Celebratory Dinner

Day 164: Tonight, I am celebrating. After dinner last evening, I hopped on the exercise bike and put in my last three miles for the day, a figure which put me over the team goal of 1200 miles by one mile. I have a colleague to thank for inspiring me to complete the whole "trail" on which the challenge was based. Early on when she saw the mileage I was recording, she asked, "Gee, Crow, are you going to do the whole trail all by yourself?" I eyeballed the mileage, balanced it against the days remaining and said to myself, "Y'know, I might-maybe just could do that!"

The exercise required for the challenge is based in aerobic equivalents. To accrue the equivalent of one aerobic walking mile, the participant must put in a certain number of minutes at a specific exertion level. For example, here toward the end, I've cranked up the resistance on the bike to the point that 13 minutes equals one mile of walking. When I started, I was riding 16-minute miles. On the other hand, odometer miles will be significantly higher. Sixty-five minutes of riding the bike may read out that I've travelled 18 "road miles," but in fact only has a value of five miles (5 x 13 = 65).

So here I am, 10 weeks and 1200 miles later, and I've lost nine pounds. I feel better than I've felt in 25 years. My energy level is up, as is my endurance and strength. I'm tearing up hills which would have had me gasping last fall, sprinting up them like they aren't even there. My uniform fits comfortably now (never mind that I've worn the soles off two pair of boots). Our team was the second to complete the trail in all of the participating parks, and the first in Mount Rainier. We still have two weeks to go, and I'm not stopping now! I plan to put in somewhat shorter days between now and the end of the month (maybe only 20 miles instead of 25-27), and then in April, I'll switch over to a "maintenance routine," augmented by my regular hiking and kayaking activities.