32.3 miles, 1,300’ gain, 1,100’ loss, 8:45
Mind
Today I started out in light rain. Since I choose the ‘via Romana’ route yesterday afternoon, I’m on a more scenic Camino route for ~25km this morning. I only saw two people and a train as I rain through the country. Most of the trail was on Roman roads built 2,000 years ago! It was great to feel the connection to millennia of humanity that have walked the same path. Yesterday a pilgrim reminded me that the Romans built the roads on migration paths used by people before the Romans, so the paths are much older than Roman time. While the the top stones have been removed, I walk on the same foundations with a couple inches of new gravel. The road travels through swampland and is still standing! Talk about built to last.
The second half of the day was through the suburbs of Leon and the city itself. My timing was poor as all the churches in Leon were closed because of siesta, except for one. I happened to be in it during a 5 minute downpour.
I love this statue. For me it expressed the challenge of the Camino in the past with today. (I’ve sat like this, but with my running shoes off instead of sandals.) He’s leaning against a cross, which was a reminder for me that God supports us all.
Body
I walked for the first 5 miles and then started running. The shin pain came back very slowly until after 10 miles I started walking again. The pain was tolerable, but I walked the second half of the day to make sure it doesn’t get worse. In hindsight, I think the cold is playing a role in my leg issues. Since today was rainy and cold, my leg muscles felt tight walking – even though I had stretched and rolled them out before leaving. When I was running, I could feel my tight calves. With some hindsight, I think part of my shin issue is a tight calf that was pulling on the other muscles/tendons/fascia to cause shin pain. (This theory was partially confirmed later when there was less pain when it was warm or immediately after I rolled out my calves.)
Spirit
Today I stayed prayerful walking through city. After walking the Camino for 10 days, I’ve realized how many things try to vie for our attention in the city: lights, people, stores, advertisements, vehicles, …. Jesus walks with us in the city too.
At the end of the day, I stayed at a hotel instead of a hostel. I was thinking that an Epsom salt bath would really help, if not cure my shin splints. All the pharmacies were closed when I walked through Leon so I couldn’t get Epsom salts, but I stayed about 5km outside Leon and thought I could get them in the suburbs. Check-in took a while – they had a water issue/burst pipe and I heard a woman wailing over the issue upstairs. I was so tired, I struggled with being impatient even though the water issue was much bigger than mine. Patience is not my strong suite.
My quest for Epsom salts began. The two pharmacies and grocery store in walking distance of the hotel didn’t have them. I took a bus into Leon. (As a side note, I had a nice ‘pseudo-conversation’ with two older women on the bus. While I struggle with Spanish, I feel that I’m able to relate more with other people since being on the Camino, even with the language barrier.) I went to four different pharmacies. Everyone kept pointing me to another pharmacy. On my way to the last pharmacy before giving up, I walked by a natural products store, walked in, and found it! I think the store had just closed, but I’m not sure. So after ~1-2 hours and several kilometers of walking, I my quest was successful! I was going to get dinner in Leon and then head back. It started to rain. Shoot, I left my clothes outside drying! So I decided to catch the bus back. I had taken the 1A bus into Leon and got on the 1 bus to head back. It started driving in almost the opposite direction! Did I get on the wrong bus? After a couple stops, I got off to cut my losses and try to find a cab. As the bus drove away, it took a right on the road that I would eventually travel to get back to my hotel. I found a cab after 10 minutes and got back to my hotel. Sure enough, it wasn’t raining at my hotel.
Did I make a mistake and get on the wrong bus? Where the 1A and 1 bus lines different? Should I have trusted that I was on the right path for longer? Or was it right to take a different path when I did? So much self-doubt.
I had dinner (not the greatest) and took my Epsom salt bath. With all the running around, I got to sleep late and didn’t have much time off my feet.
The next day, my shin still hurt. I spent a lot of time thinking about today. Was I on a quest for something external / a magic bullet / a panacea to solve all my problems? After not finding Epsom salts at three places close by, should I have just iced and elevated my shin, stayed off my feet, eaten and early dinner, and slept? Sometimes I feel like I get fixated on some external thing to solve my problems (I really need data from this person to make a plan, if I just had x, I could get this done, …). Or do I already have the solution in my head/heart? Is there a way to solve the problem without a thing? Rest, elevation, and ice were all at my fingertips, which is the tried and true treatment method for muscular issues. A few YouTube videos to get some new stretches where right on my phone.
How can I stop being fixated on one solution or thing and open my eyes to other possibilities that might be easier and better?