So, the training for our marathon walk has had a few hiccups since we set ourselves that goal 6 weeks ago.
Both of us have fallen ill at different times, but this weekend we were both fighting fit and we used a great little free app from Ordnance Survey Maps to plan a route near us.
On the app, you can plan a route by tapping points on the footpaths and it calculates how long the walk is and how long it’s likely to take you.
When you’re on the walk it records where you are, and tells you if you’re off course (which happened a couple of times when we were too busy nattering to pay proper attention to where we were going, but on the whole it worked really well).
When you create a route on the app, you can save it and give it a name.
Some people use boring names like “Sunday morning ramble” or “Challenging hilly Medips hike”, but Kev took one look at the shape our route made and said, “That looks like a penis with a saggy ball sack” so we christened it “Penis Saggy Ball Sack Route”.
It was a 15 mile walk, so before we went we made sure we had a rucksack each packed with drinks, spare shirts in case we got sweaty, gloves, hats, tissues, dog bowl, dog lead - all the gear.
I felt I was being fast and super-efficient getting ready that morning.
Was a girl with her shit together and it felt good!
We stopped at the supermarket on the way to the woods to grab some food for the journey, drove the 20 minute journey, parked up, and let Eddie out of the car.
I grabbed my rucksack from the back seat, but noticed I couldn’t see Kev’s.
“Kev. Where’s your bag?”
He looked at me blankly and checked the back seat and boot.
I then noticed the precise millisecond where the Oh Fuck Penny Drop was written all over his face, and he realised he’d left his bag at home.
He was so pissed off with himself.
If he went back home to get it, it would have added 40 minutes to our day, and neither of us wanted to waste that much time.
“Hey, don’t worry!” I said simultaneously feeling bad for him and utterly fantastic that for once it wasn’t me who’d dropped a clanger, “There are two stops on the way we can get extra drinks, and we have all our food here. I even bought Ed extra dog snacks and we have a spare bowl and lead in the car because we know we need to carry duplicates for times like this - we’ll be fine! It’ll add to the feeling of adventure!”
Kev agreed, and we started striding out along the Penis Saggy Ball Sack route.
We both know it’s good to learn from mistakes, so we dissected the morning’s events that lead to the forgotten bag.
He explained something rather surprising to me that was completely off my radar:
“I think I felt rushed by you today,” he said, “I thought we were getting ready together, but then I noticed how quickly you were packing, then I realised you’d gone out to the car and I felt like you wanted me to hurry up, and I rushed out of the door without my bag…”
I was quite shocked to hear him say that.
I was simply in my own zone, feeling like a badass getting my life together ready for the walk, and Kev was hardly on my radar.
It didn't occur to me that he’d forget anything, because he’s usually the one who reminds me to pick up things on my way out.
I had no idea how speedy badass bag-packing was affecting him, and I certainly had no intention of making him feel rushed.
I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of being wired the way I am - sometimes I get so lost in my own thoughts, I forget to check in with my outside world!
So, we made an agreement to help us in the future. We won’t leave the house until we’ve both checked in with each other.
We’ll remind each other to check all the things we need to take, and I’ll be conscious he can make mistakes, too, and not assume he’s always got everything he needs.
It will be known from now on in our house as The Lesson of Penis Saggy Ball Sack (because mad stuff is easier to remember than boring stuff).
We know we’ll make more mistakes in the future because we’re human, but we’re unlikely to make that one again, because whenever I pick up my rucksack I’ll think, “Penis Saggy Ball Sack” and immediately be reminded of Kev.
It’s one of the things I wrote in my journal that day under the section, “What could you have handled better today?”.
Reviewing your day and recording your thoughts is a great way to learn from past mistakes, and if you want to experience that kind of progress yourself, then join us for our next 90 Day Breakthrough intake in April.
It’ll change the way you look at your life forever!