The Thrill of Victory

And the agony of the feet.

Kim and I agreed to join Bermuda’s End-to-End charity event, held last Saturday. It’s an annual fund raiser whose recipients are mostly, but not entirely, youth- and education-oriented. The way they raise funds is to get people to pledge money to anyone willing to run, bike, walk, swim, or row from one end of the island to the other --- OR --- fortunately, some portion of that distance.

In practice there were several divisions, from an elite bike ride (end-to-end-to-end) which, since the island is about 22 miles long, would be about 66 miles. There were runners/walkers/bikers who did the end-to-end, some who did the middle to end (about 14 miles – and Kim and I walked that distance), and some who did a fun walk of about three miles. Swimmers and rowers had several options, too. Obviously nothing too rigid. The whole idea, of course, was to have fun and raise money.

I was totally impressed with the involvement of people that live on this island. If they didn’t actively participate, they lined the route cheering people on. Absolutely amazing spirit. Especially towards the end, when Kim and I were really dragging our buns, people were shouting encouragement. And at the finish there were sponsor tents with food and drinks and a general party atmosphere. Ferries and buses were there to take us back to where we started.

A few pictures. The one of Kim and me was at about the three-quarter point. It was the last picture taken. After that I was concentrating on just putting one foot in front of the other.













You can bet that we had no plans for Saturday night or Sunday. Recovery was in order. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day and we spent it poolside. The water has warmed up enough to be enjoyable.

Now that we're fully recovered we agreed that we’ll probably do it again next year.