With heart & mind at lightning speed!

The Styrian Andreas Herz walked the Camino de Santiago. He covered the gigantic distance in just 21 days, battled blisters, bugs, and muscle soreness. And came home "completely changed"...

Can one write about the vice president of the Styrian Chamber of Commerce as a laid-back guy? Probably not. But it is undisputed that Andreas Herz is a charismatic man, a good and interesting speaker whom people enjoy listening to. He had already passionately told the readers of "Krone" years ago about how to become resilient, having defeated cancer in a fierce battle. And now, the family man was on the Camino de Santiago. He covered 810 kilometers. Because: "I just wanted to know if I could do it, and to push my limits." The decision was followed by action. He bought a guidebook. Packed a 15-kilo backpack. Climbed Reinischkogel three times - and then off to Spain. He had given himself five weeks to overcome the 810 kilometers. He only needed three (!), cycling up to 50 kilometers a day. "It wasn't even driven by extreme ambition," assures the Styrian. "Most others typically walked in the morning, found a hostel at noon, and then rested. I just felt like continuing in the afternoon." Once even at night - although this was due to different circumstances: "I shared a room with a stranger who lit a joint in the middle of the night, which could be smelled throughout the entire house. I thought to myself: Oh my, if someone calls the police, they might take me too!" So, headlamp on, he continued even at night. That's when you cover some kilometers. He did think about giving up, several times, often enough asking himself, "Why am I doing this?" When only painkillers helped against the bone inflammation. When the rain came horizontally. The biting cold, the scorching sun, the blisters hurting like hell. "But once there was a Russian ahead of me, with a blood blister the size of a fist hanging out of his shoe. And I thought to myself: If he can keep going - so can I. We both met again at the finish line." Herz had very interesting encounters, "as all sorts of people walk there. Rich, poor, couples who hike alone and only meet again in the evening. Some who are silent, others who talk non-stop. All with very different motivations." The landscapes were "breathtakingly beautiful, you can't stop being amazed." What was the worst for him: "You have to be 100 percent out of your comfort zone. You have to share a room with 15, 20 people, I now know all the human noises and smells in the world. When you need to use the bathroom, there are even witnesses for that." He had to share his sleeping bag with bedbugs often enough: "Do you know that those creatures are huge? And they leave big bite marks?" Thanks, not interested... 810 kilometers later, in the church of Santiago, the incredulous question came: whether he had ridden a bike or occasionally taken a car..? "No, I have no desire to lie to myself." He left behind six kilos on the Camino de Santiago. And took a lot with him: "You know, when you walk, you have a lot of time to think. About yourself, about decisions you make, paths you take." And the admirer of Sebastian Kurz made a decision: "To run for the National Council!" We wish him all the best. Because the laid-back Mr. Herz will achieve that too. by Christa Blümel