I have been bitten by the long distance walking bug, having completed my first 100km trailwalker in Sydney last year. However having a busy life and family commitments I am unable to walk several hours a day and sign up for more crazy challenges like that, at least until the kids get bigger anyway. But I somehow set my mind for looking out for one challenge a year, and at last I found something for 2014 - the "WIENRUNDUMADUM" - a brand new long distance walk around Vienna - as the name suggests.
Wien Rundumadum is an Ultra Trail Run which goes around the City of Vienna. The event will take place on Nov 1, 2014 and the Start will be at 7 am. Thankfully they welcome walkers also - and they offer two distances, 120 kilometers (that is the all around Vienna) - and 60 kilometers. Since I only found out about a couple of weeks ago - I didn't dare to sign up for the 120 k challenge. Knowing my abilities and fitness quite well, this would be rather impossible to train up within a month. There is always the factor "time" as well, that has to be taken into account. Walking takes a LONG, LONG time. If you want to train for long distances, you have to walk long distances.
But I'll be fine with the 60 k's - just the right goal to get fit again and to squeeze in a nice long walk every week-end in the lead up to the event and a few shorter walks during the week. Even convinced my husband to join in which is great - when walking (especially long distances) there always is a lot of time to talk, reflect and make plans. And I think that after our first year back in Austria, this is good for us.