final prep, weight gain, weight loss

I'm leaving for the east coast on Friday, September 17. I don't have my bus ticket yet, but I'll get it in the next few days. I'll probably leave for the coast straight from work, so I'll have my backpack (yes, I've got a small backpack this time around, but it's not for storing camping gear) and trekking pole with me. Once the express bus gets to the coast, I'll take a local bus north like last December, then a final taxi to my destination (Haedang-hwa Pension). 

The following Saturday morning, the 18th, I begin my newest walking adventure. As I wrote before, I'm going to view this as more of a food adventure than a trail walk, given that I'll be immersed in civilization for most of the trip down the coast. This won't be a walk through nature, except for the brute presence of the ocean off to my left as I head south. On average, each leg of the walk will also be shorter. so I've budgeted no breaks: I'll be walking this straight through, with no extra rest days. Given how much weight I've lost (see below), I think this is doable. Also, there'll be no camping this time around, as there's lodging everywhere.

Prep is almost complete. There's actually very little left to prep, given that I've done this sort of walk three times before. At this point, I have a routine. I did take a moment to ponder whether to go with five belt pouches or a single backpack, and in the end, a single backpack seemed simpler and more practical. When I bought the backpack this past weekend, I made sure it came with an adjustable hip belt, and I've now lost enough weight that the hip belt is actually loose, requiring me to learn how to tighten it down. The pack also has a chest strap, which is nice. I'll need both during the journey, and I might also need two washcloths to put under the shoulder straps to minimize chafing.

I got my new walking shoes a couple days ago, and I've been breaking them in ever since. They're the same dimensions as my current shoes, so they feel about the same, which is good. Because of my distance walking, I have to get new shoes every year: the big walk always wears them down, and when I get back to Seoul after one of those walks, I keep right on walking, so there's a lot of wear and tear.

Among my prep-related housekeeping items: (1) I've finally punched four new holes into my trusty old leather belt to account for probable weight loss over the course of the walk. (7-9 hours a day = lots of calories burned, although not as many as I'd originally thought.) (2) I still need to sew the left pocket of my cargo pants closed to prevent a small hole from widening. That should take just a few minutes. (3) The aforementioned express-bus ticket needs to be bought. (4) I have to solve the riddle of the backpack straps. I was able to adjust the straps a bit the day I bought the pack, but I need to get better at being able to make adjustments on the fly. (5) I need to get my meds on September 16, which is the day I have my 100-day appointment at the hospital. 

This will be my second checkup after my stroke. I'm feeling a lot better, eating a lot healthier, and exercising a hell of a lot more. I'm also about 27 kilos lighter (59.5 lbs.). I may have gained a kilo or two back over the past two weeks, but I'm going to lose at least 5 kilos over the next month, which will finally put me in the 90-some-kilo range. According to the BMI charts, I'll still be categorized as "overweight," but 90 kg is where I was at in 1990, the year I came back from studying in Switzerland. It'll be nice to be back down to my best college weight again, but realistically, I don't think I'll reach 90 kg during the walk unless I also fast, and I don't plan to fast while walking 7-9 hours a day.

So there are a few things left to do before I go. Here at work, there's a rush to get me to proofread material before I leave, but one document will not be ready in time for me to do a second proofing. I'll get to it in October, I guess. I'm also doing one final 35K walk with my buddy JW this coming Sunday, so that's weighing on my mind. (I attempted a 35K twice this summer, but failed both times, mainly because of the heat. Now, it's September and a bit cooler, and JW and I will be hiking from late morning to evening, so it shouldn't be too hot.)

All in all, I'm looking forward to the upcoming walk. I'll be taking a ton of pics as usual, many of them blurry and out-of-focus as always. I wonder how hilly some parts of the walk will be; I know the path doesn't always stick faithfully by the coast, so there's plenty of potential hilliness to be enjoyed. Luckily, I'm now 2.2 backpacks lighter (a backpack is about 12 kilos) than I was last year, and with all the stairs training I've been doing, I ought to able to attack those hills with little difficulty. In all the walking I've been doing since the stroke, I haven't noticed any major problems with my feet, so I'm hoping my feet will be problem-free during the walk. That was, in fact, one thing I was gambling on: being lighter would mean less stress on my feet. And with weight loss comes a reduction in diabetic neuropathy, so my feet aren't in constant low-grade pain. That's a plus.

Am looking forward to next week. More news soon.

Oh, yeah—my new tee shirt arrived. It looks and feels good.