I’ve heard a lot of discussion in the group lately about getting our “Camino Legs.” Getting your “Camino Legs” is when your body has adjusted to the daily routine and beating it gets every day. Once you get to that stage, you can keep a better pace and you feel less sore during the day. Blisters have turned into calluses. Usually, it takes about a week or so for your body to adapt. You can often pick these people out from the crowd because when a hill comes to pass, they motor up it without hesitation regardless of their physical characteristics.

We call those “Camino Calves”

I can tell that the pilgrims in our group are much improved from when they got dropped off of the bus in Ponferrada. However, I think sometimes they doubt their own progress. This happens because they just don’t see much change from the previous day. However, if you compound all those days together, it is quite something to see. If you improve 5% each day it really hard to see significance. Over the past week, these men have indeed gained their Camino Legs. I can tell in my own anxiety level and the confidence that I have that all 31 pilgrims will be marching into Santiago on Thursday.

This compounding effect has so many practical applications in real life. The company you are in, is it 5% better every year? Are you a 5% better parent or spouse every month? What about a 5% better Christian with every passing year? Sometimes, we are granted a grace to makes progress happen all at once. That is exciting to see. However, I believe that for most of us it is the daily struggle and daily improvement that leads to great success in life. The difficult part is to identify your goal and then to start taking steps toward it. That is what we have been doing on the Camino every day.  We have a clear goal.  Each day we make a little progress.  Step by step.  Add those up over the last week and we have all made it over 180km together.

Find your Santiago.  Start taking steps.