#474: A Hard Bed to Find

I left for the long day’s walk
before the sun had even met the morning sky.

I was in Spain walking the Camino de Santiago.

My day’s goal was to push my legs 23 miles further down the trail.
It’s where I’d find my next bed.

It was also the furthest I’d ever tried to hike in one day.

The night before…I was crazy anxious. I knew 23-up-and-down-hill miles would be a push. I was tingling with nervous energy all night waiting for my watch alarm to do its thing so I could tie on my sneakers and do my thing.

Ever tingle with electricity the whole night BEFORE?

Then you know.

When the alarm finally went off, I leaped out of bed. I didn’t want to waste a second getting ready that morning…so I had slept in my walking clothes and my backpack was already waiting packed by the door.

Within 90 seconds after getting up…
my wings were on and I was flying.

I was moving fast right from the beginning. I’ve learned that the earlier in the pursuit of a goal that I know I’ll succeed, the more I can enjoy the succeeding.

When my legs did start to tire, I didn’t let them stop. It’s my experience that tired legs feel MORE tired after I rest. I didn’t know what challenges were still facing me up ahead…and I didn’t want to risk not making it to “23.”

“Keep going.”
“Thirty more minutes.”
“Then I’ll rest.”

THAT became my 3-part mantra.
Repeated every thirty minutes.

Late that afternoon, my strategy and effort…won.
I made it to 23.

Unfortunately…this story didn’t end here.
I needed to go…MORE.

When I arrived at “23,” the last bed had been taken by the previous hiker.
There was literally “no room in the Inn.”

If I wanted a bed, I needed to walk SEVEN miles further.

Despite the day’s late hour and falling temperature…despite feeling as if I had already emptied my best self out on the trail…I took off.

Whining wouldn’t work.
Walking would.

Adrenaline has an extra gear.

A call was made by the “no vacancy” host to the next town’s host to make sure I had a bed in my future. Seven miles later…with the sun now having kissed the day goodnight…I found that bed.

Sometimes to reach a goal…
our greatest effort requires us to dig deeper.

One.
MORE.
Time.

If there’s no bed at 23…
we need to find a way to get to 30.

A little MORE.

It’s in me.
It’s in you.

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Note:

Later along this 550-mile adventure, I broke my new 30-miles-in-a-day record. I walked 100+ miles across Spain’s Mezeta (flat plains) in three days.