Anne's 1000 Mile Challenge: Final Entry

Taking a well-earned break

Outdoor Contributor, Anne, has  spent a chunk of the summer on a new project and a new training journal.  This is her final post about her 1,000-mile challenge.

My original goal was to move 1000 miles and lose 10 poundsby Labor Day. So, how did I do? Well, as of Labor Day, I had moved 533 miles,and I lost two pounds. By some measures, you would say that I hadn’t done verywell at attaining my goal, and on some days I would agree. However, I’m tryingto look at the more positive side of things. When I set the goal, I didn’t evenknow if 1000 miles was possible, and I didn’t gain any weight.

If I had confined my activity to biking, I might have mademy goal. Instead I biked, hiked, canoed/kayaked, and even swam twice. I’m stilltracking my distance to see how long it takes me to hit 1000 miles. Now, I’m at606 miles. I’ve biked 419 miles, I’ve walked/hiked/backpacked 126 miles, andI’ve canoed/kayaked/swam 61 miles. I’ve covered some ground.

Here are a few of the things I’ve done this summer to help meget towards my goal.

• I hiked 10+ miles in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness.  It was a lovely day with a walk past more than four alpine lakes, and over a pass into a beautiful, glaciated valley.
• I went on a couple of great kayaking trips on Flathead Lake.  One was to some pictographs only accessible by water, and the other was to some islands we had never been to before.
• I counted my floats down the Clark Fork River in inner tubes—a summer tradition in Missoula. On a hot day, people float through town on the river on inner tubes, drinking adult beverages. It’s a very relaxing summer time activity.
• I went on a backpacking trip to Trask Lakes in the Flint Creek Range.  I hadn’t taken a backpacking trip in more than five years, but managed to make it six miles into this alpine basin where hardly anyone goes.

 Looking ahead, I’m doing the Tour de Cure next weekend, butI don’t have any other major expedition plans. I don’t think I’ll get to 1000miles until the end of October, but I’ll keep trying. As to the weight thing, Ithink I’ll have to address that in another post later.

Anne

Anne's 1000 Mile Challenge: 967 Miles and 10 Pounds to Go

Outdoor Contributor, Anne, has a new project and a new training journal.  She'll be writing regular posts about her 1000-mile challenge:

A few of my modes of travel: sea kayak, bike, swimsuit, running shoes, and hiking shoes

I'm very goal oriented.  If I set a goal that I care about, I usually hit it.  Losing weight is not a goal I've been able to do very well.  I can try to blame it on menopause, but I think I just eat too much. Anyway, this last week I decided I had to get serious about losing a few pounds.  I have another reason to care--at my most recent check up in March, my cholesterol was higher that it should be. I'm getting it re-checked in September, and I want it to go down by then.

The first half of my new goal is to lose 10 pounds by Labor Day.

But wait, there's more.  There was a challenge posted on the Weight Watchers website: lose 10 pounds by Labor Day, and move 100 miles.  I looked at that and said, "but I can go 100 miles in a week if I include biking. I need something more serious." So I decided that I needed to move 1,000 miles by Labor Day.  The only thing that counts is self-propelled travel.  I will bike, hike, walk, paddle, swim, or pogo-stick 1000 miles by Labor Day. I started this week, and I've done a measly 33 miles so far.  

When I told my husband, Eric, my plan, he suggested that I was crazy.  He said that there are only 9 weeks until Labor Day, and then he proceeded to do the math.  I need to do approximately 110 miles per week.  Well, it's not a challenge if it's easy.  

I'll post my progress and talk about the obstacles that come my way.  I’m going to keep track of all my miles, and I will keep track of what I eat on the Weight Watchers online site. There might even be a few funny stories--probably at my expense.

Anne

PS. I liked the headline even though a week has gone by since I wrote it.  Now, I only have 884 miles to go, but I’ve gained a pound (yikes).  Today, I hiked three miles with my dogs.

Some of my travel companions