Update Walk to Mordor Week 16

Update Walk to Mordor Week #16

Week #__16____ WTR Goals: Mileage___5___ Weight ___268___ BMI___?___ Location* ____Day 3!______

Starting Weight	Current Weight	Goal Weight	Projected Goal Date	Days Left**
270	270	175	?	?

Date	Activity	Duration Miles	Beginning Mileage	Ending Mileage	Location*	Duration
1/ 15/ 14	walk	1.8	37.63	39.43	Go on in twilight. Begin to sing. (ca. 7:00 p.m.)	4:00:00
1/16/14	walk	4.54	39.73	44.27	“And NOW to bed!” Pippin says, when BLACK RIDER is heard again (ca. 9 p.m.). ELVES arrive, RIDER leaves, and Frodo & Co. continue with Elves. Wood more dense, and lane went lower, running in a fold of hills, with hazel on the slopes alongside. Pippin quickly becomes sleepy.	16:00:00
1/17/14	walk	4.68	44.27	48.95	Turn right off the path on a green ride through thickets. Camp - Woody End. A green floor in the wood, roofed by boughs of trees. To the east a steep shoulder falls, and they can overlook the river valley. The lights of the village of Woodhall seen below (ca. 11 p.m.). Begin day 3! Sleep late (leaving time ca. 11:00 a.m.). Frodo decides to cut SE to Buckleberry Ferry. Scramble down hill into the thick trees below. It begins to cloud up. A deep-banked stream below the hill cuts across their path. Looking back, they see a Black Rider on the hillcrest where they had camped. They force through the bushes alongside the stream. Pippin realizes it is the Stock-brook. The banks are low enough now for them to cross. The land on its south bank is wet and reedy.	17:00:00
1/18/14	walk	2.80	48.95	51.75	They reach a belt of trees, mostly oaks with a few elms and ash. Drops of rain fall.	16:00:00
Totals	This week:	13.82	Total Miles:	51.75	Total Time:	65:24:23

This week was a little different compared to previous weeks because I got a Fitbit Flex and started tracking all my steps. I didn't realized that I was walking multiple miles a day just doing normal things like cooking and the laundry. I had to change how I count the time spent walking... I just went on my activity log for my fit bit and calculated how long I was active (aka not counting the time I am asleep or driving in the car and not walking) and that is how I got the new duration number. I might give up writing a duration in the future since it will be slightly skewed because of the changes in the way I record my walking. My walk will happen much faster now. I can actually picture it finishing in less than 3 years.

A Black Rider from the Fellowship of the Ring movie

In my chart above you can see that the hobbits sang in the evening of day two. This is the song that the hobbits are singing before they see the black rider for the second time. A cool bit of trivia, Pippin sings parts of the last verse in the movie Return of the King so the song is partly kept in the movie!

Upon the hearth the fire is red,

Beneath the roof there is a bed;

But not yet weary are our feet,

Still round the corner we may meet

A sudden tree or standing stone

That none have seen but we alone.

Tree and flower and leaf and grass,

Let them pass! Let them pass!

Hill and water under sky,

Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate,

And though we pass them by today,

Tomorrow we may come this way

And take the hidden paths that run

Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,

Let them go! Let them go!

Sand and stone and pool and dell,

Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadows to the edge of night,

Until the stars are all alight.

Then world behind and home ahead,

We'll wander back to home and bed.

Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,

Away shall fade! Away shall fade!

Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,

And then to bed! And then to bed!

I love that hobbits sing all the time. Singing helps make the soul glad and when setting out on a very hard journey, it is one of the things that keeps you going. Later that night, they meet some Elves on the road they are singing the following song: The Elven Hymn to Elbereth.
 

Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!

O Queen beyond the Western Seas!

O Light to us that wander here
Amid the world of woven trees!

Gilthoniel! O Elbereth!

Clear are thy eyes and bright thy breath!
Snow-white! Snow-white! We sing to thee
In a far land beyond the Sea.

O stars that in the Sunless Year

With shining hand by her were sown,
In windy fields now bright and clear
We see your silver blossom blown!

O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!

We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
Thy starlight on Western Seas.

I love the differences between these two songs. You can really tell that Elves and Hobbits are different when you see the different ways they sing and think about story telling. This is a sad but hopeful song about Elbereth over the sea. These elves are traveling to the Grey Havens to leave Middle Earth. They are sad, but happy that they will go beyond the sea once more. The hobbit's song is sad in a less epic way. They are going far away from home and they are not sure that they will ever see it again. That is why they sing so much about death, in my opinion.

Anywho... poetry aside.

This week was also fun at Koko Fitclub. I won a T-shirt because I didn't gain weight (I actually lost a pound) over the month of December. It is a burnt orange color and says "Koko Strong". I'm pretty excited about it. I also hit 50,000 points and I get to get an orange lanyard. I didn't check my email until I got home, so I had to get it on friday. I'm pretty excited about it, because that means I have been working out, even if my scale doesn't say so, and I have been getting better at ballet.

I'll post more this week. Have a fantastic day!