Why did I do this? I guess it sounded like fun. And in a strange way, it was. At times, it was a weird sensation to be walking for so long, but the idea of being able to say "I walked 100 kilometers" kept me going. Mick's "motivational quotes" did very little to keep my body going, but it did give my mind something to chew on while we walked endlessly. Sometimes it got boring, but sometimes it was fun. Near the beginning of the race as we hiked though some small villages, many of the villagers watched as from their front lawns as if we were some sort of parade. At points, it was almost a party atmosphere. But as it grew late, the spectators grew thin and our conversations grew short. At one point, Monica and I were singing lines from songs and trying guess what the other sang just to dull the boredom.
After the 50 km point, the boredom went away, and most of our other senses were dulled too. I was in a "phased" like mood. All I thought about was looking at the road and walking. The last 20 km were painful. The entire hike was on concrete, and the last 20 km were during the hottest part of the day. The hot concrete heated up my feet and I ended up getting very large blisters on the soles of my feet. Since the fluid of these blisters could not expand outwards into the soles of my shoes, it pushed out of the sides of my feet. At one point I felt an exploding sensation between my toes on my left foot as the fluid from a blister on the balls of my toes came out between my toes. My right foot end up with a blister along the side of my foot that was 3.5 centimeters long. It should be quite obvious why my last 20 km were painful. Strangely, my feet were the only part of my body that hurt. My muscles were not sore at all. When the race was over and we made it to our hotel room, I did fall asleep very, very quickly.
Would I do something like this again? I think I would. I don't know why, though. It's like a weird craving to be able to see what it would be like to experience such a challenge. After we were finished with the Dodentocht, we saw a poster in Bornem advertising an upcoming 200 km hike. Hmmmmm . . .
| Control Point | |||
| START | |||
| BORNEM TENT | |||
| BREENDONK MOORTGAT | |||
| STEENHUFFEL - PALM | |||
| BUGGENHOUT - SPORTHAL | |||
| LIPPELO - LAGERE SCHOOL | |||
| ST. AMANDS - SPORTHAL | |||
| BRANST - ZATES | |||
| BORNEM TENT |
Created by Michael F.
Kamprath, michael@kamprath.net
