Date: 2006-01-06
To: Fitness and Wellness
Miles today: 0.0

I've been busy, working on all the things I laid out to do in the last journal entry, trying to piece together a grand plan. Not easy when I only have two months before I start hiking. But today was Fitness and Wellness Day.I went back to the gym for the first time in a while. I remembered the machines I usually did, and the settings (seat height, etc), so that was good. I backed off all the weights and did okay. I didn't do a Stairmaster warm-up so as not to humiliate myself when I fell off, which I surely would done after five minutes. Or five seconds.I'm tired, but it's a good tired. Tomorrow I'll be sore.I also made appointments with three doctors to deal with health issues, but I may not be able to get much done in the time I have left.Lastly, I dug out my arthritis book and skimmed through it, reminding myself of what I need to do, which is basically range of motion exercises to keep the joint cartilage from encroaching on joint movement. Strengthening hips and knees will also be a good thing. I also did some shoulder exercises I used to do. A few years ago, I toppled off my bike when I stopped unintentionally and couldn't get unclipped. No damage, but my rotator cuff works better when I do these low-weight high-rep exercises.Geez, looking at what I've written, I sound like a health disaster. I'm not that bad, really. Just a bunch of things wearing out like an old car. Still, it will be good to remember to start my hike slowly and work up to decent mileage.Other things I've done:Logistics - I dragged all my gear out of the attic, weighed it all, and put it into a couple plastic bins. I ordered the things I figure I'll still need my gear: raingear (from Gossamer Gear), lighter poles (from REI), and a small Platypus (12 ounce) with pour spout for alcohol for my stove. I also ordered a super lightweight "stove" for burning Esbit tabs. I have a bunch of them (Esbit tabs. not stoves), and I'm still not certain whether I'll use Esbit or alcohol to start the hike.Total weight of all my gear is 19 pounds, 11 ounces. This does not include food or water, or the clothes I'll be wearing. It does include three pounds of "journalism" stuff. A digital camera with spare battery and memory card, and an AlphaSmart Neo, a 35 ounce word processor which I will use to keep this journal and hopefully write a few stories while I'm on the trail, and maybe even a non-fiction book on hiking the trail, like the world needs another one.My plan is to bounce my laptop up the trail seven to ten days, and upload my writings and pictures to it from the Neo and camera, and send them home to Mrs. Frosty to put on-line. The journals and pictures go online, anyway, not the stories or the book.I've also made plans to attend SoRuckhttp://www.whiteblaze.net/soruck/which is a gathering of thru-hikers, a place to tell each other lies about the trail. If all goes well, I will be leaving next Wednesday to attend. Hopefully all will go well, as I have also started the next to last area I needed to work on: home repair. I have taken everything out of my dining room, removed all the hardware from walls and windows, and stripped off the wallpaper. I suspect that it would not be a good thing for me to leave for a week in North Carolina without putting this room back together.This may be a tad tricky, as I've rejoined my writing group. It meets next Sunday, and I have a couple of stories to read and critique.I guess this is kind of a disjointed operation, but that means I am one step more removed from being a retired engineer, and one step closer to being one of The Men That Don't Fit In.Hooray for me!I think....