Wed 27th May 9.56PM We made it! (Just) Got to Ustron with 12 minutes to spare (Still the earliest Ed has ever arrived at a station) after walking for seven days and 1 night and grabbing a kindly taxi driver for the last dash to the train. Piotr's feet are, to use the technical medical term, f*****, Ed's ankles have swollen to the size of his calves and his right knee has enough enough fluid in it to fill two moderately sized egg cups but the pain is over so we're happy. Its been an amazing experience in which we've learned a lot about walking, life, people, pain, blisters, sticks, mountains, pain, trees, dogs, pain, drugs and each other not necessarily in that order. There's a lot of people we need to thank starting with the most important: Nurofen. Your Plus tablets may have meant we can't remember Day 5 and are hazy on 6 and 7 but that's probably a good thing. We'd seriously like to thank all the people who supported us over the past week and during our training. Its been a real boost to get your messages, especially when we've woken at 4 in the morning with the prospect of severe pain ahead (And that was just the walk to the toilet). Many thanks to Fafik the dog, a loyal and friendly companion, who walked for 36 km with us on day 6 and then peed all over the shelter where we stayed the night without paying (Thanks to Marcin and Robert for slipping us a key). A final big thank you goes to Jacek who has kept the website updated as we've gone along. Thanks again, big love to you all for the support and donations and watch this space in future because we haven't yet learned our lesson and we'll continue to live Life By Misadventure for many years to come... Piotr and Ed Facebook status updates made during The Run by Piotr and Ed: |
Wed 27th May 8.33AM Piotr and Ed think the trick to the last day will be the doubling the pain-killers... oh, wait, we are already taking a double dosage. |
Wed 27th May 7.39AM Ed and Piotr walked for 33 hours yesterday with three 20 min naps and dinner. Ouch. But on the plus side today is the last day, not long to go now... |
Tue 26th May 8.55PM Piotr and Ed are facing the inevitable: if we want to retain our chances for completing the challenge we need to get good at night-time pathfinding. |
Mon 25th May 10.50PM Ed and Piotr are preparing to go all night! Things are looking up... |
Mon 25th May 9.53PM Piotr Holysz thinks that every day of this trip provides a lifetime of experience. We are getting close to our deadline. These next two days will be super-tough. |
Mon 25th May 12.50PM Piotr: putting on shoes this morning was a bit of a challenge. We are now past the route half-mark. |
Mon 25th May 7.25AM Ed wonders how many roads a man must walk down before you can call him an ambulance. |
Sun 24th May 10.32PM Piotr and Ed have done 48% of the distance in 53% of the time... hopefully the rain won't hold us up any longer. |
Sun 24th May 2.17PM Piotr Holysz loves the feeling of a sugary drink flooding his stomach after a good chunk of the road. |
Sun 24th May 12.21PM Piotr promises that if he and Ed survive this trip, there is going to be lots of storytelling about DAY 3. Ed hopes history will treat him kindly. |
Sun 24th May 12.20PM Piotr and Ed have last night found a nice place to stay but unfortunately no cell phone reception...Day 4 begins with lots of pain. |
Sat 23rd May 3.55PM Piotr and Ed are passing by the Polish Valley of Death near Dukla. |
Sat 23rd May 12.39PM Piotr: rain, rain go away... come again another day... |
Sat 23rd May 6.32AM Ed is waiting for the pharmacy to open so Piotr can get some more blister plasters. His feet are not pretty after 18 hours walking yesterday. This is as difficult as it gets. |
Fri 22nd May 10.35PM Piotr and Ed impeded by the rain have come short of today's target by 5km. Today was real hard core: running, jogging, jumping, walking, climbing, mud butt-sliding... |
Fri 22nd May 2.52PM Piotr: oi... I didn't order rain for this trip. This should be interesting... |
Fri 22nd May 12.13AM Ed is hurting after 35km this morning. Why does my brain make this worse by putting Gwen Stefani and Rod Stewart on a loop? |
Fri 22nd May 11.55AM Piotr: the crisis is over... 35km down, 50 to go. Thank you for all your warm words and support! |
Fri 22nd May 10.18AM Piotr is learning how to disregard the pain.... those damn downhills. |
Fri 22nd May 4.13AM Piotr and Ed are hitting the road on DAY 2. |
Thurs 21st May 10.07PM Piotr and Ed are done for the day. Nearly 70km done but it was the 3km up that was most brutal. Off for much needed rest... |
Thurs 21st May 9.12PM Ed is in considerable pain. Only 460km to go. |
Thurs 21st May 3.15PM Piotr is about to witness two paragliders set out to hover over the Bieszczady mountains and reckons this might be the next challenge. (Do the trail in one go obviously) Ed reckons that we're probably more nuts than the paragliders and that they're more nuts than the Snickers he's eating. |
Thurs 21st May 10.59AM Piotr's sunblock SPF 50... out. Good there is no one here since both Ed's and my faces are completely white. |
Thurs 21st May 10.57AM Piotr Holysz is |
Thurs 21st May 9.51AM Piotr: how would you feel if you had to run a half-marathon to get your breakfast and a marathon to get your lunch? :-) (Post-Race Ed: We didn't even get any bloody lunch...) |
Thurs 21st May 9.39AM Ed seriously misunderestimated how hard this would be. (Post-Race Ed: I still had no idea even then...) |
Thurs 21st May 5.25AM Piotr and Ed are taking their first steps on the trail. Breakfast in 20 km :-) |
Wed 20th May 10.33PM Piotr and Ed are in Wolosate. We start in 6 hours. |