Holy Smokes! We are going to hike over 2000 miles!!!
When this realization set in for Aly and I last December, we freaked out. We needed to prepare! Unfortunately, with freezing temps in the Northeast and few mountains around San Antonio, hiking was not much of an option. We had heard of others gaining their "hiking legs" on the trail, but that the first month of hiking was miserable. For the record, Aly and I are not interested in being miserable on purpose. We had to figure out a way to prepare.
And then, our friend Dave made a suggestion that changed everything, " You should try Crossfit; it's a really intensive core strength and conditioning program." Open to anything (albeit worried about my bum knee), I went to a class with Dave... I was immediately hooked. Crossfit focuses on high intensity, constantly varied functional movements that deliver amazingly fast improvements to one's general fitness. It's ridiculous.
I called Aly that night to tell her about Crossfit. She seemed rather hesitant, and avoided my urges for her to join a gym in San Antonio. Every day for 2 weeks, I fruitlessly egged her on to join. I began envisioning myself hiking down the trail with a winded Aly over my shoulder...for a couple miles, OK...but for 2000? Ain't happening! I was at my wits end...
Then I get an e-mail from Aly with just a picture...a picture of her doing an overhead squat...Sonova! Aly's been Crossfitting the whole time!!! I wanted to be angry because she was hiding it from me, but I was just too relieved that I didn't have to carry her over Mount Washington!
Our Crossfit hike preparation is still going strong, and we are feeling great! I'm training at Shoreline Crossfit in Branford, CT (
http://www.shorelinecrossfit.com/) and Aly's training at Alamo Crossfit in San Antonio, TX (
http://www.alamocrossfit.com/). I cannot wait to get out there and HIKE! We are going to kill the trail!
Jeff
