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In Between Goals

It’s pretty plain I like goals. I have lots of them: regular goals, big goals and even those I call a BAG (big audacious goal). I like helping people reach their goals too, whatever the size and challenge. This year I’ve discovered a new class of goal, the in-between goal. I really like them, because they are a good way to keep me grounded and present while waiting for my next adventure.

That’s why I call them an in-between goal. They are in-between now and a bigger, more important goal. They keep me excited and focused on something positive.

Some of my bigger goals are very challenging to reach, like my plan to earn a living through motivational speaking. As others have said, “Becoming a professional speaker is easy. Earning a living at it is hard.”

Other goals are seasonally related, like hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which doesn’t start until next spring. So, the in-between goals focus my energy and help keep me from feeling I’m wasting my time when other goals are elusive or far away. Often my in-between goals are a physical activity that keeps me strong and fit, too. Added bonus!

My current in-between goal is to run five miles without collapsing. Specifically, it’s to finish the Kraut Run 8K (5 miles) in under fifty-five minutes. Kraut Run is on October 5th, so I have eleven days left. Today was the first day I came near my goal. I finished at 55:16. That’s really close. I feel good, in fact I’m pretty excited because this goal has been harder than I expected. The last time I actively worked on running was years ago and I was a stronger, faster runner. Then, I ran faster minutes per mile and nearly three times as far. Now my goal is for a slower pace and shorter race. That doesn’t mean it’s coming easily.

My best time in the last three months was 57:29, and for two weeks in September, I didn’t run a full five miles during any training run. I consoled myself knowing I was still out there trying, running in very hot weather and sticking with it even though it seemed to be going poorly. I remembered my lesson from hiking the Appalachian Trail: It doesn’t matter what you expect. It only matters you deal with what is.

Today, when my work out app announced mile three had taken me significantly longer than the first two miles, I reminded myself to just keep pushing my pace. I really didn’t think I would improve, but I wanted to keep from slowing down any further. Then, when mile four came in at a faster time, I realized I had a chance to finish close to my goal of fifty-five minutes. It was very hard to run the fifth mile as strongly as the fourth, but I kept saying to myself, “You got this” or “You can do it” and “You’re almost finished“. One time I even said it out loud and was thankful no one was nearby.

I have twelve more days to trim those last few seconds from my time. My goal isn’t to run as fast or as far as I once did, but my effort and hope are the same as always. I’m working diligently to reach this in-between goal and I sure hope I make it by Oct. 5th.

It’s worth striving for; it’s kept me running through the entire summer and put me in much better shape for my next in-between goal: backpacking eighteen miles days to prepare for the PCT!

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Day 153 – Looking Up

The hardest days for me on trail were in New York, so we took a break from steep rock climbs in rain by spending time off trail in New York City. It was fun, although exhausting, to be a tourist, so when Mountain Dew suggested a third day off trail, I agreed. The three of us spent that day doing almost nothing.

I returned to the trail having missed the worst of the rainstorms and thought I would enjoy the trail again. I was wrong. I had been living trail life over four months by then and thunderstorms the next day knocked me back into misery. This post isn’t about that though, so suffice it to say that my friend’s prediction of “…every day a new misery” was absolutely correct.

Right after that a string of Trail Angels changed my attitude even though the rain kept coming. Looking back, it seems like an entire community of thoughtful people were where I needed them to boost my morale and keep me hiking north.

First, we ran into Bill, a thru hiker from 1998, who was doing shelter maintenance about four miles into our day. He invited us to go skydiving with him. We said “Yes!” and the day became even better. First, we had an awesome jump. I have wanted to skydive for 26 years and now I have! Loved it.

Afterwards, Bill dropped us back on trail so we could hike three more miles without our packs to his house. He treated us to ice cream and cokes, let us clean up and do laundry, then showed us to his rec room where we could sleep warm and dry. The next morning, his wife Amy made us a full breakfast while we visited with his kids. The whole experience was so unexpected and wonderful it was hard to believe.

A few days later, in Connecticut, we were facing a long rainy day punctuated by sudden hard rains. Heather, the daughter of my mom’s friend, Kathy, was going to meet us in a town about seven miles away. She surprised us by waiting at the trailhead with cokes and fruit and a plan for the day. We put our packs in her car and slack packed the next five miles with more of her treats in our daypacks, then called her when we finished. She picked us up after navigating closed roads and muddy unmaintained dirt roads, then took us to the post office and visitor center hiker showers before we headed for an early dinner.

All the while the rain simply poured, but we didn’t care because our packs were dry and so were we. After dinner, Heather brought out her laptop and we finally had a chance to look at our skydiving photos and post them. The whole day was awesome because of Heather. Without her help, we probably would have hitched to town and given up the extra hiking. Instead, she dropped us where we had left off and we hiked to camp in light drizzle which stopped before we set up camp. I know we were smiling all the way to camp and thankful to have had an easy way to put in a full day of hiking plus spend time cleaning up and enjoying her company.

The third set of Trail Angels came along on my second worst day of the trail. The rain had been relentless. There had been three flash flood warnings over five different days. Once, the trail literally was underwater 6 inches within minutes, and lightning was striking in front of my face. I woke up the morning after the third one and looked at Wingman and said “I don’t want to carry this pack anymore.” Of course I put my pack on my back and walked anyway. Four miles into our hike we arrived at the Cookie Lady’s house and our luck changed completely.

The Cookie Lady had a cat that loves hikers and gave us delicious homemade cookies, then let us pick blueberries in her blueberry orchard for no cost at all. We just needed to give her half of what we picked! It was wonderful – and delicious. While we were there, Tom stopped by. He was waiting for some southbound hikers that he was helping slack pack. He offered to let us camp out at his home which was on the trail in the town of Dalton, Massachusetts. Then he offered to take our packs the rest of the way there for free! We made really good time, go to the community center shower before it closed. Plus, it didn’t even rain that day which was a miracle in and of itself! The next morning by dawn, Tom had laid out an entire picnic table full of all kinds of donuts and coffee and juice for the 20+ hikers that were camped out at his house. He also took our packs all the way to Bascom Lodge, 17.5 trail miles, so we could make it there before dinner. Wow!

Finally, as we walked up to the top of Mount Greylock and Bascom Lodge, Brad, one of the co-owners and the brother-in-law of my friend Ellen, was waiting for us as we arrived. We were already booked to stay at his place, but he made it even more special by taking the time to to treat us to dinner and visit with us then – and at breakfast next day. The meals were fabulous as was his company!

We were able to hike a little over 17 miles that day, fully loaded and coming into Bennington, Vermont in the dark with headlamps down some steep rocks. We were happy though, because we made a lot of good miles and finally hiking is becoming good again.

I’ve finally recaptured my love of hiking again. If I can hold onto that feeling for seven more weeks, I may reach the summit a happy hiker!

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Day 95 – Family Focus

It’s wonderful to have something special to focus on when your slogging through the miles everyday, and my favorite is meeting up with Marc, Davis, and Ann. They visited in Harpers Ferry last weekend and my excitement built as the weekend neared.

There are many hours during some days when hiking is simply pushing yourself to keep going, rather than feeling the miles fly by. That’s when it’s especially critical to feel the pull of something good to keep you moving along. I had these three to keep my focus positive:

We all pick daily mileage goals and usually have a couple spots picked for camping that night. Basically, you can pitch your tent anywhere along most of the route, so its enticing to stop early some days. Knowing you have someplace to be by a certain date on down the trail can make it easier, as long as you don’t make it into a grind.

I had to let go of my goal to reach Harpers Ferry by the time they arrived and instead figure out how to find a shuttle driver to Harpers Ferry once I was out of Shenandoah National Park. It was so much more fun to hike after I reduced the pressure on myself, had the shuttle lined up, and could enjoy the hike while anticipating their visit.

One lesson made clear on this journey is you can easily turn your dream into a trap by making up rules and schedules which are only in your head, like “I must be there by….” The reality is I can usually jump off trail at the next road crossing by having a shuttle driver meet me there, and then drop me back when I’m ready.

It’s a great life lesson, too. Much of the pressure I feel, is put upon me by myself. I don’t need to add pressure to my journey or arbitrarily create schedules when they aren’t needed. Right now, I’m trying to remember that wherever I am on the trail is exactly where I need to be, and no other expectation really matters.

In the meantime, I’m glad to have perks and extra encouragement from friends and family to help me stay focused on moving forward to Katahdin. It sure helps the daily grind be the daily hike instead.