three down, thirty-five to go!

By Debra Brunner

Blog – number 2

This week marked the beginning of my training to power walk a marathon, a challenge I’m taking on to help complete the construction of the Brest Jewish cemetery memorial in the southwest of Belarus. Training to walk 26.2 miles on pavement takes 13 weeks, and with my lovely new trainers—super comfy!—headphones, and water on board, I took my first steps toward this goal.

This isn’t my first marathon journey. Back in 2011, I trained like a crazy woman to power walk four marathons in one week. I had purchased a pair of MBT rocker bottom trainers, which I absolutely loved. I was so confident they would carry me through all four marathons with ease. How wrong was I! I trained so much that I literally wore them out, and by the end of my first marathon, I had some pretty gruesome blisters. What was I going to do? I had to get some assistance to bandage up my feet and carry on—marathon two had to be done. But by the end of that one, I was hobbling.

On the third day, I limped to my local sports shop and asked for a good pair of walking trainers. The man in the shop had no idea that under my sports socks, my feet were heavily bandaged. I found a pair that, thankfully, didn’t put pressure on my now-throbbing blisters. I paid, put them on, discarded my MBTs in the nearby waste bin, and walked my third marathon. They tell you never to walk a marathon in a new pair of trainers and that you should make sure you wear your trainers in through weeks of training! Well that rule went straight out the window!  Peeling my socks off at the end of that walk was not an experience I want to repeat! Thankfully, I had four days before my next marathon—which was to take place in Belarus—so for the next three days, I went barefoot and didn’t set foot outside the house. I wasn’t even sure I would find a pair of travel shoes that would get me to Belarus, but the show went on, and marathon four happened without a hitch!

In 2015, I bought a new pair of trainers—this time in purple, my favourite colour—and started afresh with my training for two marathons: one in London in May and one in Minsk in June. This lovely pair did me proud and were my faithful friends, getting me from start to finish in both countries. Having a month to recover between the walks was also a great help!

So here I am again. This week, I clocked up nine miles: three miles on Sunday, three on Tuesday, and three on Thursday. Sunday’s weather was chilly, and I wished I had taken my gloves, as my fingers got pretty cold. But then on Tuesday, the sun was shining, and Thursday was simply glorious—a warm spring day. Walking is truly good for the soul as well as the body. Not only does it get your blood pumping and your muscles working, but it also helps your brain. It clears the mind, stimulates creativity, and offers a different view of the world. When you drive a car, you miss so much—but when you walk, you can truly appreciate the world around you.

My three walks this week took place around Bushey, Hertfordshire, where I live and work. There are some wonderful local village shops and vistas to enjoy. As I walk, my mind strays to the memorial that we are trying to complete by the summer: To all the people who lay buried in the cemetery that for so long have been forgotten; to all the gravestones that will shortly come back to the cemetery land having been lost for decades; to the community in Brest numbering 26,000 Jewish people who had their lives brutally cut short in 1941 when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union; and to the hidden history that will now be told. This is a truly historic and extraordinary project, and I can’t believe we are so close to the finish line. We just need to push hard to raise the final funds required to get it over the line, and I am truly committed to this goal.

People are now starting to sign up to walk, and those who can’t walk have said they will sponsor. If we all pull together, I know we can bring it home. We just have to have a little faith, a bit of stamina and a very good pair of trainers!

To register to walk – (you choose your distance, route and date between April 18^th and June 8th) click here

If you are in the USA – register to walk here

To make a donation – click here

To make a donation in the USA – click here