Suck it up, buttercup!

April 9, 2017

As the plane door closes, there's an
announcement “this flight is going to Phoenix if this is not your destination you need tog disembark now.”

It sinks in, I am embarking on a 2,000 kilometer trek from the Pyrenees to Rome. It suddenly gets very real. I go over my ‘honey do list’ one last time in my mind, checking off the list ..all the lights off in the house, check and took out the garbage, check. It will be 90 days until I have to be domestic again. 90 days in a different bed every night. I adjust my position in my seat and curse the lack of legroom.

My mind is quickly adjusting to the new transient reality. Always moving. As slow a walker as I am, every step is progress and I get closer to the finish line. The idea of walking 2,000 kilometers was a pipe dream until now. Challenging myself makes me feel alive, because I don’t know what lies ahead which is exciting but I do know that I will finish one way or another. It’s ingrained in my pea brain from doing years of triathlons. Like that sign at the top of the bike mountain at Ironman Canada “Suck it up, buttercup!”

The plane rambles down the runway at a fast clip and lifts off the ground. Time to get moving....