Week 17 Walk to Mordor

Week 17 Update Walk to Mordor

Week #___17___ WTR Goals: Mileage___30___ Weight __268____ BMI__down____ Location* ___day four or five?_______

Starting Weight	Current Weight	Goal Weight	Projected Goal Date	Days Left**
270	269	175	The future	many

 

Date	Activity	Duration Miles	Beginning Mileage	Ending Mileage	Location*
1/19/14	walk	3.10	51.75	54.85	Pippin realizes they’ve turned too far south as they are still in the trees. Still in the trees, they stop for lunch (ca. 2:00 p.m.). (Sing A Drinking song) Their singing is cut by the cry of a Black Rider, and they leave (ca. 3:00 p.m.).
1/20/14	walk	3.32	54.85	58.17	Wood ends. The land steadily becomes more tame. Sun is shining brightly. Reach area of the Marish with fields, meadows, hedges, gates, and drainage dikes.
1/21/14	walk	1.97	58.17	60.14
1/22/14	walk	5.29	60.14	65.43	Edges of fields worked by Farmer Maggot. After a turnip field there is a stout gate to a rutted lane, edged by hedges.  Farmer Maggot’s house and buildings: brick with thatched roofs, surrounded by a high wall cut by a wooden gate from the lane. Eat. (Est. time there: 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.: full dark when they leave). Farmer Maggot’s lane meets the Causeway to Buckleberry Ferry. Ride in wagon.
1/23/14	walk	1.98	65.43	67.41
1/24/14	walk	4.59	67.41	72.00	Boggy land all around. Foggy. Merry meets them at the Ferry landing. As they reach the other side of the river, they can see a Black Rider on the west shore. Taking the main road north from the Ferry, Buck Hill is on the left and Buckleberry on the right. They take a lane to the right, and climb up and down into the country.
1/25/14	walk	2.47	72.00	74.47	Crickhollow - spend the night. BEGIN Day 4. Leave Crickhollow soon after 6:00 a.m. Foggy. Ride ponies slowly.
Totals	This week:	22.72	Total Miles:	74.47

 I've now seen the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug twice and I have to say that I am blown away by the artistry of that movie. The details in the elven wood, the glorious vastness of Smaug's hoard, and the grandeur of the halls of Erebor are among the most beautiful visions I've seen on the silver screen. The film's highlight, for me at least, was the representation of Smaug the Terrible. He is so freaking huge! He is perfect. When the view pans out and we see tiny little Bilbo measured against the enormity of Smaug the Magnificent, we see how brave he and the dwarves really are. He killed thousands of dwarves and men, and here they are a small company of dwarves and a hobbit and they outwit him briefly.

If you can't tell, I love dragons. I read the Hobbit for the first time in fifth grade. When we finished, we had to draw our favorite scene from the book. I drew Smaug the Chieftest and Greatest of Calamities sitting atop his gold and jewels. He was my favorite character by far because he was so big and cunning. If he weren't such an evil greedy creature by nature, he would be one of my favorite characters in a story of all time.

Dragons are fascinating to me. I'm not sure why, but I love reading about them. It must have something to do with the fact that they are usually very old, cunning, and sit atop large piles of gold (because, really, who doesn't want to live a long time, be smart, and wealthy). Also, dragons can fly and breathe fire. Basically, they are an impenetrable fortress of death that flies through the air.

So why am I talking about flying infernos of death? I was really inspired by the amount of distance those little dwarf and hobbit feet can carry them so they can run away from that dragon! I am trying really hard to walk as much as I can every day. I am parking further away in parking lots and doing more cardio at the gym. I spend a lot of time in the car sitting, so there isn't much I can do about that time, but the other time I spend doing things is being spent well. At lest, better than it was. I still found it rather difficult to reach 10,000 steps most days this week. That seems to be just under five miles. If I can plan to walk around 25 or 30 miles per week (in the future), I can probably finish my Walk to Mordor much quicker.

I am getting excited about my ability to walk to longer and faster this week. I love hiking, and last summer I was unable to do a short hike because my legs were cramping so bad after ten minutes that I had to walk backwards to keep from being in pain. Hopefully, by this summer, I will be able to hike how I want without the horrible leg cramps and being out of breath.

So, thank you for reading. I'm at day four now! See you next time.