Other than "Why 100 miles?" I have been asked an assortment of questions about the walking, my physical condition (including about being a kidney donor), my gear, and such. Allow me to answer those here.
About the walking:
Q: You were going to do 20 or 25 miles a day and be finished in less than a week. Instead, you did fewer miles and took a whole week. Could you have done 20 or 25 miles a day?
A: If someone's life depended on it--such as mine--I might have been able to do one day of 20 miles. Though I originally thought I could do sufficient training to cover 25 miles a day, I was reliving my carefree youth and forgot that I last completed a marathon (26.2 miles) half my life ago. I planned to walk in much cooler weather as well, but my training was interrupted (I wrote a blog post about being humbled). So, it became much more logical to do more days with fewer miles per day. On my best days (mostly Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday), I probably could have done 18 miles at most per day. I'm okay with that.
Q: Did you get bored?
A: I did not. One of the good things about physical challenges is that they often require ongoing attention so one does not traipse into the path of oncoming traffic, fall down a hill, or step in a hole and incur an embarrassing, trip-halting injury. I get a lot of ideas when I walk, and I do talk to myself (sometimes out loud and yes, sometimes I answer--but not in strange voices that do not belong to me). I was also looking for unique items to photograph (those who know me know I take a LOT of pictures). I will be posting a gallery of "Fun Things Found by the Side of the Road," so stay tuned. There were also pleasant distractions like friendly people nearly everywhere I went. No boredom at all. A lot of sweating, but no boredom!
Q: Why did you use a hiking pole on the trails?
A: Most days, I was not just on trails. A hiking pole is always handy on grassy banks (especially pitched ones) or in ditches; on the first day, I used mine to push aside the poison ivy in the many ditches I stepped in to avoid county road traffic. On trails, a hiking pole with a rubber tip is useful for propulsion...though I doubt my speed increased at all. I did find it handy for dragging my tired, achy bod up inclines. The final reason I used a pole was just in case a need arose to keep some distance between myself and an unfriendly creature (dog, coyote, angry goose, human). Fortunately, my sweatiness had the same effect of maintaining safe distance.
Q: Which was the best day?
A: Honestly, they were all terrific. And they were all so different. Day 1 was county roads and lots of uphills, walking alone in 90-degree heat (though Sue and Jeff were constantly monitoring me and the route from their cars). Day 2 was that awesome trail journey on the Nickel Plate (I am really impressed with that trail), seeing Ethel, and walking at pace with Todd. Day 3 started with the ladies of Friendship Haven--so much fun!--and went through Kokomo and Tipton, bringing pleasant surprises. Day 4 was from home to Noblesville, a hike I've always wanted to do, and I got to revisit my childhood in Forest Park (I also got tacos!). Day 5 was mostly a trail day, but it wound through my hometown of Westfield and I got to relive a lot of great memories (and take a LOT of photos) before heading on to Sheridan. Day 6 was Sheridan back through Westfield to Clay Terrace on the Monon--and was supposed to be nearly all trails, but there was a long county road detour that turned out really well. And finally, Day 7 was all trail until I got to 86th Street in Nora; walking that final mile to St. Vincent's with Jeff and Chelsi and Cecilia, meeting up with the transplant team, and having a chance to talk about Julian with everyone was tremendous. Every day was a blessing. That's the truth.
Q: Which was the hardest day?
A: Day 1 in terms of physical demands and heat. Day 3 in terms of physical pain because I collected a whole set of blisters on Day 2 and because I was feeling some fatigue.
Q: What was a surprise or a challenge you weren't prepared for?
A: Organizing potty stops. Allow me to heap praise on the cities of Westfield and Carmel for their very clean facilities at the most opportune places.
I was also surprised that the walking was so educational--not just in a "get in tune with myself" way. I learned that Logansport has amazing architecture, that the Haynes Automobile Factory was in a spot I had never noticed, that race driver Bryan Clauson from Noblesville was an organ donor, and all kinds of interesting trivia about places I thought I knew.
About my physical condition:
Q: Was your kidney situation a problem?
A: If you mean having one kidney, it is no problem. I am generally really good about drinking my required 100 ounces a day (at least 80 of that should be water), and for this adventure I averaged about a gallon of water a day (roughly 128 ounces or a little more depending on the day--the first day I drank 1.3 gallons because of the extreme heat). My kidney functions well (see the last question in the previous section), and as long as I stay hydrated, I feel fabulous. And I have been asked whether I can "feel" that a kidney is missing. The answer is no.
Q: What hurt the most?
A: There is an old saying: "It's not the mountain; it's the pebble in your shoe." In other words, it isn't a huge task that stops folks; it's the little irritations that get in the way. By the end of Day 2, I collected three blisters--under the nail on each second toe (that makes two little ones) plus one big one under the callous on the sole of my left foot just at the heel. My shoes got wet on Day 1 (too much jumping into wet weeds by the side of the road), and I got rained on a smidge during Day 2. I should have changed my shoes and socks earlier on Day 1 and on Day 2. But you've read about the duct tape fix, and that worked pretty well. I also reduced the amount of sock in my shoes to reduce the friction. By Friday, I had absolutely no blisters. They gave up and went away!
I did also pull a thigh muscle during Day 5 because I had a long stop and a foolish restart. Stopping allows lactic acid to build up, making muscles sore (it's often better just to keep going). Instead of easing slowly back into action following the stop (I'm not really good at easing into anything), I took off too quickly thinking I could make up some time. Owie. And that owie plagued me every day after.
Before I started, I expected my toes to really, really hurt because they often do in street shoes. But not a peep from them. Hooray!
About my gear:
Q: What about your gear?
A: These are all unpaid endorsements, but I'd be willing to get paid. I should think that having a sixty-year-old using your products for athletic endeavors would encourage anyone to buy them!
Nike Air Zoom 33 running shoes, gray, men's 8.5 4E (I'm not kidding--I have feet like flippers...hey, Nike, please make cute women's shoes in really wide sizes);
Smartwool socks (crew to start and then purple ladies' ankle for the last four days);
High Sierra Propel 70 Hydration Pack (ash/mercury/yellow, holding 2 liters--and I needed every bit of that twice some days);
Shutterfly aluminum water bottle, 20 ounces, with pictures of The Innovation Symposium students (I used this instead of my hydration pack on days when the segments of the walk were under six miles);
Kelty Range 1.0 hiking pole, orange;
IKEA High-vis vest ($4.99 if you're an IKEA Family Member and worth every penny);
IKEA rain poncho, red;
OVVO prescription progressive lens sunglasses;
Gildan t-shirts, 1 orange and 1 pink (embroidered with The Innovation Symposium logo);
Nylon shorts with pockets, two pairs, beige and red;
Baseball cap, orange (embroidered with The Innovation Symposium logo);
Duck Tape duct tape, neon orange;
BandAids (flexible fabric);
Milkbones;
Pepper spray, never used.
Q: The pictures look like you wore the same clothes every day. Did you?
A: Pretty much. But I did laundry every single night. Once I found an ensemble that worked and didn't create more pain, rashes, or blisters, I wanted to stick with that.
About "and such":
Q: Did you stop for lunch?
A: Exercising on hot days generally decreases my appetite. I knew I had to take in protein and carbs, but I wasn't hungry and I didn't want to stop walking. I ate at least two KIND bars a day (all varieties) plus a small bag of cranberry/nut trail mix.
Q: What was the most unusual thing you saw?
A: Either the vise-grips by the side of the road (I nearly kept those, but they were kind of heavy and it was early in the day) or the sign on the Sheridan part of the Monon that says "Professionally Operated Private Gun Range May Be in Use in This Area--Please Stay on Trail." No argument from me there!
Q: How did you figure your mileage?
A: Using a variety of methods--Google Maps, car odometers when possible, trail maps, and the Activity Tracker app. I walked about 33,400 steps per day for the 15 miles (I have short legs, so short strides). The irritating part is that I burned an average of only 1540 calories a day. Wouldn't you think that walking 15 miles would use up a lot more than that? I didn't lose any weight, either.
Q: Who was your favorite walking partner?
A: Every one of them!
