Saturday, May 03, 2014

Starting to Prepare!

My preparation for the Camino de Santiago is underway and I thought I would begin to blog about the process of getting in shape for the long walk in September.

I plan to leave Tulsa on September 8, 2014 and travel to Paris. From there I will travel to Bayonne, France and on to Saint Jean Pied de Port, the starting point of el Camiño Francés. I hope to begin the walk on September 14, 2014.

El Camiño Francés begins at the base of the Pyrenees Mountains that comprise the border between France and Spain. The length of the Camino is roughly 800 kilometers, or 500 miles. With this in mind I will need to walk about 25 kilometers a day to finish the camino in thirty three days. I want to take a few days off during the trip to see the sights along the way and of course may need to let my body recuperate, so my preparation is to get my body used to walking from five to ten miles each day in the month of May. I plan to increase this to an average of ten miles per day in June and be up to walking fifteen miles per day several days in July. I believe that if I can be accustomed to walking at least three hours a day, every day, I can be ready for the walk physically.

The other aspect of a long walk is mental. Some persons have difficulty unplugging from this present world and its constant bombardment with noise, information, music, and conversation. I desire to fully unplug from this artificial world and its attractions and be fully present to the sights and sounds of the camino.

Quiero tener la experiencia completa y conocer los personas, o la gente, en Espana.

I want to have the complete experience and know the people of Spain.

I trust that you can tell that part of how I am preparing my mind for the journey is to study, and learn Castillian Spanish. I have a friend, mi amigo Bob Pennison. Bob and his wife Teri are missionaries in Spain and as it turns out are living in Santiago. Their presence there was part of the confirmation that I needed to know that this trip was right for me. Bob is here in Tulsa this summer and will be returning to Santiago about the time I begin my trip. We will meet up in Santiago as I complete my journey.

Bob has agreed to work on speaking Spanish with me and we have had two sessions so far. I am writing out paragraphs in Spanish and then practicing speaking with Bob. He listens to see if I am understood and then adds hints and insights on pronunciation and changes that need to be made. I also have been using a Pimsleur course and utilize mnemonics to assist me in memorizing the top 1000 Spanish words. Mentally I find myself speaking to myself in Spanish and as I practice with Bob and in the Hispanic community in Tulsa. The more I practice the more confident I become in my conversation. I believe that I can already communicate enough to find my way and get food and drink. I can ask for help and assistance if ill. The other mental work is to help me mentally stay focused on the goal.
Puedo communicar sufficente para direccion a hacer comida y bebida. (Spanish speakers please correct my poor translation from memory).

Needless to say I am quite excited by the prospect.

I walked seven miles on Thursday and eight on Friday making a total of fifteen miles so far in the month of May.  I want to hit the five mile average and so far am ahead of the game. I have developed my memorization list and will work on getting the "A" and "B" words into my memory plan this weekend in order to have at least 250 words committed to memory by the end of May.

A final aspect, and one that probably should be the first in the list, is my spiritual focus. I have been in spiritual transition for over five years, since 2009. This transition is positive in that my walk with the Lord is stronger than ever before. I find that my connection with the institutional church is almost non-existent. This transition is curious to me and part of my spiritual journey is to look at the draw of the Camino, and pilgrimage in general as I walk along the way. I am learning to simply receive the Love of God when I am tempted to judge others. This simple way of gratitude for having a resource to fill my lack of love assists me in resisting the call to be "right" and attempts to judge others as being "wrong". I am more at peace with this process and get ample opportunity to practice as I prepare for the Camino.

So there it is for early May. I am looking at the preparation of my spirit, mind and body in concrete ways. I am blogging this in order to be accountable for the work that I desire to do.