Has anyone ever done a walking marathon

[Itsaboatjack]

Some friends and I are doing the Shine night time walking marathon at the end of September, and it's really starting to worry me that I should have done some actual training for it.

I'm fairly fit, I run a couple of times a week and do 1 or 2 kettle bell sessions, in term time I do walk at least 4 miles a day just doing school runs and I work mostly on my feet. But whilst I'm thinking this is a decent base maybe I should really get some proper training in? But then I don't really have a lot of spare time for fitting in 15/20 mile walks.

Has anyone done one before, do you think I could get away with just winging it and sucking up the pain of recovery after?

Recently walked 26 miles doing 3 peaks challenge! So that was up and down Ben Nevis, scafell pike and snowdon. We did a few long walks in preparation. And we are all reasonably fit. Hard work tho!!

Think you should be ok

I did one in heels (yes I know...). No training it was a spur of the moment thing. My feet were fucked for months. If I had worn ordinary shoes I'm sure they would have been fine. You don't need to train its just walking.

I did this when I was young (16) but even now I regularly walk round trips of around 15 miles and I'm not remotely fit.

I've done three Moonwalks. Agree that decent trainers are important! In terms of training, I did quite a few long walks, but for me, I think the key benefit was getting my head round just how much time it takes to walk 20-odd miles.

Also, given Shine's another night time walk, it's worth having a think about how you'll deal with the sleep deprivation factor - I didn't see anyone drop out due to injury but I saw quite a few people stop because they'd become literally over-tired and emotional.

Hope you have a great time doing it

I've also done the moonwalk and the biggest thing for me was the initial disorientation of walking at night. Prior to the walk itself the furthest I'd walked in one go was 10 miles, I found the atmosphere on the night carried me but it was hard, really hard. That said I would do it again. Keeping hydrated was important and I found energy gels useful for food they were easy to carry and easy to take.

Thanks for the responses. I plan to wear my running trainers, they've clocked up a fair few miles so well worn in.

Thanks for the tip about the sleep deprivation, a friend of mine is a nurse so does night shifts so I'll ask her some tips.

A marathon in heels my feet are curling up at just the though!

Compeed blister plasters are a godsend. I put them on my heels at the start and they saved my heels but nothing saved my poor old bruised toes. Carry some with you, just in case.