JFK 50 mile challenge

Rcfp

Has anyone on here taken part in this

http://www.50milechallenge.com/

Just looking for some words of advice/warning.

Cheers Rob

mattym

Am half thinking of doing this myself, anyone out there done it before? Would be great to get some further information on it.

BarryD

If it's all on tarmac road, sounds arduous on the old joints. How will they manage traffic? - personally I detest walking long stretches on tarmac. For every car that will slow down out of courtesy, two or three others will rip past. I often think that every car driver should be forced to walk/ cycle on country roads every few months, just to get them out of that metal cocoon and into the real world - see how they feel when some fecker zooms past within a couple of feet of you.

My personal safety strategy on narrow country roads is to deliberately walk in the middle of the road, if I see a car coming on a stretch where they can see you. As they slow, I'll give a friendly wave and then amble in to the side. Obviously you can't do this on bends - you just jump into the ditch.

Alun

There's a big tradition of these in the Netherlands where there are several, maybe 15 or more held every year in different towns. I did this one http://www.kennedymars.nl/ in Someren once back when I lived there. Being mostly along either roads or hard tracks, it's a real killer on the feet and legs I can tell you, but there's a big tradition of such 'marches' over there, so there are plenty of training opportunities over shorter distances to get used to it.

I also did a 55 mile sponsored walk, again all along main roads and at night, when I was at University in Manchester called the Bogle Stroll, which is still held today I believe.

In both cases, I personally found the biggest hurdle was psychological rather than physical, especially for the times I was walking on my own, but then I've never suffered from blisters myself. I know on the marches in the Netherlands that a lot of people get their feet taped up beforehand, but that seems a bit OTT to me.

Donny5

BarryD wrote: »

If it's all on tarmac road, sounds arduous on the old joints.

Having seen this, the challenge has piqued my interest, but I refuse on principal to do any events with minimum sponsorships, and walking doesn't require much in the way of support, so I'm thinking of just picking a route and doing it.

I'm divided between an RFK-style, easy but boring stroll along a canal or a more interesting but tougher route along forest trails.

loobylou

BarryD wrote: »

My personal safety strategy on narrow country roads is to deliberately walk in the middle of the road, if I see a car coming on a stretch where they can see you. As they slow, I'll give a friendly wave and then amble in to the side. Obviously you can't do this on bends - you just jump into the ditch.

Mine is to carry a stick sideways. Drivers will give the end of a stick a wider berth than they do a person, probably because it may scratch their car.
Try it, it works.

BarryD

Yes, that's a good idea too When you're driving along in your shiny metal box, you tend to be focused on things that might damage it!

Walkers, cyclists and mothers pushing buggies don't really figure! I was amazed recently when driving on such a country road to see a woman pushing a buggy with two other young kids in tow. She was on the left hand side - I was approaching from opposite direction. A school bus appears behind her, sees me coming and puts the boot down to get past her, before I reach her... luckily the kids just kept close and the bus whooshed past. I was too surprised to get the number or company.