I love my job. It conflicts with my love for being outside, but I still love it. Just so happens that some of the things I enjoy in life are slightly conflicting. So while I contemplate my next moves in life, it doesn’t mean that I stop trying to pursue a life of adventure. I can work my 9 to whenever inside and spend the rest of my time outside. One day I’ll make the switch but for now, I’m a weekend warrior.
This year I decided that I would attempt to walk/hike/run 500 miles. There’s nothing special about the number. Just seemed like a challenge and had a catchy song to inspire it. Its also loosely monitored. I don’t have a FitBit or anything. Nothing against it, fitness tech just isn’t my thing. Its a personal thing, but the less distractions I have when I’m outside, the better. I’m not going to ever overestimate. I know how much I hike and I know how much I run at the gym. And with wonders like Google Maps, I can recreate my route in a matter of seconds and satellites will tell me how much I hiked (one day I’ll get a new phone that can also do this). A secondary goal was to minimize the percentage of the miles that were at the gym (because that’s no fun). So I aimed for less than 5% gym miles. 500 miles in a year. That means 41.67 miles per month, or 9.62 miles per week, or 1.37 miles per day. Doesn’t seem all that bad once you break it down.
Why did I decide to do this? Partly as a motivator to get outside more. To challenge myself physically, go longer, go farther. Some of the best places are remote and require an investment just to get there. I want to be healthy and continue an active lifestyle. I enjoy hiking and backpacking. I love going to new places. The kinds of places that feed the soul. The one’s that inspire art, dreams, science fiction. The one’s that make our planet so amazing. Making lists is kind of a idiosyncrasy of mine. There’s a great deal of satisfaction to be had adding to a list or checking things off. I also found myself with a 4th quarter tripto Machu Picchu and the Inca trail lined up and ended up winning the Whitney lottery. Even more the reason to get into good hiking shape. So like they say, ready, get set, go.
Stay tuned…
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