My first time...

We all remember our first time....its always the most special...this was my first time ever...

Wasn't sure if I should be doing it at all....I mean what if I wasn't physically ready for it...but more than that...I had to be mentally prepared...

Well sometimes these things happen on an impulse...you just get carried away by the whole idea of the experience....

I knew the first time was going tobe difficult and maybe painfull...I was anxious...yet everyone who had done it said it would totally be worth it....it would last a moment...the moment when you feel the high...and that moment of the first tim would remain with me for life...

They say boys boast about their first time...talk about it with the other boys....how did it start....how long did it take....were you nervous when you started out, etc...etc...!

For more than a month now I was reading enough....taken the right kind of protection.....and for the whole week (just to be safe!) before had even eaten the right foods to give me more energy to last longer...as they say....you can never be too prepared!! ;-)

I had got the right clothers, right shoes....everything...everything had to be perfect for the big day....

And then the moment finally started....it took me a bit of time to warm up....I had to set the right pace...not too slow yet not too fast just right to get me through....I mean its not like I was a pro...but soon I was over all the anxiety and the pressure and the stress...I had to...I had to focus....I had to be my best...I couldn't let go mid-way....I couldn't screw-up what was going to be an "out of the world...breathtaking experience"....literally and figuratively....

I came...I walked...and walked...and walked...and walked...and walked some more before finally conquering!!

They say that often the pleasure is in the pain....they also say you see hell when you die....I ain't dead but I did experience hell....and well yeah...I did come out of it alive...and might I say kicking...or..err...limping?

37 hours and 58 minutes, 4 bars of Snickers, more than 200gms of raisins, more than 25 litres of liquids later....I had finally done it....

I had finally completed, for the first time....the arduous 100 km Oxfam Trailwalker....walking through some of the most difficult mountains of Hong Kong......for almost 38 hours non-stop...
The pain, the sweat, the sleeplessness, the fatigue, the blisters, the soreness....and yet the one step on the other side of the finishing line....and I knew I would remember this for life...

Sweet Pain...aah...now I know what its all about!