Latest Blog Posts
During our recent trip to Spain, my friend and fellow coach Susan Baghdadi was telling me the story of an Australian Aborigine who, after his first ever car trip, felt the need to sit down on the ground. When asked why, he said “I am waiting for my soul to catch up.” I’m sure all […]
5. October 2011 We arrived in Santiago today, exhausted and pretty proud of ourselves. Receiving the “compostela,” the certificate from the church that recognizes your pilgrimage, is a pretty special moment. A mass in the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela is enough to move anyone to tears, coupled with the fact that the celebrant recognized […]
3. October 2011 As the day wore on and it got hotter, the storming began. Not the rain kind. The kind where everyone’s sniping about one another, wanting others to back off, or simply being crabby about life in general. This day’s hard. Lots of ascents and descents, a little less scenic and a lot […]
3 October 2011 It’s hot here on the Camino, with weather in the 80s and a cloudless sky. Today I’ve decided to walk the latter part of the day’s trek and ride out the first part in our “sag wagon.” The walkers are passing us by, laden with gear and sweating profusely. I’m in the […]
2. October 2011 A little less fresh and enthusiastic, the group set out for a 20+ km walk today. Group dynamics being what they are, the norming has set in: they’ve got the routine down…get up, eat, bandage/cream/lube up the feet, and pop on the boots. Get water bottles and Camelbaks filled and pile into […]
1. October 2011 Today was the day that the worst imaginable happened: My body ached and I couldn’t keep up with the group. I told them to go on ahead when I really wanted someone to stay with me and cheer me on. We agreed to meet at km marker 100, and when I finally […]
Back in my HR and training days, we talked a lot about group dynamics. When a group of people come together, there’s a process that typically transpires: Forming, Norming, StormStng and Performing. Forming is what our little band of “caministas,” as we call the women who are on this retreat with us, is busy doing […]
Our friend and fellow coach, Michael Trotta, was so excited about our upcoming retreat in Spain that he decided to interview Susan Baghdadi and me about it. I thought you might like to hear the story behind the retreat – why we created it, what our intentions are for it, and what you can expect […]
As mentioned in my last post, day five was the longest day of our walk at 24km. To that point, I hadn’t made it above the high teens during any of our walks. I was determined to go the distance, but wasn’t sure I could. Susan decided that she’d spend much of the walk by […]
Along the Camino de Santiago, yellow arrows point the way. They’re spray painted on walls, trees and pavement. Cement columns adorned with the symbol of the Camino (a scallop shell) provide information, too, letting us know how far we’ve still got to go before we reach our goal. I’d come to rely quite heavily on […]
