Ruiz’s Pilgrimage 2017 – My Pilgrimage

   February has just started. It’s less than four months to 27th May. It may seem a long time, but time flies and before you can even notice we’ll be feeling that mild anxiety which appears on the day before the Pilgrimage. 

   That mild anxiety is caused by the fear of getting injured. However, it is mixed with a huge willingness to use my legs and stretch them out along the northern paths.

  Our training plan is already organised until easter. Nevertheless, it would be good if we challenged ourselves a little from time to time.

  Let your legs work as hard as they can for a while and then see how you feel and identify the sensations you experience. This is a good way of evaluating how well prepared you are for the Pilgrimage.

  The other day somebody asked me insistently: “Why do you do this Pilgrimage to Santiago so many times? Why do you make such a useless effort? This person told me it was something silly, a trend, and that we were all crazy. And well, not only crazy, but also manipulated and without personality.

  Of course, I respect those who think that, but if we started to speak about manipulation, silly things and empty personalities, I’m sure the conversation could go on and on until 27th May.

   I think I have already explained in the blog what the Pilgrimage means to me. I don’t mind doing it again, though. 

   In fact, the Pilgrimage, the Camino de Santiago, is different for each pilgrim. The way in which each person experiences it is unique.

     The Pilgrimage, my Pilgrimage, started as a way of challenging my age, my physical and mental state: a little fight against time. My Pilgrimage is a ‘safe’ adventure, a way of embracing nature, a pause in my daily routine.

    I cannot describe what I feel on top of a lonely mountain, looking at threatening clouds, with the wind caressing or slapping my face, depending on its mood. I am not able to describe that sensation of finishing a 42 km stage feeling ready for the next day: listening to the silence sometimes and also the forest’s voice; your own fight with your body… That’s indescribable.   

  My Pilgrimage is made of feelings, reencounters, reconciliations, thoughts, creation, experimenting, laughter and tears.

     To sum up, my Pilgrimage makes me aware of how small we are and what an amount of time we waste on stupid things.

   I hope you understand me. However, if you don’t, then you should join me in the Ruiz’s Pilgrimage 2017 and experience it. You’ll repeat, I’m sure. The Pilgrimage to Santiago y quite addictive.

                          Buen Camino!