WITH JUST 8 weeks to go until I return to Sri Lanka to complete the final stages of the Pekoe Trail, my preparation at the moment is not so much about maps and packing lists, but about getting my body ready for the adventure.
Last year’s trek
When I think about a long-distance trek, I visualise endless hill walking with a heavy backpack. The reality for me this time will be different. Since my operation, recovery has dictated my pace, and I’ve had to accept that rebuilding strength isn’t something that I can rush. Bish-bash-bosh and ‘just do it’ are not phrases I can completely adhere to just now.
Instead, my months and weeks have been filled with aqua fitness classes, yoga, walking, cycling and a some weight lifting to gradually increase the amount my body can tolerate. None of it is particularly glamorous although I’m enjoying the challenge, and each session feels like an investment in those mountain trails waiting for me in Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands.
One milestone I’m pleased about is my weight loss so far. I’ve set myself a target of losing a few kilos knowing that every kilo I can comfortably lose is another my hip won’t have to carry up thousands of metres. I’m hoping that by September I’ll feel less like I’m dragging myself through the mountains and more like I’m skipping across them.
Well, perhaps ‘skipping’ is a bit optimistic. I’ll settle for moving without grimacing 😊
Living with the endocrine therapy hasn’t exactly made the process straightforward either. Joint stiffness and aches have become unwelcome companions, reminding me daily my body’s still healing. Add a cortisone hip injection to calm everything down, it’s fair to say my body will have received more maintenance this year than my old car.
An equally big lesson though, has been psychological as much as physical.
Over the past 9 months, there have been moments when I’ve caught myself developing what one might describe as an ‘old bird’s’ acceptance of death in a general kind of sense. Not in a depressing or dramatic way at all, but in a ‘that’s ok’ kind of way. I wonder if life has become as much about managing limitations than chasing adventures. Cancer surgery, treatment, medication and the endless appointments have a subtle way of shrinking your world if you let it. No thanks!
Preparing for this trek is challenging my mindset.
Every training session I do takes me a little further than the last. They’re all reminders to me that my body’s still capable of adapting, improving and carrying me towards something that matters a lot to me. (I’ll say more about that in my ‘6 weeks to go’ blog in a couple of weeks).
Completing the 323km Pekoe Trail has become like a marker for me, i.e. a line between simply recovering through doing small things, to actively living again.
I’m under no illusion that it’s going to be easy. There will almost certainly be days when the climbs feel endless, my hip protests loudly, and I question my life choices somewhere halfway up a tea-covered hillside or before we even set off for the day’s trek.
But that’s part of why I’m going.
Will I still be able to do this?
Eight weeks from now, I’ll be back among the tea estates, the villages, the extraordinary nature and the wonderful people who call the Central Highlands home. I’ll be carrying a much lighter backpack than before, a lighter body too hopefully, as well as a renewed appreciation for what my body is still capable of doing.
The countdown is feeling more real now, and for the first time in a while, so does the excitement. 🙂