Ninety-four degrees is similar to thirty below. Either way it’s just too miserable to be outside attempting any type of physical activity. It’s even too hot to drive to the beach.
This isn’t the type of weather I remember as a kid (that was a long time ago) and I am sure there were days of plus 90. High temperatures were expected in August, not June.
The 2020 world fiasco put The Camino on hold and we were hoping maybe 2021. Nope, not happening this year so onward to 2022. I may have mentioned the Camino is only a walk but that isn’t exactly accurate. My 2019 training regime worked well, I gained strength and stamina slowly, knowing it would serve me well. Covid, however, laughed in my face and said, “Not this time!”.
The summer has come and gone, the leaves are bright and beautiful, shades of reds, greens, yellows and orange illuminate the landscape. A segue into the dark and grey of late fall. Not to be deterred, I continue to train as my schedule allows. I presently have a friend who is on her Camino and although she is doing the northern route, which is described as more difficult than the route I will be taking, I can see I have much more work ahead.
Covid has now laid the ground work to making what should have been a simple here-to-there adventure a circuitous path. All international travel now requires copious amounts of paperwork and testing before one even sets foot in the airport. Vaccinations aside, masking and social distancing is still the rule in my life. I understand the need to track the movement of people across and around the globe but it still feels like prison or eight grade when you needed a hall pass to go to the bathroom.
So as we reach that point in the year when the clocks are turned back an hour, it is still dark when I go to work and will soon be dark when I leave, I am keeping my eye on the the prize: A Compostella for a job well done.
500 miles is, after all, just a long walk.
Buen Camino,
“Holy Sneakers” 500
"Holy" Sneakers 500 