Wikdahl finishes third Great Walk
Deroche’s Lori Wikdahl shows off an amethyst, one of her many lucky charms that helped her complete the Great Walk this year in 11 hours and 11 minutes.
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Updated: June 30, 2009 1:40 PM
By Carol Aun
Mission Record
This year’s Great Walk should’ve been no problem for Deroche’s Lori Wikdahl. She had already completed two in the last couple of years and she knew the road well.
But this year, she worried more than ever. She worried about herself. She worried about her health, she worried about her legs and the tendonitis.
“Walking was not fun for me this year,” Wikdahl told The Record. “It was agonizing.”
Months prior to the Great Walk in early June, Wikdahl had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue and bad tendonitis. She was also anemic and fighting vitamin deficiencies. All this in addition to MS, a condition she has been dealing with since the mid-1990s.
Even before the Great Walk, Wikdahl had cut down her training because her feet hurt. She was sleeping a lot more, 12-hour nights, and naps for three or four hours every day. All this rest isn’t good for her because of MS, and she risked her body seizing up.
So Wikdahl continued to walk, as she would rather deal with one pain than her whole body.
“At the start line, I didn’t have the conviction that I would not finish,” said Wikdahl. “I just told myself success was not whether I make it or not; it’s about the attempt.”
As soon as Wikdahl started walking, the familiar feeling overwhelmed her and her feet took over.
“I got into a groove and I stayed there.”
With her son cheering her on, Wikdahl passed checkpoint after checkpoint. By the time she hit the eighth one, her legs were feeling the pain, and had to rest at every one after that until the 12th one, the final one.
Wikdahl finally crossed the finish line in 11 hours and 11 minutes. She was thrilled, and even more pleased she raised close to $1,275 for a community bus for Deroche elementary.
Each year, since Wikdahl discovered the Great Walk, she trains and looks forward to the event. The Great Walk is North America’s toughest pledge walk. It is 63.5 km long and takes walkers from Gold River to Tahsis on Vancouver Island.
Next year, she hopes to finish the walk in less than 10 hours.
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