3 Days and Counting...

The long range weather forecast starts out great for my trek on Monday but isn't so hot later in the week when I am in the southern Berkshires... we'll have to see what happens and if the weather man is even close to being right. I'd rather daytime rain and dry nights though given my minimal sleeping configuration. Once I get on the trail though, it really won't matter because I will have to make do with what's in my pack for whatever I am dealt.

Nerves are running high for me right now... half are because I just want to get on the trail and I know I'll deal with whatever comes rather than worrying about what might or might not come to be. The other half of the nerves are for what I am about to undertake and ... what was I thinking!? I read an article about a race called the "TransRockies Run" where world class trail racers run 113 miles across the rocky mountains in CO over the course of 6 days, which is harder than my run because it is at altitude, BUT I am going 148.5 miles, and they DON'T carry their own gear, and EVERY night they sleep in tent villages with cots, hot showers, food cooked for them, medical staff available, AND they get food and drink provided to them during the day at prescribed places on the trail! I, on the other hand, must survive with what’s on my back for the next 6+ days of running. Makes me wonder why I didn't just sign up for that race instead! Maybe in 2 years, what do you all think?

I am pretty much ready to go... most things are packed. I have tested all of my gear and assumptions on how much fuel I need for my stove, battery recharging for my running GPS, seam sealing my tarp tent, replacing some failed gear (my backpack) and cutting down on weight wherever possible by eliminating the luxuries like a sleeping pad (sleep on hard ground), hydration bladder (use a collapsible plastic bottle) and full tent (ultralight tarp tent). I bought some new equipment that reduces weight too. Even at the extreme ultra-light, my pack still weighs 16lbs and running with that on my back is way more stress on my muscles, my knee joints, tendons and energy levels. I will be happy to keep up a pace of about 4 mph in the mountains and 7 mph in the flats.

I am a little bouyed by the realization that, unlike CT, I can build small fires on the MA section of the AT in designated fire pits at campsites. That alone can make me feel better during the lonely evenings... during the day I'm running (and probably hurting and grumpy) so I need no companionship, but the evenings will be when I know I will miss Jan, Derek and Erica and want to be able to talk to someone. I really hope some evenings I will end up sharing a campsite with some "thruhikers" that I can swap stories with. In the absence of any human interaction, a warm crackling fire that can mesmerize me for hours will make life more bearable.

From the moment Jan drops me off in VT, I will anxiously await the coming of Friday night when she and Derek and Erica meet me out on the trail to camp with me for a night. Now that will be a treat! Derek and his friends are also going to hike out into the backcountry on Saturday night to meet me again so the last two nights won’t be so lonely… What a fabulous family I have! Have I said that recently? Boy am I lucky!

Keep hoping for dry weather for me my friends... that is my biggest concern. Oh yea... and also hope that a big old bear doesn't eat me, or Bigfoot doesn't hunt me down in VT (yes there are reports of Bigfoot sightings near where I start … and missing people too), or, well you get the picture… ;-)

I have raised a little over $1,300 this year for LiveSTRONG and Habitat for Humanity, which is well under last year's $4K effort but with the economy being as bad as it is, I'm not surprised or disappointed. The money is still coming in but as was the case last year, the names I carry with me on my shirt are way more important than the money I raise. Its an honor to be bringing them with me in spirit on my run. You can learn more about the names on my shirt at http://www.r4opl.com/wall_of_honor.htm

I doubt I will blog again before I leave for VT on Sunday evening but feel free to keep checking Twitter at www.twitter.com/r4opl, or you can also follow my real-time progress on a map at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0D4BGPuJMFeRXdd0jf4XHksEX50UsqROg which is a web site connected to my satellite beacon that I’ll be carrying at all times. The beacon can be used for emergencies to alert search and rescue teams to my exact location, to send my family an “I’m Okay” message periodically, and also to regularly transmit my position a few times each hour while I am under way to allow people to follow me at the web site above.

I am... Running for Other People's Lives!