The rest day in Logroño helped mind, body and spirit. As I left the city, the Camino was overflowing with locals, mostly the rich, track suit-wearing, housewife type. They were all walking and talking as fast as they could.. There were hundreds of them. All walking the same direction I was. I have no idea where they were all going. It was very difficult to maintain my own pace and sense of peace. I found myself getting very stressed, so I took a deep breath and let it all go.
I finally walked free of the crowd and had a chance to catch my breath before starting up another big hill. Remember those stories your grandpa always told you about walking five miles to school, in the snow, uphill both ways? Yeah, well he obviously went to school in Spain. But I guess the ups and downs on the Camino, as in life, are finally over when death comes around. On the Camino, the portion known as the Meseta is often compared to how most people perceive death. A long, vast nothingness.
I'm thinking if death can get me out of all these hills, that might be something I'm looking forward to. Today instead of struggling against the hill, I found myself reciting a new mantra that seemed to help. "I am fast enough. I am healthy. I am strong." Somehow the hill didn't seem so big.
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