First off, I forgot to inform y’all that I posted a bunch of new photos under the “Click’s Gallery” page when we were in Harper’s Ferry on Wednesday. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to caption them all and I’m afraid that some of the vertical shots came in as horizontals, but you should be able to get an idea of what we’ve been up too. And I’ll fill in any missing info the next time I’m able to get myself to a real computer terminal.
So I’m 2 days out on my third pair of shoes and it’s not a great feeling. 1046.1 miles along and my feet have decided to go on strike. If you’ve been reading along for a while, you know that Long Time had an ongoing blister saga for the first month, while my feet had been in comparatively good shape. I’ve had but one blister and that was during our recent 11-day stint of rain and it went away just as quickly as it came. I replaced my winter boots back in Damascus with some trail runners because a) my pinky toes were jamming into the side and b) I didn’t need the weight of the waterproof gore-tex in the warmer weather. Once I got the right combo of insoles going, those shoes worked out well.
My current problems seem to lie in the form of just plain ol’ overuse. It’s the balls of both feet that get really sore after all of the constant impact. In addition, the spot where my right arch attaches to my big toe knuckle gets incredibly tight and painful about 1/2 way into every day. I thought the trail runners which had accumulated 600 miles on them were just compacted and worn out. I thought a fresh new pair of shoes would fix me right up. Somehow I forgot about a little thing called “breaking them in.”
Ah well, today felt a bit better than yesterday, tonight we had some pizza for dinner (which is always medicinal) in Smithsburg, MD, and tomorrow we cross over the Mason-Dixon line and are back on Union soil! So all is not lost.
But the best thing about tonight is that I still have my earplugs so I don’t have to listen to the not-so-soothing sounds of the snorer’s quartet going on in the shelter!
Mel
My old tired eyes had trouble reading your notebook entry so I did some p’shop work on it. I know your editing is somewhat limited at the moment so if you want the edited copy, go to http://bobsanderson.com/downloads/IMG_5455-1024×682.jpg
Hope you and the trail have made up by now.
Thanks, Sandy! How’d you do that? You know I am shooting both raw files and small jpegs of everything during this hike but I just post the small files to save time and space.
Unfortunately, the trail and I had a minor mishap this afternoon which may keep me off it for a couple of days – a fall on some rocks and a twisted ankle. It may appear from the outside to be an abusive relationship, but it was all me – I really did just trip and fall into those rocks.
Hi Melissa and Mr. Goodwin!
I’ve been enjoying the blog and keeping up with your adventures! This is quite impressive and inspiring – definitely makes me think twice about complaining that I’m tired 🙂
Stay well! I look forward to reading more!
Nicole
Nicole!
How great to hear from you! I certainly can believe that raising 2 small kids must make you just as tired as we are at the end of each day – I’d bet that you’re doing some pretty heavy lifting too. We’ve at least got the hipbelts to help distribute all the weight! Thanks for commenting and hope all is well with you and your family.
Oh yeah and my dad says you can call him either Mike or Long Time!
I hope you feel better soon Click!
Hey Bro,
You didn’t say anything about your own foot trouble when we talked! Hope your tired old feet are feeling better soon! Love, Susan