Starting the Link

 SO...

Day 1:

As with any new start, there is trepidation, excitement, and so many other emotions rambling around in the head. On this day, I was aware of all of them, but most of all excitement. I woke up to my alarm at 0600, and the room was dark. It made me wonder whether I was up too early, and whether I should maybe sleep another hour. After looking out the window, I realized it was just because the mountains behind us were blocking the actual sun, thus making it seem darker than reality. So, I hugged the dog and tried to convince him to come with me, but he wanted nothing to do with being awake at that hour. Once dressed and everything in my pack, I headed out the door, leaving the sleeping boys behind. 

Crossing the parking lot of the Inn, I started hacking coughing, and thought to myself, "just need to clear the city air out of my lungs." I was fine by the time I hit the trail on the other side of the Inn. As I climbed the trail that I had explored the day before, I found I was a little less stable and agile than the day before. Taking this hint, I slowed my pace a little and just enjoyed being out there.

After traversing the 1.5miles of trail that I had travelled the previous day, I reached Maine Junction, the eventual connector point of the North Country Trail (NCT) to the Appalachian Trail (AT) via the Long Trail (LT). My husband had run the first 3-4miles of this next section and told me I was going to have a great time. With that in mind, I happily moved along the trail looking at everything and breathing in the fresh air. It was a gorgeous day and I was feeling good. 

About 3miles in from Maine Junction, I came across a shelter, where I decided to stop and take a break.

In training, I was horrible at taking breaks, and realized I need to focus on making sure I take breaks, if I am to make it 4600miles. So, I stopped, filled my bottle with water and caffeinated Nuun, and took off my sweatshirt to replace it with my long sleeve sun shirt. As I mentioned it was a beautiful day, and already warming up at 0800. With everything packed back in my pack, I got moving again. The LT was reminding me what I disliked most about the AT...PUDs (pointless ups and downs), but it also made me giggle a little, and I kept repeating, "When in Doubt go uphill." 

About 7miles in to my day, I came across an amazing viewpoint and took another break. For about a mile or so I had been traversing a ridge above a big gorgeous lake, and I wanted to take a photo but the trees were in the way. Instead, I decided it would just be one of those images that I spoke of versus sharing with people. Then came this beautiful overlook, and I could not refuse.

At this point, my legs were feeling a little like jello from the PUDs, but I knew that was going to be part of the deal. The break was extremely welcomed and I felt refreshed after resting for a bit. During this break, I took time to move some snacks to the pockets of my pack instead of stuffed in my food bag in hopes of actually eating them. By this point, I had only had the 1 bottle of Nuun and a couple liters of water. At this stop, I made mulberry lemonade, a purchase I had made in Jackson Hole this past September with the intent of using it on my trip. Wow! That was sugary and not as tart as I was wanting, thus I would take a sip of that and follow it with 2-3 sips of water. 

Moving on, I continued to take the PUDs as they came and laughed to myself along the way. Occasionally, I would run into spots where snow covered the trail, but it was so well blazed that I simply had to look for the blazes to get across the snowfield. THEN, it hit. I was about 6miles from the end of a 20mile day when I hit a snowfield that had me postholing with every other step. This definitely slowed me down, as my watch was certain to notify me. :-/ I expected some snow, but was note prepared for what was to come.

Figuring this to be just a small snowfield, I moved across it with determination, constantly looking up to the ridge I was certain had to be my last climb before the decent into my finish line for the day. The sun was beginning to disappear behind the ridge, and I was beginning to worry about my husband thinking I was lost. As I got further into the endless snowfield, I started wishing for my husband to come find me and rescue me. I was tired, and the constant postholing was wearing on me heavily. My pace had slowed to less than 1mph, and the sun kept sinking lower. By this point, I was certain my husband had to be worried, despite being able to see my location on the Garmin InReach mini, or maybe because he could see my location was not changing much?

It was heavily dusk, when I heard the jingle of Jasper's collar and my husband's voice, and I sighed a huge sigh of relief. When he reached me, he asked if he could take my pack, and easily I said, "Yes!" He took my pack, I puked, and then put on his running vest that he had been wearing on the way up to find me. Having puked, my stomach/mind was now on alert to not feeling well. Together, we trekked across more snowfields trying to follow his footprints back to the car as the sun went to bed for the night. As we moved along, I required "sitting breaks" every few minutes as my stomach was lurching with every time my foot sank in the snow and jarred against the solid earth. 

Eventually, we made it to the last mile or so of the trail down, and there was less snow. We were able to move a little faster, but I was still weak from not having eaten too much and my episodes of vomiting. It was nice not to have to deal with the snow anymore. My feet were wet and cold, but my heart was beginning to grow lighter as we made better time. The worst was over, or was it? I started thinking about the next day and having to do it all over again. What was I thinking? I'm 16 years older and a lot more out of shape than I was when I started the AT in 2005. Do I really think I can do this full trail? 

When we got to the car, we threw everything in, and I commented about possibly not being able to do this. My husband closed all the doors to the car, told me to turn off my light (which at that point was the flashlight on my phone), and had me look up into the unadulterated star filled sky. Above me was Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Orion, and even a partial milky way. As my husband put his arm around my shoulder, I cried and said, "THIS! THIS is why I am out here." He nodded and we got in the car.