Date: 2014-01-13
To: Mom's Story
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

¢Hey Mom, you should thru-hike the Appalachian Trail with me!¢ This exclamation came around late summer of 2009, from my son Michael, at age 15, who was already planning to do the Pacific Crest Trail after high school.¢No, I don¢t think so,¢ thinking that only about a year prior, something happened to my left hip and I couldn¢t walk more than half mile without limping home and laying flat on my back for about 30 minutes. I was still recovering from that; how was I going to walk almost 2200 miles with a backpack, up and down hills.But my son was persistent. And I was persistent, ¢I¢m 52, got bum knees and now a hip, and never really went backpacking.¢ And still my son kept at me, ¢Come on Mom, you can do it.¢ I admitted that it did sound intriguing.   I grew up on the East Coast and remembered reading about this long, continuous trail that goes from Georgia to Maine.Then during the summer of 2010, I did a cross-country road trip with my sister, starting in New York, visiting many family members in the New York/Pennsylvania area before heading west. I wanted to ¢step¢ on the Appalachian Trial someplace to say I ¢walked it¢. A cousin and her husband in Hanover, PA, took us to Pine Grove Furnace State Park, right on the AT, with a newly opened AT Trail Museum. Seeing the area, the trail markers at road crossings and going to the museum was pretty inspiring for me. When I returned home, Michael was still aggressively talking me into hiking the AT with him.¢It sounds like a lot of fun, but I don¢t know if I can do it.¢¢We can start slow Mom, like 5-7 miles a day until you build up strength. We can even start earlier in the year to give us more time to finish.¢Then it clicked: if my son is THIS persistent that I go on this trip with him, I really ought to do everything I can to make it happen, especially since I find it intriguing to actually do something like this.¢OK, I¢m thinking about it, but are you SERIOUS about spending 6-7 months on the trail with your Mother? I mean, REALLY? I¢d need time to get in shape, hopefully get my hip back to normal. But really, you want to do this with ME? Why?¢¢Because, I think it would be fun for you. And I think you can do it. It¢s not like the Pacific Crest Trail. The AT is the ¢Long Green Tunnel¢!¢ Michael later admitted that he made it sound easy so I¢d agree to go! I suggested 2015, to give me 5 years to physically (and mentally) prepare for it, but by 2012, Michael suggested that we plan on 2014, the year after he hikes the PCT.So, here we are, and I¢m looking at just a couple months before this adventure of a lifetime! Oh, and my hip? Pain-free! I¢m working on daily stretches for my back, hips and knees. I¢m walking with trekking poles. I¢m trying to devise some simple knee pads to use for those times when my knees work in place of my feet, like scrambling up a hillside. I¢ve mentally accepted the idea of tarping during the warm months, and where we¢ll save weight in one area, I¢ll need in another area (sleeping comfort and warmth-a closed cell foam pad AND air mattress with a warm sleeping bag).God willing, I¢m going to do this, and what doesn¢t kill me will make me stronger! I¢ll be turning 57 on the trail ¢ keep me in your thoughts and prayers!   ~ Marilyn, Mother of: