There is no cheating

I already posted my run from Triacastela to Sarria on Facebook so I'll just mention here and move on to a somewhat related topic. We had seen people running along the Camino on our last trip and I thought it was an interesting idea. We discovered the 5 euro portage network for our backpacks a few weeks back. I knew I wanted to somehow liven up my walking routine. The stage was set for my half marathon (almost). Janine left about 7 am with her full pack. I ate a chocolate filled croissant (the only food I could find in this sleepy hamlet) and was on my way at about 8:30 with just my water bottle and a few essentials in my slowly decaying rock'n'roll marathon free goodie backpack.

I passed Janine after about an hour and a half and finished about 30 minutes late. It was a great run on roads and trails with a few amazing vistas. I especially liked running by pilgrims that I knew and greeting them by name as a whizzed by. The hips were feeling the distance and all the previous days of hiking during the last 5k but overall it was super to be running again after my ankle injury and more than a month since my last run.

View from my run

I wondered as a I ran - which is harder, running this distance or walking it with full pack. Honestly I think it's about the same, although I imagine that many non-runners that I passed would never think about running that distance. To some extent, it's what you are used to.

Did I cheat today? Sending my pack ahead to unburden myself? I feel fairly certain in saying "There is no cheating". The Camino is what it means to you. Whether you walk the last 100 km as required OR walk some other arbitrary distance (from St Jean or Roncevalles or Irun or Somport or Jerusalem or Paris or...). If you need to take a bus part of the way or do it in parts or take a boat (which was recommended on the Northern way), all of this is okay. What does the Camino mean to you? It seems it should mean more than that piece of paper that you get at the end. Each pilgrim took the time to do something difficult that very few other people chose to do and maybe found some insight along the way. The distance, the mode, and path are all relative. The only person who can say you cheated is you.

P.S. When I skipped out on the Meseta, I certainly cheated myself of a really long, hot, boring part of the trip and chose to sit on the beach for a few of those days. I'm totally okay with that - in fact, I think it was an incredibly important part of my Camino experience.