What did we learn

What did we learn on our first trip out?
Multiple things and in no particular order here are a few of them:
1. Underestimate how far you will walk. 2,100 miles is not going anywhere and as newbies, 8 miles is just great. 15 miles will kill you. Then you get up the next day and do 8 more and you clicked off your distance.
2. Take as little as you possibly can. Oh, everyone says that and intellectually you understand that carrying 1 wipe is better than 5, likewise 5 ibuprofen instead of the bottle but you say -- what the heck, it is easier just to take the bottle. Or another apple, or the hoodie. Wrong. Pare it down to the smallest denominator. What you need is WATER. Everything else is extraneous. Yesterday, we took 4 waters each, Don had a protein bar and I had my favorite Gluten free snack, Glutino chocolate covered pretzels. I also took a container of cashews and 2 apples. Ideally what you want is to come home with an empty pack. I didn't. I had cashews leftover and both apples. So I/Don hauled those precious ounces 5 miles for nothing. We didn't quite have enough water.

3. Pace yourself. It is soooo tempting to race down that mountain or move fast through those small bumps. But the more important is to keep going. The straight up climbs will require a lot of stopping and starting. Do your best to keep moving. And then take a nice long break and do some stretching.
4. You have to train and you have to train for THIS activity. This means dumping the treadmill and going to the stairmaster. Yuck. But you need strong glutes and calf muscles for this and the treadmill just doesn't get you there. As soon as I can walk upright, I am revamping my training program.
Next outing June 15.