Date: 2006-08-22
To: Prep #44-I Just Couldn't Wait
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I know I've stated in previous posts that I was going to try and "pace" myself w/all of the fun things to do in order to prepare for this adventure, but I'm just not very good at pacing myself when I'm so excited about it. I actually made my reservation for my lodging on the night of March 14, next year! I know, I know....doing that won't make March 14 get here any sooner, but it sure gives me something to latch onto that makes it feel that much more real. To actually KNOW that I'll be at "this" place on "that" date helps my brain have something to focus upon.I tend to be a future-oriented thinker, not in a stressful I need to control the future way, but in a--I love anticipating the great things to come--way. My friend, Cindy, asked me what all I have left to prepare for, seeing I've got almost all of my gear, my train ticket, my lodging reserved. I'm not going to do maildrops (mailing yourself food/supplies in advance to different parts of the trail) and I don't plan on doing a bounce box either (mailing a box of supplies/town clothes ahead to future towns from the trail...I'd rather just wear the same one outfit for 7 months--hee hee). I know me, and if there's anything that would somehow manifest itself into a schedule-dictating influence (like needing to get to a certain post office in a certain town before it closes in order to retrieve my bounce box), I'll get sucked right up into it. I just don't want that. As I've said before, a big reason why I'm doing this is to learn how to let go of control and let go of those uneccesary stressors, go with the flow, and deal with stuff as it faces me. I know that I'll HAVE to adopt this mindset in order to be successful, because many others before me have admitted that you have to learn to change yourself, because mother nature ain't gonna move that mountain just because you don't feel like hiking up it today. So, what's left for me to prepare is my physical and mental self. Oh how I wish I could just go to the outfitters and purchase a new slimmer and fit body, but that isn't going to happen either, so my focus from this point on will be to get into better shape physically, and to get out there and use my gear so I can be 100% comfortable with it.I'm going to start going on one full-pack hike every week and start working on my mileage. I'm going to get out and do some overnighters and maybe eventually do this one 35 mile trail here, that I think has 4 campgrounds, but that will be a 4-5 day long thing for me, so that will be after I'm in better shape.I'm going to start saying NO to Ben-n-Jerry. These two gentlemen, whom I sometimes consider a real part of my family, must learn that they can not continue tempting me with their Vermonty Python and Cherry Garcia's! Enough is enough, and I'm just going to have to tell them that our time spent together has been a wonderful and enjoyable experience, but all good things must come to an end (until I get out on the AT and start burning 6,000 calories a day that is!!!!!)So it's just the little things, and oh yeah, it just so happens to be those "little things" that the majority of our nations citizens struggle with...processed foods, sugar sugar sugar, fatty food fatty food fatty food. It's time for my buddah-belly to say au revoir, so watch out fat....somthins comin to git ya and it ain't gonna be pretty! (now where did I put that snickers bar?)