Hiking 50 miles in Two Days!

   Hiking in Southern Virginia in 1980 was a great experience. The weather was amazingly good. I often would sleep outside under the stars (even though I was usually near a shelter). One of the things I liked the most was the ridges. Up to this point the Appalachian Trail was a lot of up and down and up and down and up and down. In Southern Virginia I started to hike along ridge lines. Once you climb up a ridge there is minimal up and down for many, many miles. It also allowed me to start getting more miles hiked per day. The trail is 2,100 miles and I did it in 21 weeks. So on average, I hiked 100 miles per week. But at the beginning, I was slower than that. Virginia gave me an opportunity to increase my distance and increase my overall average.
   One night at a shelter I got into a conversation with some other thru-hikers about how far we thought we could hike. 20 miles in a day was certainly something we could do. Then one of the guys dropped a bomb. He said, "you know, it's 50 miles from here to Pearisburg, Virgina. What if we made it there in two days?" WOW! We thought about it for a minute then said, "let's do it!"
   Early the next morning we were up and starting to "crank out" the miles. By nightfall, all of us had put in our first 25 mile day. The following morning we were also up early. Our tired and aching muscles were asking "why, oh why are you doing this to me?!" But we were determined! It helped that my food supply was getting low which meant that the weight of my pack was also fairly light. The second day of the 50 mile challenge was harder, but all of us made it. We broke through the woods at the end of the day and saw the town of Pearisburg in front of us. Two days, 50 miles. It was the first (and last) time I ever did that many miles in two days.
   The great thing about Pearisburg was the fact that a local church had a free hiker hostel on their property. It was an old barn that had been converted to a simple place for hikers to spend the night. As I dropped off to sleep that night in the barn I couldn't believe I had done it. But that's what hiking the Appalachian Trail was all about, setting goals and challenges then rising to meet them.
   Here in 2011 I continue my goal of losing weight. Yesterday I weighed in at 179.4 pounds and this morning I weighed in at 180.0 pounds. So, yesterday was a "zero day" and today I went a little bit backwards (due to celebrating in a restaurant with my nephew and his family after his high school graduation..congratulations Hayden Boal!) I did go running some this morning, but the muscle below my right calf was (and is) still sore. I got some "Ben-Gay" ointment and I hope it will help with the healing. Progress. I'm going to meet my goal!