Date: 2005-02-06
To: Hubris: an excessive pride or self confidence...
Miles today: 0.0

¢You¢re going to WHAT?¢ ask my friends.¢Hike the AT¢, says I¢All of it?¢ they ask, incredulously.¢Yup¢, says I, ¢The whole thing ¢ all 2,175 miles.¢¢Wow! That¢s¢¦.. [Fill in the blank: (a) great; (b) weird; (c) just about the stupidest thing I¢ve ever heard of, (d) all of the above¢¦]¢Of course¢, I¢m quick to add, ¢you know what the Irish say: If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans¢. Heh, Heh¢¦..That¢s my out, you see. Hiking the AT is my PLAN, not to be confused with what may actually happen once I get out there and start hiking. The Big Guy may have other plans for me, in which case ¢ hey, who am I to quibble? On the other hand, there have been all of these ¢signs¢, these small reassurances that I am doing the right thing. I like Chinese food, for example, so I am not infrequently the recipient of fortune cookies. Here are just four recent ¢fortunes¢ ¢ you be the judge:¢You will soon have a change of occupation.¢¢Your present plans will succeed.¢¢Great acts of kindness will befall you in the coming months.¢¢A new voyage will fill your life with untold memories.¢If those aren¢t reassuring, I don¢t know what would be. On the other hand, it really is a great act of hubris ¢ of arrogance, really ¢ to assume that one is going to succeed at such a monumental task as hiking for more than 2000 miles. The statistics suggest than only 10-15% of all those who begin this venture will succeed. What makes me think that I, personally, will be among that elite group of hikers who make it all the way to Katahdin? Frankly, I don¢t know that I will make it. Or more to the point, how long it may take me to make it. My original plan was to do a ¢through-hike¢ ¢ straight the way through without stopping. Then, when I put things down on a calendar, I found that it would be difficult to do unless I gave up doing certain things with my family that I really am not prepared to give up. Both of my sons, for example, will have their week-long residential scout camps this summer, and I intend to be there for both of them. Given the timing and the need for some advanced preparation and gathering up of gear, etc., I will actually need to drop off the trail for 3-4 weeks, from about mid-June to mid-July. As a result, I had decided I would simply break the hike into two parts, and do half this year and half next year. That seemed a more reasonable set of expectations, and eminently more ¢doable¢ than going straight through. I also thought it might make more sense to come back after about three months on the trail and see about lining up some consulting assignments with the Bank, whose new fiscal year begins on July 1.   More recently, however, I¢ve begun to realize how much other people starting at about the same as me will make a difference to my hike. It¢s called the ¢AT Class of ¢05¢, and I will become a part of it by starting at Springer Mountain next month. What has occurred to me is that I really want to try to finish with my class. With 20 years of schooling under my belt, I¢ve never before been ¢left back a grade¢!! Waaaaaaahhhhhh. So now I¢m thinkin¢, I just might see how well things go in the first half of the hike ¢ assuming I even make it THAT far. If I¢m on track to make it to Katahdin by the end of August, even taking 3-4 weeks off with the scouts, then it would make more sense for me to keep going and get the hike done this summer, rather than plan to take another three months off next year to finish up. Besides, next year I¢d be hiking with the ¢Class of ¢06¢ ¢ but wouldn¢t really be a part of them, not having started out at Springer. In the event I go for the whole thing this year, I think I would be prepared to skip the 200+ miles that I have already section-hiked ¢ from the southern end of the Shenandoah National Park to Penn-Mar (the Maryland/Pennsylvania state line). Time will tell. It¢s not something I have to decide tonight. Meanwhile, I still need to psych myself up for getting even the first half done this year. They say that the first two hundred miles are a physical challenge ¢ in part because no one is really in shape to spend all day every day climbing mountains, so it takes a few weeks for your body to become adjusted to the physical exertion required. Those first few hundred miles are also some of the toughest of the trail, at least until you get up to New England ¢ but by then, at least, you¢re in physical shape to handle them. The remaining two thousand miles are a mental challenge. Once you¢ve gotten into shape, the question is whether you have the mental stamina, perseverance, and wherewithal to ¢gut it out¢ ¢ especially when you¢re really fed up with the whole enterprise and all you want to do is to quit and go home. Motivation is important, and how you prepare mentally may be more important than how well you prepare physically. In this area, I¢ve got a couple of things going for me, not least of which is the thought that, if I DO drop off the trail, I¢m going to feel obliged to go back to work. Like they say, ¢A bad day on the trail beats a good day in the office every time!¢ I also see it as a way of changing, for all time, how I see myself. Those of you ¢of a certain age¢ assembled eyes, will know what I¢m talking about when I say that I never miss reading the obituaries section of the paper every morning. It¢s just something we do. Sort of a ¢there but for the grace of God go I¢ kind of thing. It¢s also interesting to see what kinds of things they write about someone when they finally pack it in. Not so long ago, I was convinced that the ¢lead¢ on my write-up would be something like ¢Another Boring Banker Bites the Dust¢. I¢d like to think I can do better. And, since I¢ve decided I¢m going to live to be 100 years old, I have another 40 years to do so. But I sort of need to make a start, and this little walk in the woods is how I¢m going to do that. Then there are those little quotes that come from a calendar I got for Christmas last year, many of which provide both motivation and a rationale for thinking that I am doing the right thing. A few of my favorites:¢Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.¢ T.S. Elliot¢Start by doing what¢s necessary, then do what¢s possible, and suddenly, you are doing the impossible.¢   Saint Francis of Assisi¢First say to yourself what you would be; then do what you have to do.¢ Epictetus¢Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding it is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.¢ Helen Keller¢One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greater surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn¢t do.¢ Henry Ford¢Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.¢ Johan Wolfgang Goethe¢Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.¢ Leonardo da Vinci¢Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.¢ Henry David Thoreau So, if you¢ll excuse me, I have to go work on getting my Pocketmail device up and running. I have mountains to climb, and journals to write.Stay tuned,