ajcajonel

Right now, I'm 7 days away from my marriage date, and 69 days from my flight to the states. Preparation continues as planned - amassing grains, testing recipes, dehydrating fruits, exercising, testing gear.

One of my planning considerations is the state of my body. I had a rough and tumble autumn, the culmination of a pretty adventurous summer playing in the Alps. I trained up for a marathon in seven weeks, ran that marathon on 20 September, then, at the urging of a friend, ran a second marathon on a flat course (Cologne) two weeks later (for many reasons, I performed better on my first race). I walked away from those races with vivid sensations in both ITBs and my left LCL - and quickly learned how to target them in my stretching routines. All good now.

In between those two weekends, I had a fairly traumatic bike flip in which the first point of impact was my left collarbone, which I broke playing football as a kid. I felt that there was a break, but two iterations of X Rays revealed nothing. Six months later, it's still irritating me - I have an appointment to get it looked at on 2 March. Simple things like yoga - and wearing a backpack - remind me of the unresolved issue.

Taking my limitations into consideration, I have acquired a UL packing list, and am considering the Ray Jardine one shoulder pack carry. I'm an infantry officer who spent 4.5 months in Ranger School, so I've carried my share of 120lb packs. I plan on capping out at 30. Having gone to West Point, then into the infantry, physical fitness has been a professional priority for the past nine years - that's what allowed me to train up for a hilly marathon in 7 weeks and run a 3:12:20. I will ride that emphasis on fitness into my hike.

Short a broken leg, I'm walking the Trail. I cannot emphasize enough how much this project means to me. I'm getting married two months before I start my hike. I will not see my partner until I'm done. I will miss family reunions. I will not get a job until I have completed my hike. In my mind, I am competing against the Army, at whose order I have sacrificed a great deal. I'm not sacrificing this.