The fear

Unlike Jeffrey, I do not mind walking.

My big weakness when it comes to exercise has been maintaining high speeds, whether in running, cycling, swimming or whatever, due in part to asthma and in part to a long and terrible career as a smoker.

However maintaining a steady pace is not so much of a problem for me; if my knees hurt, or my legs ache, that's a pain which I tend to find surmountable, rather than the more challenging obstacle of not being able to breathe.

So the weekend's trek wasn't too bad. In fact, although my hips were starting to ache rather a lot towards the end, resulting in a somewhat hobbling walk to the car in the mannner of a bow-legged old man, the following day I felt a lot better than I expected. (Definitely better than after our previous weekend trek around Arabian Ranches!)

In fact, all in all, I was feeling rather optimistic about the whole thing.

Until this morning, when one of the PRs sent me the above image of last year's desert orienteering, and all at once I remembered how utterly unlike me this is and how out-of-my-depth I just might be...

I mean, what the hell was I thinking?
Walking the equivalent of two marathons in two days?! I live in Dubai - I don't even walk to the shops!

But I'm committed now; I'm into the training, I'm part of the team, I've bought the equipment. So it looks like I'm actually going to do it, one way or another.


(Anyone got a camel I can borrow for the first week of December?)