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Camino Francés in 18 Days from SJPDP

DrGio

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances, August 2024
Hi all,

doing the Camino Francés was one of my childhood dreams. I grew up hearing epic stories about it, and wanted to be a part of it.

Like everyone, however, I have my quirks, and wanted to do a number of things that many would consider at best unorthodox.

The biggest “quirk” was that I wanted to run large chunks of my Camino. I’m an ultramarathon runner and have been running in excess of 4000 km per year for a long time. Over the summer, I also do a lot of my running on the Alps, and often climb in excess of 2000m in a day. As I was doing my research pre-Camino, there was very little information targeted at people “like me”, so I hope that this post might be of use to someone with a similar approach and habits.

My Camino was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my – rather lofty – expectations, but reading through the posts of other forum users, it predictably came with some differences and trade-offs.

For starters, I had to plan everything in advance. To many on the Camino, this could be a problem, but to someone like me it was perfect. I love having plans and spreadsheets, and was really happy to book my accommodation 24 hours in advance, have a target distance for the day etc.

Another huge difference was that I got to interact with many wonderful people, but never came to have a “Camino family” like so many people here did. I would meet people in the evening, chat with them, and then at best say hello in the morning before quite literally running away.

Most mornings the alarm would go off at some point between 4 and 5 am (depending not so much on the length of the stage, but on how hot it was likely to get by the afternoon – who would have ever thought, Spain in August can be quite warm…) and I’d be out bright and early, trying to cover the first 20k in a couple of hours before taking it easier as the legs got tired and the temperatures increased. On average, I would cover about 45 km per day in roughly 6 hours – the only short stage for me was the last one, as I decided to sleep in Lavacolla and get to Santiago bright and early the following morning when things were a bit quieter (as for many of you out there, I found the crowds after Sarria a bit overwhelming).

As far as equipment was concerned, my backpack was rather minimal, at just 19 litres, but it did contain everything I needed, and in the end I opted for some of my most trusted road running shoes (something that not everyone might agree on, but I’m used to running with them on all sorts of terrains), and I clearly had a rechargeable head torch, otherwise moving in the darkness would have been way too dangerous!

I also discovered that no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to ingest the 5000-odd daily calories that one burns while doing something like this. Yet, a solid diet based on Jelly Beans and potato tortillas can help you, at least for a little while. As for hydration, I developed a mild addiction to Kas and never allowed myself an alcoholic drink (I know, I missed out!) until a fellow pilgrim I helped reporting a stolen credit card in Castromaior bought me a beer as a thank you.

I started out to test the limits of what was enjoyable for me (yes, my idea of enjoyment might be twisted, but hey!), although clearly there were many points when I was testing the limits of pain too. Tendons felt like they were about to explode at times (soaking my feet in the streams at the end of a stage was such a wonderful experience!), blisters obviously made things uncomfortable on some days, and a stupid fall on the Pyrenees could have brought my journey to an end before it had even really started.

But I just wanted to say that if there are any long-distance runners out there who are wondering “can one run the Camino?” the answer is that one can, but it comes at a cost. It’s definitely not something that anyone can do, and even a lot of the people who could do it would probably prefer a more relaxed approach, but it worked for me.

In case people find it helpful, below you can find how I ended up splitting my stages. I know a lot of you might think of me as a bit weird, but hey aren’t we all?!?

Thanks for reading!

Gio

Day 1: SJPDP – Bizkarreta (35.8 km), the downhill to Roncesvalles was tricky to run on, from Ronscesvalles on it was beautiful to let the legs go!

Day 2: Bizkarreta – Obanos (51.3 km), the downhill from the Alto del Perdón is just NOT runnable…

Day 3: Obanos – Los Arcos (46 km), in Estella I was “welcomed” by a marching band at 8 am – my idea of a party!

Day 4: Los Arcos – Navarrete (41.2 km), one of the days in which I felt that I could have gone for longer, but had to actively remind myself that the Camino was just at the beginning and I shouldn’t have pushed it too much too soon

Day 5: Navarrete to Belorado (59 km), so much of the way after Santo Domingo de la Calzada was besides the motorway, so I wanted to get it out in one go

Day 6 – Belorado to Burgos (48 km), after Atapuerca I was feeling a bit tired, so I took the most direct route to Burgos, which ended up being one of my few regrets – going through Castañares would have added 500 metres or so, but would have spared me the industrial outskirts of the city

Day 7 – Burgos to Castrojeriz (41.3 km), I’m not quite sure I’ve ever run through (literally!) anything as cool as the Convento de San Antón

Day 8 – Castrojeriz to Carrion de Los Condes (45.3 km), a typical example of the need to plan if approaching the Camino in this way – had I not had accommodation booked in Carrion de Los Condes, I would have either had to go back to the previous town, or push on for another 17 km to the next one

Day 9 – Carrion de Los Condes to El Burgo Ranero (56.3 km), I must admit I absolutely loved the Meseta and stopping in this small little village

Day 10 – El Burgo Ranero to Leon (37 km), again I was looking for a relatively “short” stage, and Leon is obviously such a beautiful place to stop

Day 11 – Leon to Murias de Rechivaldo (55 km), I was a bit worried about being around too many people in Astorga, so I decided to push on, and it ended up being a great decision

Day 12 – Murias de Rechivaldo to Ponferrada (48 km), going down to Molinaseca was easily the most technical part of the Camino for me (and the one moment in which I almost reconsidered my decision to have running shoes). That descent was a very slow and careful walk for me!

Day 13 – Ponferrada to Las Herrerias (42.3 km), Villafranca ended up being the place on the Camino where I wished I could have stopped for longer, but I wanted to get to the bottom of O Cebreiro soon as I was intimidated by it!

Day 14 – Las Herrerias to Triacastela (29.3 km), a “very short” stage because of my apprehensiveness about O Cebreiro. Turns out my legs were in much better shape than I thought at that point and got to the Albergue way too early!

Day 15 – Triacastela to Castromaior (49.3 km), really happy to have stayed “mid-stage” for this one, as the first day with the Sarria crowds was very tricky mentally (also, in an effort to “run away” from the crowd – I somehow managed to get lost!)

Day 16 – Castromaior to Melide (29.4 km), by this time I had booked my return flight and realized I could take it a bit easier (and allow myself the luxury of a hotel room…)

Day 17 – Melide to Lavacolla (43.3 km), I got to the albergue before check-in time and spent a lot of time wondering whether I should have just pushed on to Santiago on that day. Really glad I didn’t

Day 18 – Lavacolla to Santiago (10.3 km), early wake up, number 5 in the queue for the Compostela, and one of the most incredible journeys of my life in the books!
,
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Hi all,

doing the Camino Francés was one of my childhood dreams. I grew up hearing epic stories about it, and wanted to be a part of it.

Like everyone, however, I have my quirks, and wanted to do a number of things that many would consider at best unorthodox.

The biggest “quirk” was that I wanted to run large chunks of my Camino. I’m an ultramarathon runner and have been running in excess of 4000 km per year for a long time. Over the summer, I also do a lot of my running on the Alps, and often climb in excess of 2000m in a day. As I was doing my research pre-Camino, there was very little information targeted at people “like me”, so I hope that this post might be of use to someone with a similar approach and habits.

My Camino was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my – rather lofty – expectations, but reading through the posts of other forum users, it predictably came with some differences and trade-offs.

For starters, I had to plan everything in advance. To many on the Camino, this could be a problem, but to someone like me it was perfect. I love having plans and spreadsheets, and was really happy to book my accommodation 24 hours in advance, have a target distance for the day etc.

Another huge difference was that I got to interact with many wonderful people, but never came to have a “Camino family” like so many people here did. I would meet people in the evening, chat with them, and then at best say hello in the morning before quite literally running away.

Most mornings the alarm would go off at some point between 4 and 5 am (depending not so much on the length of the stage, but on how hot it was likely to get by the afternoon – who would have ever thought, Spain in August can be quite warm…) and I’d be out bright and early, trying to cover the first 20k in a couple of hours before taking it easier as the legs got tired and the temperatures increased. On average, I would cover about 45 km per day in roughly 6 hours – the only short stage for me was the last one, as I decided to sleep in Lavacolla and get to Santiago bright and early the following morning when things were a bit quieter (as for many of you out there, I found the crowds after Sarria a bit overwhelming).

As far as equipment was concerned, my backpack was rather minimal, at just 19 litres, but it did contain everything I needed, and in the end I opted for some of my most trusted road running shoes (something that not everyone might agree on, but I’m used to running with them on all sorts of terrains), and I clearly had a rechargeable head torch, otherwise moving in the darkness would have been way too dangerous!

I also discovered that no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to ingest the 5000-odd daily calories that one burns while doing something like this. Yet, a solid diet based on Jelly Beans and potato tortillas can help you, at least for a little while. As for hydration, I developed a mild addiction to Kas and never allowed myself an alcoholic drink (I know, I missed out!) until a fellow pilgrim I helped reporting a stolen credit card in Castromaior bought me a beer as a thank you.

I started out to test the limits of what was enjoyable for me (yes, my idea of enjoyment might be twisted, but hey!), although clearly there were many points when I was testing the limits of pain too. Tendons felt like they were about to explode at times (soaking my feet in the streams at the end of a stage was such a wonderful experience!), blisters obviously made things uncomfortable on some days, and a stupid fall on the Pyrenees could have brought my journey to an end before it had even really started.

But I just wanted to say that if there are any long-distance runners out there who are wondering “can one run the Camino?” the answer is that one can, but it comes at a cost. It’s definitely not something that anyone can do, and even a lot of the people who could do it would probably prefer a more relaxed approach, but it worked for me.

In case people find it helpful, below you can find how I ended up splitting my stages. I know a lot of you might think of me as a bit weird, but hey aren’t we all?!?

Thanks for reading!

Gio

Day 1: SJPDP – Bizkarreta (35.8 km), the downhill to Roncesvalles was tricky to run on, from Ronscesvalles on it was beautiful to let the legs go!

Day 2: Bizkarreta – Obanos (51.3 km), the downhill from the Alto del Perdón is just NOT runnable…

Day 3: Obanos – Los Arcos (46 km), in Estella I was “welcomed” by a marching band at 8 am – my idea of a party!

Day 4: Los Arcos – Navarrete (41.2 km), one of the days in which I felt that I could have gone for longer, but had to actively remind myself that the Camino was just at the beginning and I shouldn’t have pushed it too much too soon

Day 5: Navarrete to Belorado (59 km), so much of the way after Santo Domingo de la Calzada was besides the motorway, so I wanted to get it out in one go

Day 6 – Belorado to Burgos (48 km), after Atapuerca I was feeling a bit tired, so I took the most direct route to Burgos, which ended up being one of my few regrets – going through Castañares would have added 500 metres or so, but would have spared me the industrial outskirts of the city

Day 7 – Burgos to Castrojeriz (41.3 km), I’m not quite sure I’ve ever run through (literally!) anything as cool as the Convento de San Antón

Day 8 – Castrojeriz to Carrion de Los Condes (45.3 km), a typical example of the need to plan if approaching the Camino in this way – had I not had accommodation booked in Carrion de Los Condes, I would have either had to go back to the previous town, or push on for another 17 km to the next one

Day 9 – Carrion de Los Condes to El Burgo Ranero (56.3 km), I must admit I absolutely loved the Meseta and stopping in this small little village

Day 10 – El Burgo Ranero to Leon (37 km), again I was looking for a relatively “short” stage, and Leon is obviously such a beautiful place to stop

Day 11 – Leon to Murias de Rechivaldo (55 km), I was a bit worried about being around too many people in Astorga, so I decided to push on, and it ended up being a great decision

Day 12 – Murias de Rechivaldo to Ponferrada (48 km), going down to Molinaseca was easily the most technical part of the Camino for me (and the one moment in which I almost reconsidered my decision to have running shoes). That descent was a very slow and careful walk for me!

Day 13 – Ponferrada to Las Herrerias (42.3 km), Villafranca ended up being the place on the Camino where I wished I could have stopped for longer, but I wanted to get to the bottom of O Cebreiro soon as I was intimidated by it!

Day 14 – Las Herrerias to Triacastela (29.3 km), a “very short” stage because of my apprehensiveness about O Cebreiro. Turns out my legs were in much better shape than I thought at that point and got to the Albergue way too early!

Day 15 – Triacastela to Castromaior (49.3 km), really happy to have stayed “mid-stage” for this one, as the first day with the Sarria crowds was very tricky mentally (also, in an effort to “run away” from the crowd – I somehow managed to get lost!)

Day 16 – Castromaior to Melide (29.4 km), by this time I had booked my return flight and realized I could take it a bit easier (and allow myself the luxury of a hotel room…)

Day 17 – Melide to Lavacolla (43.3 km), I got to the albergue before check-in time and spent a lot of time wondering whether I should have just pushed on to Santiago on that day. Really glad I didn’t

Day 18 – Lavacolla to Santiago (10.3 km), early wake up, number 5 in the queue for the Compostela, and one of the most incredible journeys of my life in the books!
,
Welcome to the Forum, Gio! It sounds as though you had a wonderful Camino. As you said, doing it this way is not for everyone, but you are a runner and it made sense to you to run your Camino. Thank you for the very helpful information you have provided. There have been others on the Forum who have asked about running, but rarely have other members been able to assist with practical details - your post will be very helpful to those who want to follow in your footsteps! I'm a non- runner myself, but can definitely understand the love of running that makes it a natural choice of pace, for the Camino or elsewhere.
 
Last edited:
Perfect memento/gift in a presentation box. Engraving available, 25 character max.
Not weird at all my friend, many able pilgrims walk those daily distances.
Thanks for the advice with the Jellybeans; eating/drinking is always the hardest part of my Camino.
Would be interested in the brand/model of your “trusted road running shoes”. (Brooks Cascadia 16 with the Rock Shield are my preferred shoes)
Thanks for sharing.
 
Not weird at all my friend, many able pilgrims walk those daily distances.
Thanks for the advice with the Jellybeans; eating/drinking is always the hardest part of my Camino.
Would be interested in the brand/model of your “trusted road running shoes”. (Brooks Cascadia 16 with the Rock Shield are my preferred shoes)
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks everyone for the very welcoming messages!

@Itsnever2late - my go-to shoes are the Mizuno Waverider 25, they are the shoes I normally do my long runs with, so after demolishing a pair by running 3000 km in them, I bought another pair for the Camino, "broke them in" by running a few hundred km in them and off I went. The Camino took a bit of the bounce off them (incredible eh?), but I'm still using that same pair now for some easy runs.

As for the Jellybeans, I figured that I had to adapt a few of my marathon habits: I would have never been able to stomach half a dozen energy gels per day, but after all Jellybeans have pretty much the same sugar content, taste better (in my opinion!) and are way easier to store in a backpack (if one energy gel explodes on you, things can get way too messy).

In terms of marathon "inheritances" I'm not sure if it helped, but I also used the Camino as an excuse to finally use all the heat rub/massage oil samples that I get given in race packs - their single-dose packaging definitely came in handy in this case (despite being far from being environmentally friendly, unfortunately).
 
Kudos…I really enjoy reading about different ways to approach and enjoy life! Well done and clearly you had a great experience. Thanks for sharing!
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Thank you for taking the time to describe in wonderful detail your experience. When I walked the CF more than 10 years ago I often thought it would be great fun to run, particularly on the meseta. But the logistics would require a whole new level of planning beyond my daily 6-8 mile runs. Thanks again. It is inspiring to experience the journey vicariously.
 
Hi all,

doing the Camino Francés was one of my childhood dreams. I grew up hearing epic stories about it, and wanted to be a part of it.

Like everyone, however, I have my quirks, and wanted to do a number of things that many would consider at best unorthodox.

The biggest “quirk” was that I wanted to run large chunks of my Camino. I’m an ultramarathon runner and have been running in excess of 4000 km per year for a long time. Over the summer, I also do a lot of my running on the Alps, and often climb in excess of 2000m in a day. As I was doing my research pre-Camino, there was very little information targeted at people “like me”, so I hope that this post might be of use to someone with a similar approach and habits.

My Camino was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my – rather lofty – expectations, but reading through the posts of other forum users, it predictably came with some differences and trade-offs.

For starters, I had to plan everything in advance. To many on the Camino, this could be a problem, but to someone like me it was perfect. I love having plans and spreadsheets, and was really happy to book my accommodation 24 hours in advance, have a target distance for the day etc.

Another huge difference was that I got to interact with many wonderful people, but never came to have a “Camino family” like so many people here did. I would meet people in the evening, chat with them, and then at best say hello in the morning before quite literally running away.

Most mornings the alarm would go off at some point between 4 and 5 am (depending not so much on the length of the stage, but on how hot it was likely to get by the afternoon – who would have ever thought, Spain in August can be quite warm…) and I’d be out bright and early, trying to cover the first 20k in a couple of hours before taking it easier as the legs got tired and the temperatures increased. On average, I would cover about 45 km per day in roughly 6 hours – the only short stage for me was the last one, as I decided to sleep in Lavacolla and get to Santiago bright and early the following morning when things were a bit quieter (as for many of you out there, I found the crowds after Sarria a bit overwhelming).

As far as equipment was concerned, my backpack was rather minimal, at just 19 litres, but it did contain everything I needed, and in the end I opted for some of my most trusted road running shoes (something that not everyone might agree on, but I’m used to running with them on all sorts of terrains), and I clearly had a rechargeable head torch, otherwise moving in the darkness would have been way too dangerous!

I also discovered that no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to ingest the 5000-odd daily calories that one burns while doing something like this. Yet, a solid diet based on Jelly Beans and potato tortillas can help you, at least for a little while. As for hydration, I developed a mild addiction to Kas and never allowed myself an alcoholic drink (I know, I missed out!) until a fellow pilgrim I helped reporting a stolen credit card in Castromaior bought me a beer as a thank you.

I started out to test the limits of what was enjoyable for me (yes, my idea of enjoyment might be twisted, but hey!), although clearly there were many points when I was testing the limits of pain too. Tendons felt like they were about to explode at times (soaking my feet in the streams at the end of a stage was such a wonderful experience!), blisters obviously made things uncomfortable on some days, and a stupid fall on the Pyrenees could have brought my journey to an end before it had even really started.

But I just wanted to say that if there are any long-distance runners out there who are wondering “can one run the Camino?” the answer is that one can, but it comes at a cost. It’s definitely not something that anyone can do, and even a lot of the people who could do it would probably prefer a more relaxed approach, but it worked for me.

In case people find it helpful, below you can find how I ended up splitting my stages. I know a lot of you might think of me as a bit weird, but hey aren’t we all?!?

Thanks for reading!

Gio

Day 1: SJPDP – Bizkarreta (35.8 km), the downhill to Roncesvalles was tricky to run on, from Ronscesvalles on it was beautiful to let the legs go!

Day 2: Bizkarreta – Obanos (51.3 km), the downhill from the Alto del Perdón is just NOT runnable…

Day 3: Obanos – Los Arcos (46 km), in Estella I was “welcomed” by a marching band at 8 am – my idea of a party!

Day 4: Los Arcos – Navarrete (41.2 km), one of the days in which I felt that I could have gone for longer, but had to actively remind myself that the Camino was just at the beginning and I shouldn’t have pushed it too much too soon

Day 5: Navarrete to Belorado (59 km), so much of the way after Santo Domingo de la Calzada was besides the motorway, so I wanted to get it out in one go

Day 6 – Belorado to Burgos (48 km), after Atapuerca I was feeling a bit tired, so I took the most direct route to Burgos, which ended up being one of my few regrets – going through Castañares would have added 500 metres or so, but would have spared me the industrial outskirts of the city

Day 7 – Burgos to Castrojeriz (41.3 km), I’m not quite sure I’ve ever run through (literally!) anything as cool as the Convento de San Antón

Day 8 – Castrojeriz to Carrion de Los Condes (45.3 km), a typical example of the need to plan if approaching the Camino in this way – had I not had accommodation booked in Carrion de Los Condes, I would have either had to go back to the previous town, or push on for another 17 km to the next one

Day 9 – Carrion de Los Condes to El Burgo Ranero (56.3 km), I must admit I absolutely loved the Meseta and stopping in this small little village

Day 10 – El Burgo Ranero to Leon (37 km), again I was looking for a relatively “short” stage, and Leon is obviously such a beautiful place to stop

Day 11 – Leon to Murias de Rechivaldo (55 km), I was a bit worried about being around too many people in Astorga, so I decided to push on, and it ended up being a great decision

Day 12 – Murias de Rechivaldo to Ponferrada (48 km), going down to Molinaseca was easily the most technical part of the Camino for me (and the one moment in which I almost reconsidered my decision to have running shoes). That descent was a very slow and careful walk for me!

Day 13 – Ponferrada to Las Herrerias (42.3 km), Villafranca ended up being the place on the Camino where I wished I could have stopped for longer, but I wanted to get to the bottom of O Cebreiro soon as I was intimidated by it!

Day 14 – Las Herrerias to Triacastela (29.3 km), a “very short” stage because of my apprehensiveness about O Cebreiro. Turns out my legs were in much better shape than I thought at that point and got to the Albergue way too early!

Day 15 – Triacastela to Castromaior (49.3 km), really happy to have stayed “mid-stage” for this one, as the first day with the Sarria crowds was very tricky mentally (also, in an effort to “run away” from the crowd – I somehow managed to get lost!)

Day 16 – Castromaior to Melide (29.4 km), by this time I had booked my return flight and realized I could take it a bit easier (and allow myself the luxury of a hotel room…)

Day 17 – Melide to Lavacolla (43.3 km), I got to the albergue before check-in time and spent a lot of time wondering whether I should have just pushed on to Santiago on that day. Really glad I didn’t

Day 18 – Lavacolla to Santiago (10.3 km), early wake up, number 5 in the queue for the Compostela, and one of the most incredible journeys of my life in the books!
,
Congratulations, and I hope I'm not out of line here, but a little humility on your part could go a long way.
I, and quite a few others I met, walk the Francis quickly. One individual had walked the Francis 13 times and he usually does it in 20 or 21 days. Another individual, an 82 year old biker averaged 150 - 200 km. per day. Neither of these 2 people knew were they were going to stay the following day.
This fall I walked the Francis in 21 days, averaging about 40km. per day, as many others do. I'm 67, I carried a 33 liter pack and I always had food with me. ( I probably carried about 7 - 8 kilos in my pack.) I didn't plan my route and most often I just showed up at a hostel and asked if they had room. On or about the 4th. day I got 2 massive blisters on the soles of my feet (due to disintegrating insoles in my shoes that i ended up replacing) and I got other blisters on 2 of my toes that didn't stop bleeding until after I arrived home.
 
Ideal pocket guides for during & after your Camino. Each weighs only 1.4 oz (40g)!
Transport luggage-passengers.
From airports to SJPP
Luggage from SJPP to Roncevalles
Hi all,

doing the Camino Francés was one of my childhood dreams. I grew up hearing epic stories about it, and wanted to be a part of it.

Like everyone, however, I have my quirks, and wanted to do a number of things that many would consider at best unorthodox.

The biggest “quirk” was that I wanted to run large chunks of my Camino. I’m an ultramarathon runner and have been running in excess of 4000 km per year for a long time. Over the summer, I also do a lot of my running on the Alps, and often climb in excess of 2000m in a day. As I was doing my research pre-Camino, there was very little information targeted at people “like me”, so I hope that this post might be of use to someone with a similar approach and habits.

My Camino was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my – rather lofty – expectations, but reading through the posts of other forum users, it predictably came with some differences and trade-offs.

For starters, I had to plan everything in advance. To many on the Camino, this could be a problem, but to someone like me it was perfect. I love having plans and spreadsheets, and was really happy to book my accommodation 24 hours in advance, have a target distance for the day etc.

Another huge difference was that I got to interact with many wonderful people, but never came to have a “Camino family” like so many people here did. I would meet people in the evening, chat with them, and then at best say hello in the morning before quite literally running away.

Most mornings the alarm would go off at some point between 4 and 5 am (depending not so much on the length of the stage, but on how hot it was likely to get by the afternoon – who would have ever thought, Spain in August can be quite warm…) and I’d be out bright and early, trying to cover the first 20k in a couple of hours before taking it easier as the legs got tired and the temperatures increased. On average, I would cover about 45 km per day in roughly 6 hours – the only short stage for me was the last one, as I decided to sleep in Lavacolla and get to Santiago bright and early the following morning when things were a bit quieter (as for many of you out there, I found the crowds after Sarria a bit overwhelming).

As far as equipment was concerned, my backpack was rather minimal, at just 19 litres, but it did contain everything I needed, and in the end I opted for some of my most trusted road running shoes (something that not everyone might agree on, but I’m used to running with them on all sorts of terrains), and I clearly had a rechargeable head torch, otherwise moving in the darkness would have been way too dangerous!

I also discovered that no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to ingest the 5000-odd daily calories that one burns while doing something like this. Yet, a solid diet based on Jelly Beans and potato tortillas can help you, at least for a little while. As for hydration, I developed a mild addiction to Kas and never allowed myself an alcoholic drink (I know, I missed out!) until a fellow pilgrim I helped reporting a stolen credit card in Castromaior bought me a beer as a thank you.

I started out to test the limits of what was enjoyable for me (yes, my idea of enjoyment might be twisted, but hey!), although clearly there were many points when I was testing the limits of pain too. Tendons felt like they were about to explode at times (soaking my feet in the streams at the end of a stage was such a wonderful experience!), blisters obviously made things uncomfortable on some days, and a stupid fall on the Pyrenees could have brought my journey to an end before it had even really started.

But I just wanted to say that if there are any long-distance runners out there who are wondering “can one run the Camino?” the answer is that one can, but it comes at a cost. It’s definitely not something that anyone can do, and even a lot of the people who could do it would probably prefer a more relaxed approach, but it worked for me.

In case people find it helpful, below you can find how I ended up splitting my stages. I know a lot of you might think of me as a bit weird, but hey aren’t we all?!?

Thanks for reading!

Gio

Day 1: SJPDP – Bizkarreta (35.8 km), the downhill to Roncesvalles was tricky to run on, from Ronscesvalles on it was beautiful to let the legs go!

Day 2: Bizkarreta – Obanos (51.3 km), the downhill from the Alto del Perdón is just NOT runnable…

Day 3: Obanos – Los Arcos (46 km), in Estella I was “welcomed” by a marching band at 8 am – my idea of a party!

Day 4: Los Arcos – Navarrete (41.2 km), one of the days in which I felt that I could have gone for longer, but had to actively remind myself that the Camino was just at the beginning and I shouldn’t have pushed it too much too soon

Day 5: Navarrete to Belorado (59 km), so much of the way after Santo Domingo de la Calzada was besides the motorway, so I wanted to get it out in one go

Day 6 – Belorado to Burgos (48 km), after Atapuerca I was feeling a bit tired, so I took the most direct route to Burgos, which ended up being one of my few regrets – going through Castañares would have added 500 metres or so, but would have spared me the industrial outskirts of the city

Day 7 – Burgos to Castrojeriz (41.3 km), I’m not quite sure I’ve ever run through (literally!) anything as cool as the Convento de San Antón

Day 8 – Castrojeriz to Carrion de Los Condes (45.3 km), a typical example of the need to plan if approaching the Camino in this way – had I not had accommodation booked in Carrion de Los Condes, I would have either had to go back to the previous town, or push on for another 17 km to the next one

Day 9 – Carrion de Los Condes to El Burgo Ranero (56.3 km), I must admit I absolutely loved the Meseta and stopping in this small little village

Day 10 – El Burgo Ranero to Leon (37 km), again I was looking for a relatively “short” stage, and Leon is obviously such a beautiful place to stop

Day 11 – Leon to Murias de Rechivaldo (55 km), I was a bit worried about being around too many people in Astorga, so I decided to push on, and it ended up being a great decision

Day 12 – Murias de Rechivaldo to Ponferrada (48 km), going down to Molinaseca was easily the most technical part of the Camino for me (and the one moment in which I almost reconsidered my decision to have running shoes). That descent was a very slow and careful walk for me!

Day 13 – Ponferrada to Las Herrerias (42.3 km), Villafranca ended up being the place on the Camino where I wished I could have stopped for longer, but I wanted to get to the bottom of O Cebreiro soon as I was intimidated by it!

Day 14 – Las Herrerias to Triacastela (29.3 km), a “very short” stage because of my apprehensiveness about O Cebreiro. Turns out my legs were in much better shape than I thought at that point and got to the Albergue way too early!

Day 15 – Triacastela to Castromaior (49.3 km), really happy to have stayed “mid-stage” for this one, as the first day with the Sarria crowds was very tricky mentally (also, in an effort to “run away” from the crowd – I somehow managed to get lost!)

Day 16 – Castromaior to Melide (29.4 km), by this time I had booked my return flight and realized I could take it a bit easier (and allow myself the luxury of a hotel room…)

Day 17 – Melide to Lavacolla (43.3 km), I got to the albergue before check-in time and spent a lot of time wondering whether I should have just pushed on to Santiago on that day. Really glad I didn’t

Day 18 – Lavacolla to Santiago (10.3 km), early wake up, number 5 in the queue for the Compostela, and one of the most incredible journeys of my life in the books!
,
Incredible achievement and well done.

I started a walking Camino from SJDPP in July 2020 and had dinner the night before with an English chap who was also running the whole way. From memory I think he said his target was 16 days. He also had done a lot of ultra stuff. Great guy, very humble and almost didn’t want to talk about it, but I was pumping for info!!! He was from the West Country! Sadly I didn’t get his name and contact as I am not on social media. He ran past me next morning about 10 meters from the hostel and I never saw him again. I didn’t doubt he would achieve his goal though!
 
Thanks DrGio for your comprehensive Camino run report! I am an older (74) runner, but nowhere near your distances; 3-5-7-10 miles a day, depending on the day. I walked the Francis last May-June, and at times longed to run parts, especially on or near roadways, but alas, was not prepared. And no way on the descent to Molinaseca! Well done, and very inspiring!
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
A sincere Thank You! @DrGio . I very much enjoyed reading your post.

I've been interested in how different the pace can be since meeting four guys from Austria at our communal dinner in Lintzoain. I had spent one night in SJPP, the second night at Borda, the third night in Roncesvalles, and was about to spend my fourth night in Lintzoain. These guys arrived from Austria and spent one night in SJPP and, in one day, walked to Lintzoain! I was quite impressed!! Of course, I never saw them again.
 
Thanks everyone! I now have a nice read for my winter break and more Camino stories, ideas and opinions (I missed those over the last couple of months...).

I aspire to go back on the Camino at a later stage in my life and approach it in a different way (and speaking of aspirations - I aspire to being able to run like a few of you are doing in said "later stage in life"!).

The interactions that @WalkinRon and @TravellingMan22 describe are part of what made the Camino so great for me. As someone on the running side of those interactions, I can assure you that the runners have as nice a memory of you as you have of them. Personally, I also really like the fact that I didn't exchange contact details with many fellow pilgrims - it keeps an aura of mystery around who they are in their every-day life, and whatever made them stand out to me during the Camino now gives them almost heroic status (the nice games nostalgia can play!).
 

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