24 hours and 36 minutes. That is how long my teammates and I walked 100KM, (no sleep!) on the Ganaraska Trail starting from Barrie and ending in Orillia. During that time, we experienced various emotions and physical challenges. The terrain went from flat to hilly, sandy trails to paved roads, farm lands to paths that were overgrown with trees, shrubs, and grass or filled with rocks, tree stumps, and roots.
The weather was hot, humid, and sometimes muggy. On occasions, we were blessed with a breeze and some overcast clouds. But the sweat still poured out of my body while the mosquitos clung to me feasting on "fresh" blood.
As time wore on, my body slowly began to feel the effects of the walk. First, my heels, then my toes and then the pain slowly started to work it's way up to my calves and then my knees. My shoulders ached from carrying my bag pack filled with some of my "comfort foods" and a few extra bottles of VitaminWater. I could have sworn I packed light! But by the 40km, my back pack felt like I filled it with a load of bricks.
Along the trail we had 9 checkpoints where we could refuel, recharge, and regain our mental state of mind. But each checkpoint began to feel further and further apart and it took more mental strength to keep my legs moving. I was afraid to stop for fear my muscles would seize and my legs would not be able to continue. This is when my "mental" strength kicked in. Although my body was saying, no, I mean SCREAMING STOP! My mind kept saying KEEP GOING!
Another amazing experience was watching how the group dynamics changed throughout the walk. In the beginning, everyone was all smiles, full of energy and enthusiasm. We had designated a team leader, a pace leader and motivators. But after long hours of walking, the smiles turned to frowns, the level of energy decreased and our roles changed from person to person.
Our team strategy also changed throughout the walk from aiming to finish in 23 hours, to finishing in 24 hours to just finishing in one piece! This was the most challenging aspect of the walk for me. I am very competitive and push myself hard. My own personal goal was to finish in under 23 hours and I was very excited that our pace in the first half of the walk was on target! But every individual's body is different and how it handles physical stress varies. The longer we walked, the more physical challenges we faced. Blisters, muscles spasms, muscles seizures, body temperature's dropping, and physcial and muscle fatigue setting in.
But no matter what condition our bodies were in, we were a team and our goal was to walk together as a team.
I am very proud to have shared this experience with Chadash Sangur, Dhariya Panda, Thomas Fischer and our support team Stefanie, Bernice and Walid. It was truly a test of physical and mental strength, but more importantly, how to work together as a team when the going gets tough!
