Only two months to go

We packed today.  Pretty exciting!!

Equipment:

We are not adding anything to last year packing lists except for bathing suits, we are going to walk on the beach past Porto and the weather should be nice in late May and early June in that area.

We are still missing a few things and my pack is up to 7.2 kg.  I still need to get vaseline (to put them on my feet every morning, it works, last year I did not get any blisters),  we both need new socks and we have not found our brand (Wigwam).  they tell us at both, the Sail store and the Atmosphere store that the spring stock has not arrived yet.  I might have to go all the way to downtown Toronto to the Mountain Equipment Coop store.

Training:

I came back from Santiago with sore feet.  the diagnostic: Plantar Faciatis.  I did not know it could be so painful. My foot is getting better.  Today I have walked 8.5 km and it does not hurt.  The new orthotics and the laser therapy seem to be working.  This is great news for me. Just 3 weeks ago I needed a cane just to go out of the house and I was really beginning to wonder if I would be able to walk el Camino this year.

We attended the Toronto Pilgrims spring meeting last Saturday.  I could not believe the number of people.  The day was still pretty cold but the energy on the room was fantastic. We also had a rally good keynote speaker.  He walked El Camino and the talk was about his experience. But, he is a real comedian so he had us laughing all the time and at the same time he built up our enthusiasm. 

By this time next month we will be in Mexico City visiting family, so everything has to be ready before then.  I also have to deal with the taxes for last year. Not really my favourite task.  Lots of things have to be done.

Tomorrow will be our first hike since before Christmas.  On the one hand my flat tire and on the other one the incredibly cold winter we have had.  We say we will go out on hikes as long as it is not colder than -10 C but this year it was day after day, after day of extreme cold.  Anyway, we have done a lot of mall walking and I discovered that the hall in our condo is 150 steps round trip.  I can go to the hall every couple of hours and walk 600 steps.  That gives me 10,000 steps a day easily or 8 km.  So training has been difficult to say the least but we are doing some walking.

I will find out very soon how much we can walk on the trail.  Today was the fist day over 0 C and tomorrow the temperature  is expected to go up to 6 C.  With all the snow that has accumulated out there we are going to find a lot of slush and mud.  But, it will be fun to finally be OUT!!

Spiritual:

We have the equipment and we are training.  The other aspect of preparation is the spiritual.  I git a couple of books on the Theology of Mary and we also found a book on the apparitions of our Lady at Fatima.  And of course, we are in lent so everything is driving us to be a bit more spiritual.  Last year, my wife says she noticed that I changed in el Camino Frances and for the better.  I hope I can change a bit more this year.

I cannot wait!