesiology tape. I said, “Great. Do whatever you need to do so I can get back out there. I have a walk to finish.”
I laid face down and he started the massage the muscle. I cannot tell you how much it hurt. It literally felt like he was ripping the muscle away from the bone with every stroke. It took all I had in me to lay still and let him finish the massage when very fiber of my being wanted to jump off the table and deck him!
I forced myself to relax and stop fighting his efforts by tensing the muscle against the pain. Slowly it got less painful. He applied the tape. I thanked him, grabbed my pack and took off.
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