When I last posted about this journey on July 10th, I had traveled 40 miles from my starting point. Today, 21 days later and in week five of this 13 week challenge, I have only traveled only 48 additional miles. This is no bueno.
I was out of town for over a week but managed to get in 16.5 miles while visiting my friends. Nonetheless, I have eight weeks to get to City Hall in San Francisco. This means that I will have to average 83.5 miles a week. I do not feel defeated, however. In fact, I am propelled, fueled by the story of Cheryl Strayed as told in her book, Wild.
I had heard much about this book but wasn’t sure it was for me, despite it being on my “recommended for you” list on Amazon. I picked it up at the airport of all the dumb places (dumb because of the inflated price). The fact that my copy had the Oprah Book Club stamp of approval made me hesitate and look for a copy that did not scream “I am a woman seeking inner peace and fulfillment,” but soon I didn’t care about the badge. I did not put the book down for the bumpy five hour flight I had back home. Now I know that the timing for me to “discover” her enthralling tale was just right. I relate in so many ways to Strayed’s personal story but I also could not get over the fact that I am covering much of the same territory she did, though the realities are quite different. Her fortitude and persistence in venturing out alone and into the wilderness makes my little virtual journey on a stationary bike seem, if not laughable, doable, in the very least! Also worth noting, her trail name was “Queen of the PCT.” Dancing Queen…Queen of the PCT – it’s kismet, I tell ya.
To meet my goal, I have decided to forgo my Thursday Zumba class and bike, instead. That will allow for another 20ish mile day in the week, in addition to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I train Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so no resting days for eight weeks will be interesting. I’m hoping Sunday yoga will be restorative. I could always rest one day and make Saturday more ambitious but we’ll see if my butt can take sitting on a bike seat for over two hours at a time.
Monday, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find some kind of app or map that would allow me to log-in my starting point and then just add the number of miles along the route in order to show me my progress on my trip. So far as I can tell, nothing like that exists unless you are actually traveling that route, in which case the GPS tracker can show you where you are…even though you are there and can obviously see where you are. Someone invent this app right now, please.
Also important is my riding music mix. It’s filled with upbeat tunes by Katy Perry and Jessie J, but I find that around mile 10, New Slaves by Kanye and Sail by AWOLNation give me renewed energy. Share with me your progress and music suggestions!
DQ Trip Tracker:
Miles completed: 88
Miles to go: 668
