By 730, I’m walking on the trail. Lots of winding woods again, but I’m all refreshed from a night indoors.
I’ve been doing around 17-18 miles per day, which is reasonable, I think, considering the mountainous terrain.
I do have hopes of averaging at least 20, though, so in going to try for 26.4 today. 26.4 miles is the distance to Cheaha State Park, where apparently there is a fancy restaurant with floor to ceiling windows.
I bet a fancy hamburger would be nice after 26.4 miles of walking.
The sunset is at 440, which means I have to average around 3.3 mph to get there before dark, assuming I don’t want to night hike.
Which I don’t. I never do, even though I seem to plan it often.
3.3 seems far fetched when sharp inclines are involved, but I’m going to try.
At 1pm, I’m making excellent time, mostly because I’ve taken to jogging downhill or flat sections. It’s a fun new game to see how long a can run, and on what terrain, before I collapse from exhaustion.
When I stop for lunch, I eat a couple of protein bars, and a some jerky and cheese in tortillas.
On the Arizona Trail, I got fat from eating too much. I bought into the idea that you need 4000-5000 calories, so I ate that, and came back from the trail weighing almost 200 pounds, wherein I’m normally a max of 185.
So I need to watch what I eat, because it’s easy to use food as entertainment out here.
Mind numbing terrain? WHY NOT EAT SOMETHING FUN?
Not so good if you say that every 30 minutes.
That being said, I eat another protein bar, and then another. These are so tasty.
Am I hungry, or just bored? A question for the ages. I should probably push it just in case.
A steep incline is the first thing I have to scale after the lunch break.
I take off running.