We've walked a thousand kilometres

At the beginning of this year (click here to read more) I began counting the kilometres I was covering while walking the dogs. A national campaign here in Spain, called "Yo doy mis pasos - I donate my steps" is seeking to raise a million euros to help research into the causes and possible cures for multiple sclerosis.

Almost six months have gone by, we've been faithfully counting our steps every day, and today we reached a big milestone: we've clocked up and donated one thousand kilometres! (That's about 620 miles, or a hundred miles every month.)

A friend of mine, a fellow arthritis sufferer, asked me why I do it. "You live with daily pain," she said. "Why on earth would you want to walk so much?" 

And it's true that it would probably be easier to see myself as an "invalid" or a victim of circumstances and add walking to the list of things that I'm "no longer able" to do. Things like unplugging the iron after I've used it, or removing the ring pull lid from a can of cat food; pulling the washing machine forwards to vacuum behind it, or wrestling the double duvet into its duvet cover... 

No! There are already too many things that arthritis has made me unable to do, and so I'm not going to add walking to the "no longer able" list. There's nothing heroic about it; I simply see it as "walking in the opposite spirit." If the dogs and I can clock up and donate kilometres to help in the battle against MS, I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity to do that... and it helps to keep me mobile, too.

There's nothing too impressive about a German Shepherd, or a Labrador or English Setter, walking a thousand kilometres. Hugo, Nelson and Buba are fairly big dogs, with long legs. The pack member who has impressed me the most is little Bonnie, who's a cross between a Pekinese and a Chihuahua. Whether we're climbing mountains, crossing rivers or hiking through forests, Bonnie keeps up valiantly on those short little chihuahua legs. (Can you spot her in the photo above?)

I've never been a fan of small dogs. It's just my personal preference that a dog should be bigger than a cat.  And when you've got a cat as big as my Teddi, that kind of raises the bar even more.  Bonnie weighs 2 kilos less than Teddi, but she weighs 2 kilos more than Tobi, so I guess that technically makes her "bigger than a cat." We're so used to seeing chihuahuas being carried around like accessories in women's handbags, but Bonnie's feistiness and stamina have gone a long way to redeeming my opinion of them. She's living proof that you don't need to let your physical limitations (even those short chihuahua legs) stop you from making life an adventure and doing things that others might think you can't or shouldn't do.

Now that we've achieved our first thousand kilometres, our next goal is to complete another thousand before Christmas. Yes, Bonnie and me too.