Things have been going very, very well lately. I am consistently doing some form of physical activity 5 or more days a week. Now that summer is here I (quite unhappily) can add yard work to my activity regimen. I mowed the lawn yestday, which is one of my less favorite chores. However, I decided I was working on my will- which is your ability to make yourself do something you don't want to do. Having a strong will is apparently important for forcing yourself out of your warm sleeping bag and into your cold boots for another day's climb on the mountain.
I have been enjoying long walks, both around the park near where I live and in the river valley with a dear friend. Actually, this one is more of a moving conversation than a work out but no where is it written that work outs must be unpleasant! I have made my hiking boots my own (unlike my friend and future climbing companion H, who hasn't made the committment yet) and have worn them outside. My boots looked so fantastic, all clean and pristine, but now they look a bit more like an old friend and a bit less like the model in the fashion magazine.
I have been going to hot yoga once a week. Loving the sweating! My body loves the yoga too and I relish that feeling when all my body parts coexist peacefully, everything moves as it should and nothing complains. Pure bliss (once I shower and have a cold drink of course)! I love it when my body feels content. I missed yoga last week due to weather issues and am really looking forward to today's class at noon. Yes, I know you just reread the last sentence and are wondering how I can miss an indoor class due to weather. Well, it was a sunny and extremely lovely day and Saoirse (my motorbike) was calling so loudly I went out riding in the time slot I usually go to yoga. It was the most fantastically correct choice for that day!
I have been reading a lot of winter camping and backpacking books looking for some tricks and tips. One I plan to use is to get a hard sided Naglene water bottle, fill it up with boiling water, put a wool sock over top and throw it into my sleeping bag before I go to bed. Voila, warm feet when I crawl in!
This month's group information night was a session with the owner of the tour company that is arranging our trip. It included some pictures and lots of question answering. I especially liked the picture of the 72 year old woman on the summit- maybe there's hope for me to get to the top.
Important things I learned - not in any special order!
Tse flies are the size of horse flies. They hang around the animals (wild ones, not usually us) so if they are around us on safari we can ask the driver to move away.
On safari the guide will check your tent for snakes and big bugs before you go to bed if you ask him. Seriously, who's not going to ask him? He'll even check under the bed for you!
For our group of 30 trekkers (that sounds so much more sophisticated than walkers) there will be a total of 183 people in our party. There will be three porters per walker. That is a huge amount of people! Which I translated into there will always be someone around watching for the full moon when I'm trying to duck behind a bush to answer nature's call.
You have to supply your own toilet paper pretty much every where in Africa.
There are outhouses on the mountain. They are wooden buildings with holes in the floor for your offerings. Not much different than in China with the exeption that the holes look a lot smaller. Its a good thing I've got squats in my workout program cuz I'm gonna need the thighs o' steel again.
Still on bodily functions, I'm getting very proficient with my Go Girl. (I could add more here but I think that'll fall under the TMI category).
We had a potluck at the info session and had to bring a "healthy" snack. Since the organizers were providing fruit and veg I scratched my noodle a lot trying to figure out what to bring. There was an amazing assortment of snacks, and aside from the shrimp and sushi, no meat! Vegetarians rejoice! Sadly, no one figured out how to bring something healthy that was covered in chocolate.
We are renting sleeping bags for the climb and have been encouraged to bring a liner. One of my big worries is that I will be cold at night. When I go camping my husband faithfully puts out lots of BTUs and is happy to share them with me whenever needed. I'm pretty sure my tent mate will want to keep all her TUs (she's not from Britain) inside her own sleeping bag. So I did some research and found a liner that is supposed to increase your bag's temperature rating by 15 degrees C. I got it and have tried it out. Yes, I felt silly sleeping in my bed inside my sleeping bag liner, but there was no one around to laugh at me and I now know it can accomodate my unique sleeping mannerisms. I might even consider putting up the tent and trying it out. Anyone interested in a backyard sleep over?
None of my family is interested in walking with me. Here's a picture of me in my walking gear. Perhaps you can figure out why my teenage sons don't want to be seen with me in public.
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