July 7, 2012.
Day: Off Trail Daily Miles: 0 Total Miles: 1864 Hours Hiking: 0
September 29
I have just finished transcribing,
nearly word for word, all of my audio journals from my 2012 speed
record attempt and I must say I’m relieved that time consuming task
is complete. Having lived it, recorded it and then had to listen to
and write every word of it down has left me with the feeling that I
never want to hear this again. Yet, at the same time, I have had the
strange experience of being inspired by myself, which is odd, because
I know I have done these things, yet at the current time could not
repeat them without a great deal of training. Usually in life, we
know what we can and can’t do on a daily basis, but when you get
into the realm of something as ridiculous as hiking 40+ miles a day
for 42 days…well, it seems nearly impossible except for the fact
that I have done it. Even with the first-hand knowledge of how little
fun it was and then having it be retold again to me through the
transcription, I’ve had thoughts of trying it again. I am happy
with what I was able to accomplish, however there is a certain
feeling of incompleteness that might one day drive me to attempt it
again. That’s definitely a big bag of mixed feelings. For now, I
think there are many more other things to do in the world than try
and set a record I’m confident that I can do. For now, the money
will stay out of where my mouth is, because to attempt it again (and
knowing who I am and that I will probably try and up the ante) it is
a huge commitment, and sacrifice in sanity and day-to-day happiness.
Overall, it went well. I know where improvements need to be made and
what to do differently if I should be so crazy as to try again. It’ll
be just as hard, maybe even harder because I know what to expect now.
Sometimes ignorance is blissful, because you don’t know if around
the bend you have to climb a saddle or drop into a valley. My main
hope in transcribing this is that others will read it and gain some
insight of experience that they will never have. If I can muster up a
little inspiration in others, it’ll be worth far more than any
records I managed to set.
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| Silver Pass Panorama looking at Lake of the Lone Indian. |
