Date: 2016-03-09
To: More thoughts on garbage.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

First, I'm so thrilled by the positive response I received after my last post! Thank you to everybody I heard from here and on Facebook about my plans to turn my hike into a trash scavenger hunt. I'm so excited to have found a larger purpose for my hike beyond my own dreams (which are an equally good reason to hike). I want to explore a little more into why I decided to assign an external motivator/burden to this already challenging trek, if you'll just bear with me.Recently, I have been struggling with the very real possibility that I'll hit the trail, walk in the rain for a bit, feel miserable, and quit. Statistically, approximately 70% of people who start a thru-hike of the AT don't make it all 2,189 miles.That's a scary number.What would stop me from quitting, right? My feet hurt? I'll just go home. Got norovirus? I'm watching Friends on my parents' couch for the next three months. I wouldn't be the first to make that decision, nor would I be the last.I don't like to think I'd give up that easily, but I am also not 100% confident that I can keep myself internally motivated for months on end. (This is where I usually start overthinking things. Textbook Rigby behavior) Last fall, I raced a Half Ironman and PR'ed at the half marathon distance, but I struggled a lot to actually make it to my two-a-day workouts and train consistently for the six months leading up to those races. I didn't swim for a month straight because I just couldn't bear the thought of navigating around the aqua aerobics ladies who insisted on sharing my lane each morning. I stopped doing my supplemental strength workouts because they weren't *technically* on my training plan (they were in the appendix...). I skipped a long run because I couldn't find my favorite socks. Really. When I finally crossed the finish line at Challenge Cedar Point in September, I was happy, yes, but mostly I was just DONE. I never wanted to get on my bike or lace up my running shoes again. The feeling didn't last, of course, but it was pretty overwhelming at the time and my internal motivation was just barely hanging on. I know there are going to be challenging days on the trail, but I don't want my hike to become a slog or a race against the clock. I'm naturally so competitive (I raced a complete stranger up 7 flights of stairs at work yesterday. What is my life?) that I worry I'll end up chasing miles, overly concerned with the destination, instead of savoring the journey. I don't want to push myself to the point of never wanting to hike again, because hiking and running are my therapy, they're how I keep my head on straight.In a lot of ways, that makes my decision to clean up the trail a selfish one because1. It gives me permission to hike SLOWER, since I'll be focused on my immediate surroundings and stopping to pick up trash as I go. I'll also be carrying more weight- a few pounds of beer bottles will naturally slow me down a bit, even if I'm not the one consuming the contents of said bottles.Originally, I wanted to hike the whole trail in 4 1/2 months, but I've stretched that out to 6ish, which means my average daily mileage just got A LOT easier.2. It provides external motivation and pressure for me to keep on keeping on. I'll be journaling my experiences here and developing a social media presence for the project, which serves as a sort of accountability measure. If my hike is not 100% internally focused, any decision I make to leave the trail will affect more than just myself, which means I'll [ideally] carefully consider what I'm doing.3. I'll feel less guilty about quitting my job and making my parent's pet sit my evil cats for me because I'll get to be both hiker trash and a semi-contributing member of society at the same time. Score. All that being said, the original reason- and still my primary motivation- I want to do this clean up is because I've seen way too many local trails trashed by people who either don't know or don't care about Leave No Trace ethics. The Appalachian Trail is a national treasure that I want to help preserve for future thru-hikers. And I want to spread the idea of LNT to as many people as I can so our wilderness areas can be protected. If I can somehow motivate a few people to reduce their environmental impact while I'm out there this year, I'll call this adventure a success.As always, I'm eager to hear your thoughts, opinions, and/or criticisms- jog on over to the Guest Book and drop me a note.Thanks, y'all.