Since our first day on the mountain will be March 20, I figured I would begin training 3 months ahead around December 20. Well....the week before that date, I came down with a stomach flu that rivaled any sickness I can remember having in the last 2 decades. So my new goal for December was to begin eating on a daily basis and to physically be able to move from one place to another in my house (it's important to not set your goals so high you fail all the time)! I succeeded.
This past week I went with Dillon and Austin into the mountains to begin our training by cross country skiing in the back country. As I was sitting in the 90 mile line of cars trying to get into the mountains, I could feel my muscles slowly deteriorating as I was waiting to get to the location to start training. So we changed our plans, rented snow shoes, and headed up to Loveland Pass.
Austin chose to downhill ski and then climb back up carrying his skis -- an idea that sounded much more fun than it actually was. Dillon and I headed up above tree line to exert energy at high altitude. As we clipped along at a good pace at 11,000 feet headed toward 12,000 -- one of us could not stop talking. Dillon had no problem with altitude while I was barely able to answer his non-stop questions!!
The way I see it, there are three main areas that will help us peak Mt Kilimanjaro; physical strength, altitude acclimation, and mental determination. Clearly I need to work on my altitude acclimation -- I'll let the rest of the family figure out where their weak points are....
