Getting A Bit Weary

   Back on the trail in 1980 I fell into the same routine of hiking, camping, eating dinner, sleeping, eating breakfast, hiking, eating lunch, hiking...... Virginia is a very big state. It has the most miles of the Appalachian Trail of any state (about 500 or so). To be honest, I was starting to get weary of hiking at this point. Yes, I wanted to make it to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Yes, I wanted to hike the entire trail. But it's easy to start getting bored hiking through Virginia. I'm not knocking the beauty of the woods or the beautiful views. But after weeks and weeks and weeks, it starts to get hard.
   The experiences that I had so far were amazing and memorable. But I was itching to put another notch on my hiking staff. At this point I had about two more weeks left in Virginia. Some people who are thru-hikers get discouraged and quit. I didn't quit, but I was discouraged and I was weary. Looking back on it, I realize that I was among the first 1,000 people to ever hike the entire trail (my "number" was somewhere in the 900's). In 2011 I received my Appalachian Trail Newsletter and saw that over 11,000 people have now completed the entire trail. They had to persevere through the tough times too.
   2011: This morning I weighed in at 180.8 pounds. Early this morning I ran in the 5K road race. I did good for the first two miles, then the same stiffness started in my lower leg (someone told me this is part of the Achilles tendon). I had one mile to go and made it to the end. My time was 31:53 which comes out to about 10 minutes per mile. Not bad for an old man trying to start getting into shape! Now my leg is very sore, so I will have to recover. Next Friday I have another 5K race and hope to be well enough to run in it! Yes, I am getting a bit weary of this weight loss program, but I'm not going to quit. I am determined to reach my goal of 165 pounds before September 4th!