Long Story

Part One

About the same time I retired, 15 years ago, Avon announced their first 3-day Walk for Breast Cancer.  (Now, they just do 2 days.)  The walk took you from Santa Barbara to Santa Monica, 75 miles; and you had to donate, via pledges, $1500, in order to be eligible to walk.  I signed up!  I raised all the money and started training.

I am the only non-athlete in our family.  I have always lived with dancers, runners, swimmers and cyclist.  I figured with as much as I knew about training I could certainly walk 75 miles in 3 days.  Bob was so supportive, he signed on to volunteer, wherever they needed him, and he was my training cheerleader.

I started slow, walking around our block, that was only 1/2 mile, but hey, it was a start.  Then it was twice around the block, then I expanded to around the neighborhood.  Soon, I was up to 3 miles, no problem.  Then 4, then 5.  I complained to Bob that I thought I was going too slow, because all these other people were whizzing by me.  Bob the cheerleader told me that they were probably just going a short distance, fast; while I was going a long distance, and needed to pace myself.

We still lived in Long Beach when all this was going on, and it was really easy to train, whenever I wanted.  I could walk in the "heat", never 100 degrees, the rain, never freezing.  I could stop and buy water whenever I needed to, and usually find a bathroom, when necessary.

After several months, I was up to 8 mile walks, and I was loving it.  I felt so good.  Walking is a great way to see what's going on around your.  It's a great way to meditate.  It's good for your bones and for your waistline, too.  At the time I was still having daily migraines, I almost never had a migraine during all the training!  Walking ='d Love.

Then, my body rebelled against my walking.  It started with red patches just above my ankles.  I ignored them, didn't have any I idea what it could be.  I kept walking.  Soon the red patches moved up my legs, eventually all the way to my knees.  I still didn't know what it could be, so I went to the Dr.  She was a little puzzled, until she asked what my routine activities were.  When I told her I was walking long distances, she knew.

My body was sending out histamines; I was kinda allergic to walking, at least long distance walking.  She explained that it was like a repetitive motion injury, my body happens to be too fragile for long distance walking.  She gave me steroids to get rid of the hives, and told me that if I continued walking long distance my body might really rebel and I might have a heart attack!  This was such a blow, I was devastated.  It scared me, too.  I stopped walking.  I could walk 3 miles, that's my limit.  Bob and I traded places, he walked the Avon 3-day Walk, and I volunteered.

Part 2

You may be thinking, why is she posting about this, it happened a long time ago.  I'm sharing, because I still can't walk over 3 miles without breaking out in hives, sometimes up to my knees.  It still happens almost every time I go to NYC, it's such a walking town.

It also happens when I work at Barnes and Noble, especially during the holidays, when there are more customers to help.  Yes, I can walk over 3 miles inside of Barnes and Noble.  Who needs a pedometer when you have angry histamines!

The last two times I've worked, I've gotten hives, the last time they were up to my knees.  This is the first time, in over ten years, it's happened to me when I worked a non-holiday shift.  I'm thinking I might have to stop working.  I really don't want to, but it's definitely a possibility.  I love working at Barnes and Noble.  I've always thought I'd work there until I'm at least 70.  Life can be such a pisser!

photo source

Be well and do good,