My goal currently is to get in shape. Yes, I have a shape. No, it’s not my ideal shape. I’m honestly not sure what that ideal shape might be, but I think it is something to do with a small tummy area. It’s amazing how much tummy you can see when you don’t have any tatas in the way! It’s quite expansive.
So, as part of this goal I have been working out, walking a bit. Not running because I really don’t think that would be wise until the tummy has been reduced a bit. Aka, lose some weight so that my joints don’t give out. I’ve done body weight exercises most days for months. Just kind of an amorphous blob of attempting to get in shape.
And then I saw a thing. Someone in a Facebook group had walked 50 miles in the Grand Canyon in two days through something called ‘Project Athena.’ I thought, wow! If I tried to do that, I would probably die.
Thankfully, when I got to looking at the Project Athena web page - A Project Athena - I saw that they had other walks that might not kill me! Excellent.
I of course immediately applied for a grant.
And then one day I got a text - can I call you this weekend? Oh, yes. I was working on that Saturday, so I let them know. Then I talked to the person who talks to possible grantees for the Project. We decided that Zion might kill me, so the San Diego Harbor to Harbor Adventure Trek might be more my speed.
Awesome!
And then just before Thanksgiving I received the information. Yes, you’ll get a grant. Yes, you’ll have help with training starting in January. And… you should start training now because it’s bad for the Project if people die on their adventures. I added that last bit, but I imagine it’s true.
So, for 1.5 weeks now I’ve been in training. I started on week 8 because I’d already been walking 4 miles a few days a week and doing weight-bearing exercises most days. I stopped counting the dog walks in my ‘exercise’ after talking to them initially because, well, walking dogs is more of a meander. Sniff something. Take a wee. The dramatic moment of stopping for a poo, picking up the poo. Not exactly exercise. Except the hills still count as stairs according to my fitness tracker. Sweet.
The first week I walked a lot. 4 miles. 3 miles with hills - basically every walk I take has hills because of the geography though. Rest day! Rest day is the best day. Walk 2 miles. 45 minutes cross-training = an excuse to buy a Nintendo Switch and get a dancing game. My extensive research (approx. 5 mins) said anything other than the main exercise was cross-training. Got it.
Then walk 6 miles on Saturday. Wait. What? Okay. I walked 6 miles on Saturday. Sunday… rest day!
I wasn’t even sore. I think there’s hope!
I started on what would be week 9 of pre-training on Monday of this week. Walk three miles and lower leg exercises. I’m still feeling those today. It’s Wednesday. Tuesday, 4 miles. 2 of the miles in less than 21 minutes. I walk fast. No problem. It was getting dark by the time I finished. And I was exhausted.
Today: Rest day! Last true rest day until next Wednesday.
So, this is the journey I’m on. Tomorrow I’ll walk 5 miles in less than an hour and 40 minutes. Thursday is dancing for 50 minutes and core work.
Want to join me? I’ll try to post how training is going here, and I urge everyone to follow whatever weird dream you have! Mine is now to walk 50 miles in two days. Assuming I don’t die, I plan to fundraise for the harder adventures in the future. Because I’m slightly nuts.
Stay safe, stay home if you can, and have a good week!