Reserve Judgment. Everyone's Journey is Different.

I have a friend who picked my brain while planning her Camino this year. I gave her the normal packing advice and tried to help her prepare for hiking/dorm life as best as I could, with the understanding that the only way to really prepare to be a Pilgrim, is to go and be a Pilgrim.

Watching her progress on FB, I noticed she started her Camino in Pamplona, took a bus somewhere before Burgos, bussed Burgos to Leon (didnt like Leon) got on a bus to Astoria and now plans to walk the last 17 days to Santiago.

As I sit in my nice Tempurpedic bed with clean white sheets and am surrounded by purring cat and the big brown (hungry) eyes of my golden retriever, I still have to remind myself that everyone's journey is different and her experience is hers. 

It's hard not to judge - or should I say, easy to judge when you are comfortable and your feet don't hurt, when your A/C is taking the heat out of the day and when you can drive your Audi to the nearest 24/7 supermarket for... Well, whatever you feel like at the time! 

Everyone has a different reason for walking the Camino de Santiago. Therefore it makes sense that the way in which they experience it, will need to be adjusted in order to meet their needs. It's a 550 mile hike that has less to do with hiking than you would think. Being on the trail is the chance to reconnect with yourself, to explore what is going on inside (like it or not) and to weed out distractions in a way that has been successfully helping people along this path for over 1000 years. 

I'm taken back to the night just over a year ago, when we met an Italian guy who was running his Camino in 2 weeks, with pretty much no gear. Lots of people at the Albergue we were staying at, thought he was doing it wrong. That he was missing the point, missing a spiritual awakening, turning it into a physical challenge instead of stopping to enjoy the view. At the time, I thought he was doing it right for him. He had recently lost his long time girlfriend and like Forrest Gump, he was pounding his issues out with long days and serious physical exertion. His journey required a different view, a view that was serving him and breathing new energy into the new life that had been thrust upon him.

They say it takes about 28 days of consistent behavior to form a new habit. I hiked 14 days on the Camino de Santiago trail in 2015... And if the judgment I'm experiencing is anything to go by, I'd say those 14 days where I felt acceptance and no judgment for another persons journey were great, but obviously not long enough to solidify a habit.

So maybe my Camino de Santiago 2016 involves getting back to that place of understanding and acceptance. 

It's time to re-focus on the journey that is mine and save all that "judgment energy" for other stuff... Like meeting new people, facing challenges, finding different solutions and embracing opportunities. 

I will be walking for about 35 days. Plenty of time to create new behaviors and form new habits! 

(fingers crossed)

Moody... Anxious... Ready to Go

There is already a part of me lamenting (grieving) that Chuck, Sue and Tony wont be a huge measure of my journey this year and a lot of anxiety about feeling more lonely and not having the depth of connection that I experienced last year. I am trying to just "be" with those thoughts and not let them cloud the anticipation part of process. 

Mark is getting a first hand look at me when I prepare to travel (alone) and how my moods come and thankfully, go!  My friend Anne calls it "getting wiggy". That period of time before long distance or prolonged periods of travel, where you are planning the trip, preparing the house for being away, organizing pet care, bank accounts and time off work. It's worse when you own your own business I think. There is the guilt that comes with being out of touch with clients and the huge job of trying to "get ahead" with business maintenance items. At times like this I envy those who simply "put in for PTO" then walk out the door and turn the work brain off. As for me, I'm up to my ears in getting my coverage up to speed with client action, making sure my tenants and landlords have all the contact details they need for emergencies and regular questions that might come up.

It's coming together nicely and I have nothing to complain about. In fact, I'm super grateful for the amazing people who make "off the grid" travel even possible for a person like me! 

What do the next 11 days look like?

2 closings

1 brides night out

1 wedding (Im in the wedding party)

1 client dinner

1 neighborly wine gathering (at my house)

1 meeting with an architect

1 application to refi the house

Hiking everyday at least 2 hours

...And yes, Im still working full time

It's good to be busy. It delays the insanity until departure, at which time there is no longer a good reason to go insane! 

On September 18th at 8am, this girl and her sweetie, are headed to Denver International Airport. The second we have cleared security, vacation begins and mine will involve a nice (big) glass of red at Charlotte, NC. Our only stop on the way to Paris.

Now I remember what sore feet feel like!

A quick tally from the trail map last week told us south Boulder trailhead to Chautauqua and back, was about 12-13 miles.  It would be our longest hike this year and Teresa's last one before departure. Perhaps even more importantly, this 12 miles would come the day after a shorter, but tougher, Gregory Canyon hike and would be the 4th hike of significance that week.

Here is how it played out:

I woke at 4:50 am. In the dark I reached for my phone and planned to kill some time before the 5:30 am alarm sent me scurrying for my hiking clothes.  What to do...what to do?

Ooh, I know! Let's check out the hiking trail on Google maps. A minute later I discovered that tool that allows you to drag a rough line along a map and gauge distance. 14 miles? Seems ... LONG!  😐 I made the executive decision to keep the new information to myself.

By 5:55 am, I was camped outside of Brewing Market, watching them prepare my coffee. Waiting for the neon OPEN sign to flick on and the lady in the apron to unlock the front door. I couldn't really give a crap how stalker-esque I might have seemed. 14 miles!!!

6:30 am at the South Boulder trailhead. A cold but gorgeous morning and the first rays of sun were bathing the tall golden grasses and lighting the Flatirons with pinkness. The air was clean, the birds sang happily. With packs full, we set off.

Heading directly west, we had left south Boulder trail and taken the Big Bluestem trail towards the Mesa trail, beneath the foothills. The first 2 hours are all uphill and those fab merino wool sleeves and North Face hoodie, had long since been shed.

Good morning Devil's Thumb!

About this time, Teresa was already putting together that 12 miles "seemed a bit off". It didn't help that I had gone into drill Sargent mode and suggested we didn't break until we had gone 3.5 miles. The cat was out of the bag and I confessed that I believed we'd hike no fewer than 14 up-and-down miles today.  ...Perhaps it was about that time our feet started to ache a little!

Shanahan Ridge was where we caught a couple of lost dogs and slowed down to call their owner, then reconnect them.  All's well that ends well... if you are not the husband who lost the dogs! You see,the first number on the tags, was wifey's and she was less than thrilled that hubby had lost the dogs in the woods while out for a run. Hate to be him when he gets home! Oops!

The second half of the hike to Chautauqua was easier and quicker. By 10 am we were waiting for a table and both feeling a little "hangry" at the slow service. The coffee and food was very welcome when it finally arrived! Then... the return journey.

It was now hotter, we were more tired and a small food coma was threatening willpower. If we had presumed to park a car at Chautauqua, for sure we'd have driven home right then.

Instead, we hit the trail. Hiking uphill once again to get back on the Mesa trail and headed south.

With already aching feet we waddled past NCAR and relished the thought of getting to the North Shanahan Ridge junction... That would mean we are 3/4 done for the day and that was the promised rest break.

Rest break! Yes! By this time we needed something different than standing upright and stopping still for a few minutes. We picked some nice looking rocks and took a load off. I found myself putting my feet up on my pack and removing my aching feet entirely from their boots. Watching Teresa slather lotion and apply a bandaid or two, I decided she was the smarter one and followed her lead. Vaseline welcome relief... Or was it the massaging it in, that felt so nice?

The last 2 miles were all downhill (thank God!) and at precisely 4 PM, we found ourselves hobbling across the car park to our cars.  Hahaha... Not going to lie to you, seating myself on my cushy sheepskin seat cover was about the best feeling ever!

But honestly, this hike brought a couple of realizations crashing to my doorstep.

There are good reasons pilgrims don't do training hikes that resemble the actual Camino:
1. Training hikes this long show you what darn sore feet feel like and make you wonder why the heck you would subject them to this torture on a daily basis, for fun!
2. It took all day! I work full time and it's rare that on any day, any week, I can spend 10 hours getting my hike on - no matter how free, wonderful, healthy and proud I feel afterwards.

Dedication and Motivation... Look at her go!

Time waits for no man/woman.

I have precisely 27 days until Mark and I leave for Paris and 35 until the Camino of Dallice begins. On one hand, 5 weeks seems so far away, on the other... Holy crap! Just 4 weeks to get my affairs in order before I unplug from this reality and leap wholeheartedly into my other universe.

The Camino world is one of few distractions, fewer material possessions, and presents challenges to my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual self. It's a time to embrace uncertainty and welcome change in perspective, to let go of obsessions and compulsions that honestly don't serve me anyway.  But... that's easier said than done and leading the way is anxiety!

Enough about me. My training partner, Teresa, leaves for Italy next week!

She'll be hiking Assisi to Rome for the next few weeks and it won't be easy either.  So this week, our final one together, we'll be using it to push further and hike faster!

Monday: NCAR to Wood's Quarry and back.

Wednesday: South Boulder Loop.

Friday: Gregory Canyon and Saddle Rock?

Saturday: South Boulder Loop to Chautauqua and back! 12 miles up and down at or above 6000 feet.

Suck it up, buttercup!
Feel the growth now or feel it on the trail in a month... Either way; no pain, no gain.

Support and Encouragement

I'm fortunate. I get that some people don't have what I have.

Love, in the form of constant encouragement. Support, cleverly disguised as a partner who checks in after every training hike, comes up with new and fantastic packing ideas and is willing to fly to Paris with me, rent a car and deliver me to the Saint Jean trail head in September.

This is the guy... My guy.

Yesterday (Saturday) I scheduled a long hike and asked Mark if he'd like to join me for half of it. I thought a nice plan would be to hike to breakfast, then he'd drive home and I'd hike home. Instead he volunteered to hike the whole 10 miles with me! 

We had fun meandering past corn fields, equestrian estates, through neighborhoods and under the cottonwoods along the river. Not only did he hike effortlessly, but with patience and a smile, he put up with about 4 hours of chit-chat - because it's well known I'm a bit of a chatty person. LOL

Selfie Practice

Here's the deal; I am philosophically opposed to selfie-sticks. But when you travel alone, to get a picture of you, doing your thing on the other side of the world, you have only two choices...

- Give your phone to a random stranger, ask them to take a semi decent shot with a device they are unfamiliar with and pray they give it back afterwards.
OR
- Practice taking selfies before you go so that when the crucial moment is upon you, despite the rain, aching muscles, exhausted brain and "wine effect", you have something to remember the occasion by. (Something that doesn't make you look like every mile you walked didn't cost an IQ point, preferably!)

So, yeah... I practice selfies.

Want to see a few of them? Pretty sure I'm getting better!

First Attempt: Summer of 2015

Still trouble with focus and lightning... And hair.

By the first day of Camino, I was getting the hang of it!

Getting better at looking at the lens! :-)

Frowning again.

Not every one is a winner. Hahaha.

Too tired to sit up and yet, managed a selfie! That's a win.

Memories of a lifetime, captured in a single shot.

Or just documenting a new scarf.

Occasional oops' to be expected. 

Dallice's road trip

2016 and more shots are kept than deleted

Getting ready for Camino 2017!

Some Days Are Just More Difficult

In many ways, this week has been a successful one. Two real estate closings, lots of great client time, two hikes and two runs. And it's only Thursday!

Today, after procrastinating big time, I headed to Boulder and hiked a favorite, familiar trail.  Up to Wood's Quarry.

My attitude has been a bit off and I promised myself that if I made it into the trail at all today, I'd be allowed a couple of compromises.

1. No pack
2. Headphones and 80's music until I got into the woods.

So at 8:15 am (yeah, I know, an hour and a half later than normal) I locked the Audi, secured the Ipod to my tights and began a forceful and fast hike in the increasing heat. No Camelback because I was not carrying a pack, but that's OK. I'm a little of a camel anyway and will drink when I come down from the Foothills again.

Ugghhh... It was hard today. Phil Collins, Dido and Chicago all did their best to cheer me on, but it took all of a mile before I had a rhythm of any kind, on a 2 mile hike! At the top, I stopped to take in the view, to listen to hummingbird song and if lucky, glimpse a small deer or two. Nada. Today was the day I saw not a critter!  :-(

I did however, meet a mom. A really sweet lady from Washington State who had just moved her son into the dorms at CU. Obviously a bittersweet time for her  - And she was taking it all in at 6300 feet, smiling and getting her alone time in, before another busy day was underway. I admired her.

New Phone/Camera/Pedometer/Alarm/App Provider!

Last year about this time, I bought the Samsung Galaxy S6. It was reputedly the best camera phone out there and it was certainly a BIG step up from the S3, which was beginning to test my patience.

This week I took the plunge and upgraded again! This is a turn of events. So unlike me! In general, I am the lady who replaces technology only when it's absolutely required. However, there are some advantages to this new phone that are neither here nor there for real estate, but might make all the difference in the world to my Camino de Santiago experience.

Meet the Samsung Galaxy S7:

1. Water resistant and shatter resistant.  Yippee! It's not that I'm hard on my stuff, it's just that when you carry your phone beside your water bladder, expect that the occasional incident might occur. (And I will be the first to admit that as I exit my car, it's not uncommon for me to accidentally toss it on to the road from my lap.)

2. The camera is better than ever. Something about auto focus and burst shots? Eh... I'm sure I will benefit from it even if I missed most of the spiel by my friendly T-Mobile rep.

3. This version of the phone allows me to upgrade with an additional memory card. I turned a phone with 32GB storage into a phone with 64GB storage and that extra card can be taken out and transferred to the next phone I buy. (Well played Samsung, well played.)

4. And finally... a case. Instead of just that shock-proof rubber shell and a little glass screen cover (that still amazes me with its indestructibility!), I went all out. The new case snaps in place all around the phone and takes it from water resistant to WATER PROOF! Yes, I can take pictures under water! Apparently up to 2 meters deep, for an hour. 

It takes a village

I slept in.  My goal of being on the hiking trail in Boulder by 6:30 AM was simply blown out of the water when I left my phone/alarm downstairs and unplugged overnight. The tiredness and residual cough I have,  put me into a deep sleep... Neither  cat, nor body clock could render me conscious at 5:30 am and it was a struggle at 6:15 too.

New plan.

I'm nothing if not resourceful and decided that Longmont -> Niwot along the bike path,  would be a fine substitute.  Stopping at the Garden Cafe for breakfast at Niwot, then the post office,  then walking home... another 5 miles.

I packed my backpack a bit heavier to compensate for the flatter, easier trail and headed out at 8:30 AM.

The trail meandered along the river before becoming dustier and quite a bit more exposed to the sun. Another hot day was on the horizon.

I'm writing this post from the cafe.  A "border scramble" is being shoveled into my mouth.  Sloshed down with coffee. Lots of coffee!

Since I won't be this chipper when I get home,  better to blog now!

Boots: To resole, or not to resole, THAT was the question.

I love my Zamberlans! Since 2008 they have cushioned, protected and remained faithful to me.

Goretex has ensured water proofness, Vibram soles helped me stick to mud, rock, gravel, snow and ice. The mostly one-piece leather upper meant at no time did they suffer tears or stitching coming apart at seams. But as you might remember last Camino, I was "the squeaky pilgrim".

In the darkness of every early morning, as I tried to politely creep away to hike, my soles squeaked across the tile floor of the Albergue, breaking the silence, rousing pilgrims from sleep. Solving the problem became a matter of stealing away in socks and putting my shoes on once outside. It worked at the time but I was looking forward to finding a permanent solution. Resoling my boots to be exact.

Back in the U.S. I contacted Zamberlan (Italy) and was referred to the only cobbler they authorize to repair/resole Zamberlans.

A look at the BEFORE pictures:

The day that Dave Page, the cobbler, called to let me know my newly soled and very much improved boots were on the way back to Colorado, I couldn't have been happier. I was so looking forward to putting them through their paces once more!

AFTER pictures:

Looking good right?  :-)

And yes, they felt great too. I had new deluxe footbeds put in too and what a dream they were to hike in. Except for one thing...

Little did I know, but in order to pull off an old sole and replace it, the leather gets stretched a bit more under the boot during the re-gluing process, rendering the boot slightly smaller.

So, my perfectly fitting boots are now boots that will be fine for mild-moderate hiking up to 5 miles, but they not a good choice for long distance, day-in, day-out hiking up and down steep inclines. Once a toe can touch the front of the boot, it's all over. At best a minor distraction translates into a more annoying distraction with every mile. At worst, you'll be digging a shallow grave, roadside, for your favorite toe nail and limping to the finish line.

As you can imagine, the next logical move was researching brand new hiking boots and breaking them in. Today, I hike in month old La Sportiva boots. I purchased them a little bigger than the last pair because I'm a smarter, more experienced hiker than I was in 2008. No toe touches anything, even on the most brutal downhill jaunts. They are Goretex again, a little lighter than full leather, a little more breathable too.

Will they last 8 years like the Zamberlans? Unlikely. Between September 26th and November 3rd this year, they will carry me 550 miles though and with that in mind, I need to adjust expectations for their lifespan!