Date: 2008-05-01
From: Home

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Miles today: 0.0

So I got home last night around 11:30, after CeeCee dropped me off at the Tri-City airport around 4pm. I rented a car and drove home, so that i could rest up my foot/feet. I can't really describe how hard it was to watch people pack up their stuff and head back out to the trail, or to know that those that I left behind would be doing the same thing soon. All I can say is that it was really hard....I wanted to keep going, to go back and just hike through the pain. But that would have been silly. So I said goodbye to team phenomenon, mountain mic and eitienne, and half-elvis. They were fun to hike with. They promised to make sure hokewa and gobbles knew that I was temp. off the trail.   I also left phone messages with gobbles and hokewa. Actually, they got to overmountain shelter and got phone reception, so gobbles gave me a call. They were pushing to catch up to me, and shot past! Gobbles's foot is hurting him, and he is going to push to kincora hostel or damascus where he can hop off and see a doctor. I hope his foot is okay, and it's just something minor. It was also tough to drive home via 81, since I was watching the mountains as I went north, and I knew that the trail was out there, and that I was missing it. Grrrrr!   Well, I guess I wasn't missing it, I could see it quite well, I just wasn't experiencing it the way I wanted.and the extra kick in the pants on this whole situation, is that i was just about to hit what many consider to be the prettiest section of the trail... the roan highlands north through McKaffee Knob (near the blacksburg VA area)... Gahhh!I'd gladly trade my time in Georgia (cold, wet, foggy and hard hiking) for the section i almost made it to.... Tough.... really tough....I got my damascus box bounced back home, cleaned up my gear and got my trail chores done. I weighed myself too - I lost 22 pounds! Yoiks! I called the doctor and made an appointment, so I will go see what he has to say on Monday afternoon. In the meantime, I am icing my foot, and keeping it elevated as much as possible, and I'm taking Ibuprofin. I talked to a friend of mine who's a doctor, and from what I described, he told me that it could be 20 different things, so I'd have to wait till I could have a doc. take a look at it. But advised me that it was most likely something where I would just have to take time to let it heal. No magic shot or bullet to cure this one most likely. Bummer....I like magic....I've been trying to figure out what I did to myself, and I'm not sure. Part of it may be related to the right knee hurting (back in GA)... which in compensating for that made my left shin start to hurt.... and when both of those pains went away (Smokies), the balls of my feet started to hurt. Hmmm... and at the same time, Hokewa dropped back, and he was the pacer for the group (and he takes smaller steps than I do) so when I became the pacer, I changed my stride and injured myself somehow. I dunno. I can only guess. Basically, the ball of my left foot hurts, primarily under the 3rd and 4th toes. It feels swollen, but when I compare my feet, they look the same (heavily callused, peely skin, dirty and smelly) - i can't see any swelling. So I can only say that it feels odd. My right foot has also started to hurt, but it doesn't feel wierd like the left foot. So i am guessing the right foot pains are related to my attempts to walk in such a way that the left foot doesn't hurt too bad. Usually, the feet are fine in the mornings until about mile 4 or 5, or until I hit a really steep uphill, then as I go up, the pain starts. Going down isn't too bad, unless again, it's steep, in which case the pounding on my feet causes the pain. I tried gel inserts at hot springs, and that just made the pain worse. Eitienne recommended the orange superfeet insoles, so I am going to look into that, in addition to talking to the doctor.The pain started just before hot springs, and i pushed through to erwin, figuring that i would have 2 days to let it rest up and heal. It did feel better after two days, but like i said, as I climbed out of erwin, by about mile 5 or so... ouch... the pain came back. I decided that i didn't feel like hiking the rest of the summer in pain, so here i am.Now I am in strategery mode. I have realized I won't be able to complete the entire trail this summer. Not unless i can crank out an average of 25 miles a day, every single day until I reach Katahdin. That would be a lot. Especially since once i get back on, i have to rebuild my milage. That, and everyone i talk to says that daily milage drops in the whites and in Maine, where the trail likes to visit the top of every single mountain in view. So I'd be looking at many, many 30+ mile days. That would be painful... and insane. I suppose if I wanted to run with a 40lb backpack on.... ha ha ha. Again, grrrrrrrrr. Provided the doctor says that I can get back out in a reasonable time, I now have to figure out how I want to do the trail. Since it's doubtful I can finish by August when grad school starts, what part should I leave for last? I have some options, but I've narrowed it down to two.... first one, i go back to greasy creek gap, and continue north until August at whatever pace I am comfortable at, and when I have to get off, then I have from that point to Katahdin left to do. However, to try to finish on weekends or vacations makes that one difficult, since getting back up to New England and points north is a haul. It would take me my entire weekend just to get there and back, with little time for hiking.... but it gives me no schedule pressure for how far i need to go in a day, or where i must be by a certain time.second one, is I start from Harper's Ferry, (or Damascus, since I've section-hiked that far north), and go north from there. I could make it to Katahdin by late July/Early August at a pace that wouldn't kill me, and I could come back and finish between greasy creek gap and H.F./damascus on vacations and weekends. right now, I'm leaning more towards this option, just becuase it seems more feasible since it's much closer to home, and I could finish it sooner rather than later.So that is my current status. I probably won't write any more journal entries until monday, after I see the doctor and I get the diagnosis. But i will be adding titles to the pictures i have up, and adding the pictures i have from when my camera died up till now. I got my film developed!Thanks to all the people that called to check up on me. I'll keep you posted as i figure out what I'm doing.