THIS HAS BEEN MY LIFE FOR THE PAST 4 DAYS:

Seeing if it's possible to fit my entire life into a 5 x 10 storage space (plus a 5 x 5 space in the storage area over my parent's garage) In doing so, I learned a number of things:

1) I am not as good at packing as I was when I was a traveler and moved every three months. Back then, I was a packing and moving machine! I could get everything packed into the exact same rubbermade container and the containers in my jeep in the exact same order every time. I was systematic. I was focused. I was a moving force of nature! This time, I rather felt like Ten Second Tom from 50 First Dates. I was unfocused and unorganized and it took me way longer than I thought it would. 

2) Probably because I've accumulated so much stuff. What's strange is that I purge regularly. (My possessions, not my lunch) I try to follow the "one in, one out" rule. I don't shop a lot. Yet somehow, I ended up drowning in stuff. 

3) A lot of my stuff defies categorization. Which may have contributed greatly to the time it took to pack. In general, like goes in the same box with like. But I had so many little unique things that did not lend themselves to the groups. Now I have entirely too many "miscellaneous" bags.

4) I clean way more when I leave a place than when I'm living in it. That may be partially due to the fact that when you live somewhere, all your stuff is in the way when you clean so you clean around it. But that still doesn't fully explain why I turned into an Italian grandmother this weekend.

5) When cleaning and packing, something inevitably spills. 

6) The only thing that makes a bigger mess than a container of wasabi peas is a half-closed bottle of laundry detergent.

(Did I mention that this took me a lot longer than anticipated?)

But I think it was a good exercise in systematically focusing and getting to the other side. Which I will need. Because for the next few months, I will fit my life into this:

Outside of the logistics of planning a 5-6 month long hiking trip, there is the daunting task of getting in shape. It's by far the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken. And unlike marathon or triathlon training, there aren't an overabundance of training plans for thru-hiking readily available on the internet. I was just going to have to take my existing experience with endurance training and cobble something together.

Outside magazine's December issue had an article about incorporating Crossfit into marathon training. It even had a 12 week training plan to follow. There were some parts of the plan I really liked, like the idea that going big to build muscle would help you for long distances. And, of course, lots of core work is always good. But as time progressed, I noticed that I was spending an awful lot of time on plyometrics and sprint training and very little on endurance work. And the more I read up on Crossfit, the more it appeared to me that the Crossfit gurus just don't appear to like running. At all. How else would you explain the push to train for a marathon by running as little as possible? Or training for a thru-hike by keeping cardio short and fast? So after four weeks I decided to pull out the aspects I liked about the program (strength and core work) and scrap the rest. 

Then I mixed up my own mish-mash frankenstein thru-hiking training plan. 

My plan consisted of of 6 main factors:
1) Endurance work
2) Strength training
3) Core 
4) Flexibility
5) Equipment workouts
and what I call 6) The "Suck-It-Up-and Deal" workout......

This has been my reading material for the past couple months. I have been devouring everything I can in an attempt to hammer out some logistics for this hike. Yeah, while the rest of the world was gobbling up Fifty Shades of Gray and dreaming of a life filled with passion and naughtiness, I was pouring over hiking guides and dreaming of a life filled with dirt, rain, and mosquitos! That's just the way I roll.

Some of the references from the giant teetering pile beside my bed have been more helpful than others, for sure. But I have gleaned a little bit of something from just about everything, which makes the paper cuts from the pages and lumps on the head from the collapsing pile of books almost worth it.

For instance, even though the AT Thru Hike Planning Workbook  was a bit outdated (he hiked the trail in 1988, for Pete's sake), I did find the gear and food planning checklists handy. And Trail Tested  had me re-thinking all of my old backpacking gear, buying a luggage scale, and scouting EMS and REI for the lightest gear possible (provided it was on sale) But the food suggestions in this book left much to be desired. (I mean, if I was 23 maybe I could hike for months on nothing but PopTarts, Snickers, and Lipton Noodles, but at age 43, that ain't happening. I would die. I would just curl up and disintegrate into a pile of partially-hydrogenated high-fructose anguish)  If you look closely, Backpacker magazine has an article called "The Truth about Bears." I read that at least 16 times. I will probably read it again as soon as I finish writing this.

I believe I have made it perfectly clear that it is not overkill, but in fact completely necessary to have every.single. one of those books. So don't judge me.

Maybe I wasn't getting any practical advice from A Walk in the Woods,  but I really needed to see if the book was as funny as I remembered. (It is.) And perhaps Zero Regrets  (by my celebrity boyfriend, Apolo Ohno) isn't about the Appalachian Trail, per se. Okay, maybe it's not about the AT at all. For all I know, Apolo Ohno has never had a pair of hiking boots on in his life! But c'mon people! Eight Olympic medals. His book's gotta be good for something. Even if it's just pictures.


Of the books, two made the cut to bring along in the pack: The Thru-Hiker's Companion and The AT Guide. They are like Frommer's and Foddors for the woods. I wish I could bring them all, but my tent pile needs to be be significantly smaller. Only the most important and relevant books are allowed along for the trip.

Then again,maybe I should bring Fifty Shades of Gray.