Walk Don't Run

As I get ready for the next annual MS walk, it occurs to me that I have been using the same pair of running shoes for the previous 3 years. I also remember a bad case of blisters last year. This year I have been walking with some friends on a fairly regular basis just to get some fresh air and exercise. There has been no pain associated with these outings. Nevertheless, I went out and bought some new running shoes. There are so many to choose from. My niece, who is a jogger, recommended a pair. They have gel, a term for some new fangled cushioning I guess. The first pair I tried on felt like I was walking on rocking chairs. Weird! The second pair felt good The third pair felt good and looked good - I liked the colours - so I purchased them. The following day I put them on to break them in. No, that should be, to break my feet in. I have always had trouble acclimatizing my feet to new shoes. Generally, this would involve several weeks of placing bandaids in the appropriate positions until I had built up callouses. After about an hour in my new footwear, I realized these shoes and my feet were not going to get along. I took them back and exchanged them for the second pair I had tried on. These got the same 'indoor' break in and they remained comfortable the entire time. Eureka. They are really light and very wide, look a bit like 'Clown' shoes, as they have the appearance of having been run over by one of those steam rollers used out on the highways.

Wow, this place has changed. I haven't been here in a while and hardly recognize the place. It's been a long, hard winter. Spring is just around the corner and it's time to come out of hibernation.

It will soon be time to walk the walk for MS research. It does amaze me how it can take so much time and so much money and they don't seem to be able to come up with a solution. I refuse to call it a disease until they find the root cause is a virus. Disorder works for me as this condition seems to have me feeling internally dishevelled. How one half of my body feels all cockamamie in relation to the other side. I look perfectly normal. I feel wierd.

When I was a young(er) lady, one winter some time ago, okay decades ago, I had this incredibly fashionable "de rigeur" winter coat. I lived in Montreal after all. You had to dress the part. It was a long coat, sort of in the shape of a military officers overcoat. Double breasted gold buttons, full belt around the waist and it extended to just above the ankle. It had a shiny coating that gave it a nice reflective sheen; a kind of film that encased the fabric. Well, this film was not built for the cold and it soon cracked and peeled right off, just like your skin would a few days after that sunburn.

Well, being adventurous, and wanting to get away from that cold, and the FLQ (see Oct 10 2005 post), I went out west. It was like living in the tropics. A decade there and then I went south to California. That is where things started going south for my health too. Before I was ever given a diagnosis, I can remember thinking that something inside my body was crackling like the surface of that coat. I keep thinking about that coat while I was living in a land where 100 degrees was a normal day time temperature. To make a long story short, unlike that short lived coat, it took two years of tests while they ruled out every other possible cause and gave me my diagnosis. I am happy to report that no big change has happened since then. My abilities seem to be normal. I will do the 3 mile walk for the cause. 5 is now out of the question, but not due to MS, rather the lack of practise. I just don't walk as often as I used to. However, I really feel that I should make an effort to do more of it. That old saying "use it or loose it" comes to mind.

If you can, please walk for the cause. If you can't, please pray for the cause. Let's get to the root of the matter.