What Have I got Myself Into

Exactly, what have I got myself into?? I would like to thank a 2007 NOBO (northbound GA to ME) thru hiker John Fegyveresi for my mood tonight. After reading his trail journal at http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=216325 I am a bit intimidated. I understand that its going to be tough and prolly take all that I have not to quit but John, buddy, you have me scared out of my mind to go through Massachusetts. You talked about almost quitting in MA but what if I get that same feeling you had but in GA right when I start??? I am mentally tough but it’s hard to prepare yourself for the AT. With football I could practice and practice and work on my weaknesses but there’s no long distance AT practice. I can’t rely on my teammates to pick me up.

Or can I? True, I won’t be hiking with a team of guys. I won’t be meeting every Wednesday night for practice so we can be better AT-ers and fine tune our hiking. I won’t be able to call up my teammates the night before the big game and go over what it is we need to accomplish the next day. You’re right, it won’t be like a football game at all!! But, I will have teammates just not in the traditional. I know I have the support from God and my family. I have been amazed of the people that are happy for me when they found out what my big AT plans are. Everyone I have talked to has been supportive and that means a lot to me. I know that if I had problems on the trail I could pick up the phone and call any number of my friends and they would be supportive. Those are the teammates that will get me through this. Any encouragement will be awesome. The smallest words can go a long way.

There’s one image that I use to combat Mr. Fegyveresi’s intimidation ploys (I’m kidding by the way, John. I love your journal) and that is of me raising my hands in the hair when I get on top of Mt Katahdin. Instead of thousands of screaming fans cheering me on I will have the wind and hopefully a panoramic 360 view to be my applause. That’s what gets me through the intimidation phase. It’ll be that moment that I’ll realize that I can do anything. I have no idea who, if anyone, will be there to share that moment with me. All I know is that that is the image I think about first thing in the morning. That is what puts that daily smile on my face.