Tuesday, April 22, 2008

One day until lift-off




It took me finally finishing up my planning, a bit of nervousness to get me to finally update this blog. The past few months have been stressful, fun, and ultimately will prove to be well worth it once I'm hiking north from Campo come Thursday morning. All the details are set, and I'm going to be taking a flight out of Atlanta at 9:00 am tomorrow, landing in San Diego before noon. This will leave me over 5 hours to wander around the eternally 65 degree weather of San Diego, before being picked up by local trail angels, the Manns. I will be one of 5 hikers staying with the Mann's that night, before being dropped off at the border the following morning.

Before getting into hike specifics, why not rewind?

To condition for my hike, around January I began finally to take running seriously. What started off as 2.4 mile runs, extended to 5, then to 7, and all the way up to 10 miles per day. Once I hit the double digit milestone in my running, I decided to try for a half-marathon. Naturally in my training I managed to increase my mileage too quickly, and developed shin splints and sore knees shortly after hitting the 10 mile mark. I decided to slow things down, starting again from 3 mile runs. I slowly increased the mileage until I could run two 10 mile days a few miles before the race. The race took place in the beautiful city of Albany, GA. The drive down to Albany was really fun and scenic. The race proved to be just as fun. I ran much much faster than I ever dreamt I could do, pushing through sleepy neighborhoods that had trees lining the streets decorated with Spanish moss. The last 2 miles had me running full speed, passing everyone in sight. Ultimately, I finished in the top 50, not bad for my first race. I also met my personal time challenge. A successful weekend for sure. After that race, I never really ran again.

Next up was juggling. I learned how to juggle 3 tennis balls in one weekend.

Then came slacklining. After a few weeks of slacklining, I got a toe caught on the nylon, and awkwardly sprained it. This toe of my left foot is still sore, and worries me about hiking on it when I start the PCT in 2 days. At first just standing on one foot on that wobbly line seemed impossible. I surprised myself though, and was able to stand on one foot by the end of that first day. After a few more days, I was able to take a few steps on the line. A few days later I was walking from one end to the other, then walking backwards back to where I began. Then my bad luck began. My slacking spot at the local elementary school was eliminated when the principal claimed my hobby was too dangerous and she would be held responsible, despite what I considered my own valid arguments. Next they kicked me out of the YMCA trees. Then came my hurt toe. I definitely found some inner peace in those 30 seconds walking the line where the time flowed to what seemed to be 3 minutes. One thing that I'll be looking forward too during this trip will be returning home to get back into slacking again.

Now to the trip planning. I had a heck of a time deciding what backpack to get. Finally I followed my gut, and purchased the Mountain Laurel Designs Zip, which was backordered for nearly 8 weeks. This pack was a beauty, but after too much deliberation, I decided that the volume was too much for me and returned it. After a few more nights of thinking, I decided on a ULA Amp after talking to ULA owner, Brian. Brian agreed to customize the pack for me, and has included wider straps than he normally does on this pack. This will help me infinitely in comfortably carrying the heavy water loads that are essential in the Southern Californian high desert.

Nutrition. For this I actually installed Microsoft Excel to calculate calories to ounce ratios. Nerdy I know, but i really wanted to make the most efficient use of food weight possible. I finally decided on granola with evaporated milk for breakfasts, 4 snacks of a mix of balance energy bars, snickers bars, GORP, pringles, or Wheat Thins. All of these foods range between 130 and 190 calories per ounce. All pretty impressive. Lunches are absurdly delicious peanut butter by Peanut Butter & Co on either whole wheat tortillas or sesame crackers. Dinner is always a base of couscous, with an infinite variety of dehydrated veggies from Harmony House Foods. I even have a desert: dark chocolate, for 220 additional calories. In addition to the better scenery that the PCT will provide, my trip will even more rewarding than my AT experience last year since I'll be eating better for nearly every meal. Variety, good nutrition, and variety.

Now, the pack is packed, my trekking poles and umbrella and stores in a mailing tube, and I'm nervously awaiting my plane ride tomorrow morning. I've said goodbye to all of my friends, my father, and my house plants. At least I can honestly say that I'm as excited to start in the southern Californian desert, as I am about entering what people consider the best hiking in the US, the High Sierra Nevadas.

Talk to ya in a week.

2 comments:

samh said...

The best to you on your trek North and Westward!

1/4 moon said...

Have a great time Beat! Stay safe, The moon man...(aka 1/4 moon)