4000 Miles

Its actually only a 1000 miles, but this is my fourth year achieving the goal. The "rules", such as they are (I made them up) are to go 1000 miles under your own steam. No biking allowed, though paddling a canoe is ok. Most often for me its running or hiking. Here are some thoughts about what this means to me.

• Every year this goal consistently challenges me and I wonder as I near the end of each year if I'll make it
• The goal is not about the miles per se, for me its about :
• a way to have a daily target in front of me : 2.74 miles
• a way to motivate me to get outdoors and explore my surroundings, this is more about destination rather than distance and most often that destination is the mountains.
• a way to get in better shape and yet after a 1000 miles for four consecutive years :
• I haven't really lost that much weight and I still have a little pot belly. Granted I am a lot less chunky than I was four years ago and I am in much better shape, but I am not in fantastic superman shape. But I am in better shape than most folks I'd guess.
• I still have double chin which irks me; I still eat too many calories
• I am still not "fast"; its a matter of time and endurance not speed. The second to the last day I did 24 miles in 6 hours. I ran the first 16 and walked the last 8. Anyone can do a 1000 miles if they have enough time. Once in shape you can walk a mile in 15 minutes. By only walking 40 minutes each day you'll do a 1000 miles in a year.
• I still usually carry a camera with me no matter where I am going, hiking or running. I am a runner that takes photos and a photographer that runs. Sometimes I'll see folks running down the trail carrying a water bottle, me I've got a camera in my hand. (I carry water on my back)
• Granted often towards the end of the year if I am behind it is about the miles and not the destination. At this point it is about achieving the goal itself not matter if its a long long run on a very flat boring trail. I do find here that books on tapes help, I listened to two on the last week.
• Things I've learned along the way :
• Gear matters. Good shoes, the right warm stuff when its cold, like head bands vs. hats (you over heat in a hat but a head band keeps your ears warm while venting out the top of your head)
• Pacing is important; over exerting or over doing it causes more hurt than benefit
• Consistency is key, the goal is accomplished a day at a time; every great thing is made up of many many small intermediate steps
• Having a large goal that can be measured on a daily basis is important to achieving that goal; its a great motivator to "just do it" on a daily basis, not that I always run or hike every day but for sure every week
• Having companionship along the way makes the journey more enjoyable and much easier to achieve. Its much easier to motivate yourself to go when there are others to go with. (457 miles with others)
• Having said that you will never be able to achieve your goal by soley relying on others, in the end it will come down to you alone, out there by yourself getting it done. (542 miles solo)
• I can run! I used to hate running and swore (even after becoming active) that I'd never run. My neighbor convinced me to try trail running that it was "the same as hiking but just faster" and now I even run on the road a couple of times a week at work during lunch.
• If you build up to it your body has an amazing capacity for endurance, you can do what seem like "amazing" things such as hiking through the Enchantments (19 miles) in a single day. My capacity for endurance and recovery over the years has increased and reduced. I can do 19 miles in a day and still walk the next and go for a 5 mile run the day after. Four years ago this would have put me out for almost a week. Your capacity for recovery grows over time.
• Exercise really does make you feel better and you really do have more energy rather than less after exercising. I firmly believed for many years that exerting energy could only make you feel more tired and that "pain" could only make you hurt not feel better. Endorphins are a real and amazing thing, not to mention the overall feeling of healthiness
• Exercise (at least for me) increases my immune system; I have only gotten sick a couple of times in the past four years and those have been very minor colds. (I have gotten quite sick twice but those were both self induced because I "drank the water", once in the mountains and once in Mexico)
• I don't mind getting up early. In fact getting up early (stupid early) is one of the only ways for me to accomplish this goal, with job, family and church something has to give so for me its sleep. I'll sleep when I'm dead. I don't mind starting in the dark but I like ending when its light. Getting up early is often a barrier to others joining me as I have found very few people are willing to get up at O:Dawn Thirty.
• When those expeditions (Rainier) or adventures (The Tooth) do come along I am in shape and ready

And so a new year is set to begin and I reset the counter and look forward to a new journey along another 1000 miles. May you find your own journey, your own cause, your own measure of consistency that requires discipline and pays dividends.