healing

There's been progress in my foot's healing. Compare the two photos below. The first is from 10/25, and the second is from yesterday (10/31):

as of October 25, just after coming back to my place to recuperate

Halloween, a day ago

While it still hurts a bit to walk on that open dermis (yes, I slather on ointment and bandage it up twice a day), and the exposed area still likes to weep clear fluid (no blood), the skin is obviously a lot better than when I'd just come back. I'm not sure whether I'll be ready to go on November 9 at this rate, and I'm prepared to delay a week more if necessary. I think November 16 ought to do it, what with the skin so obviously closing up again. I'll keep the area clean; salt baths, however, will eventually have to stop in favor of letting the wound dry in the open air. Moisture is ultimately the enemy, keeping the sole's skin too soft for long walks. And as long as there's an angry red patch in the middle, not even a tape-over with gauze and Leukotape will prevent re-injury should I try to walk while my foot is like that. I can guarantee, though, that even when the foot is healed, I'm going to be a lot more Leukotape-happy this time around. Luckily, by switching to the weekend-only format, the foot will continue to heal between walking sessions. I may have to buy a lot of gauze in preparation, though: the reason such sores form to begin with has everything to do with friction and pressure.

At present, my new schedule (also visible here) looks like this:

11/9 (Sat.): Daegu Hong-C Motel to Daegu If Hotel (25K)
11/10 (Sun.): Daegu If Motel to Chilgok-gun Lee Motel (33K)
11/16 (Sat.): Chilgok-gun Lee Motel to Libertar Pension (32K)
11/23 (Sat.): Libertar Pension to Sangju Havana Motel (23K)

11/24 (Sun.): Sangju Havana Motel to Sangju Bobos Motel (25K, by the terminal)

11/30 (Sat.): Sangju Bobos Motel to Yecheon-gun Jibo-myeon Daeseon Motel (36K)

12/7 (Sat.): Daeseon Motel to Andong City, Songhak Motel (30K)

12/8 (Sun.): Songhak Motel to Andong Dam (27K)

I bolded 11/30 for two reasons: (1) that's the longest segment on the route after the 40K segment that killed my foot, and (2) it marks the point where I turn from the Four Rivers trail (which would lead me to Incheon) to the Nakdong River trail, which goes east to Andong. I've never stayed at the Bobos Motel before, but next to the bus terminal is a motel-rich area, so I'll have no problem finding a place to stay. I've stayed at Daeseon before, but not the Songhak (last time, it was the Da-u), so this will also be a new experience. If something isn't to my liking though, and if there's another nearby place to stay, I'll simply move over to that place. The final day ought to be pretty straightforward.

There's going to be a real temptation, if my foot heals nicely, to ask my boss whether I can just do the rest of the walk straight through. But that would risk re-injury, and besides, the boss has me working on another project at the office since his understanding is that I'll be walking only on weekends starting on the 9th.

You'll have noticed that, for some of the weekends listed above, I'm walking only on Saturday, whereas there are other weekends when I'll be walking on Sunday. The reason should be obvious: if the Saturday walk is over 30K, I don't want to risk re-injuring myself on the Sunday walk. So 11/16 is Saturday only, and 11/30 is definitely Saturday only.

So there we have it: foot healing proceeds apace, and the above is my schedule past Pearl Harbor Day. I'll so what photo-uploading, enlarging, captioning, and commenting I can during the week between sessions. In theory, I'll be done before New Year's.

More soon! As I get closer to departure time, I'll have weather reports.