Date: 2013-04-04
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Miles today: 0.0

In an earlier entry I mentioned that I had learned valuable lessons from my shortened Florida hike a few years ago. I have chosen to hone in on the following points. Proper diet, adequate rest and positive state of mind. The first part of the walk was essentially a road walk with poor choices for camping out. Often there were narrow bands of mangroves ten to fifteen feet deep lining the road. My challenge in the evening was to duck into these wooded areas without being seen and set up my shelter as quickly as I could in order to survive the mosquito attacks. Once in the shelter and safe from the involuntary blood donations I couldn¢t cook a meal and so relied on bars for supper. Now, I know many people do long hikes eating cold food all the way without ill effects. I wasn¢t smart enough to do this in a way that provided adequate nutrition. Even though I was lucky enough to have friends feed me very well along the way and I ate in enough restaurants to prompt one friend into poking me in the ribs with the observation that I seemed to be eating my way through the Keys, there was a negative deficit which combined with the other factors 300 or so miles down the trail to lead me to talk myself into getting off the trail.Re-reading the journal entry about my last night on the trail I recalled that I had a very disturbing night that I glossed over in the journal. With no sleep I didn¢t waste time eating the next morning and set out without a good idea of how far I would need to walk to get to my next re-supply point. After several hours in debilitating heat I happened to realize that the road continued for untold miles so straight that it disappeared not into a vanishing point but into a heat wave mirage. It didn¢t take much to push me into proving the validity of Vince Lombardi¢s observation, ¢Fatigue makes cowards of us all.¢ A quick call to a friend and I was rescued from the catastrophe of my own making.The third pillar of success that I didn¢t have at the time, a positive state of mind, took several years for me to develop. The biggest factor for me was the discovery of a book by Zach Davis, ¢Appalachian Trials: A Psychological and Emotional Guide To Thru-Hike The Appalachian Trail.¢ I can¢t do justice here to noting everything I learned from this book about the rigors of a long hike, suffice it to say I feel much better prepared to deal with the trials and tribulations which I didn¢t understand at all the first time around. On my very first prep entry for that hike I set myself up to accept failure by stating I only expected to go as far as my old knees and mind would take me.Based on months of thinking about these aspects and not wanting to repeat my failures I jumped on the following quote as my mantra.A.        My great concern is not that you failed, but if you are content with your failure. ¢ Abraham LincolnB.        I am not content with my Florida hike.C.        Barring debilitating injury or health issue, I WILL make it.Joe, I too wish you could come with us. We¢ll need to dream up something we can do on your vacation time.Randy, welcome aboard. Give Shelia a hug for me.John, there¢ll be plenty of high ground. I¢ll save you a chunk.I had the best walk today since the crash. Everything is starting to feel good. Beautiful. Sleep well.ole slo