After the first month - it's all mental.

In just a few days, the wife and I will be boarding a plane for Atlanta where, when I land, I'll be getting a ride from my brother to Amicalola Falls State Park where my journey begins. The flight lasts about 90 minutes and covers about 600 miles as the crow flies. Now think about that a minute...

In just 90 minutes, I'll cover a distance that will take me over two months to walk, that's over 60 days of trudging with a full pack, through rain, cold weather, sloshy mud and baking sun, alternating on this day and that just to keep me on my toes. That's two months of my short time on this earth walking in the woods, just to get from one point to another. And now, consider that I will be doing this three times, back to back for a total of six months and 2,100 miles.

It's no wonder why most normal people think that long distance hikers are nuts.

To even consider attempting something like this, it really takes a rewiring of your brain. On a daily basis, few of us walk anywhere, really, other than when we make an occasional conscious effort at the mall to park farther away from the entrance for a few extra steps of exercise. Need some milk from the local convenience store? Well, pop in the car and drive down a quarter mile and pick one up. Time for that afternoon gym workout? Well just pop into the car and drive that mile to get there. After all, it's all about saving time, right?

Our brains are programmed to try and acclimate to the daily challenges we face and that includes trying to find ways to make our routines less stressful and more efficient. The very idea of taking something we already do efficiently and making it much less so seems almost foreign and we have to actually stop and consider why we should. For example, 'hoofing' it to work instead of driving one day a week, or taking time to actually watch and read the movie credits at the theater when a show is over.

But doing so almost always provides a benefit of some kind. That extra day of walking to work helps energize you, and loosens up those joints and muscles. The credits you hang out and watch after the movie is over, just might reveal some extra video snippets or some interesting facts about the actors or director. It's those extra unseen benefits that usually make the extra 'wait' all that worthwhile. And now consider, one last time, the extra benefits of taking six months to walk someplace that might take you 5 hours to fly to.

In six months time, I'll see, hear, feel and experience more things in nature than most people probably experience in a lifetime. I'll have a renewed sense of priorities and I'll be in the best health of my life. I'll become part of a loose family of people who have all shared in this common experience for better at times and worse at times. And, when all is said and done, I'll have completed something that only the tiniest fraction of our population has ever dared to have done and completed.

But it all starts with slowing down.

In my head now, I know what kind of mileage lies ahead of me. I know based upon my current fitness level about how difficult this will be, maybe. I know about how many miles I will average at the beginning and how many, once I'm in better shape. I know how many miles I have to average to finish by my tentative summit date of September 15. But in actuality, I am pretty sure I have no clue how far 2,174.9 miles REALLY is. That realization will become more clear with each subsequent step of the estimated 5 million steps I have to take throughout my journey.

The hardest part of this journey is the mental aspect, as seasoned hiker after seasoned hiker has said. The first month and a half it's both, physical conditioning and mental. But the body eventually acclimates to the weight, to the punishing of the feet and the knees and the hips, if none of those are damaged at the beginning. Indeed, many people leave the trail at the beginning because they try to do too much, too soon, too quickly. But after six weeks, it's about what's inside your head that counts. So the goal is slow and steady.

It will be punishing for me at the beginning - I've resigned to that fact. But it's the more insidious mental challenges that I'll face which will keep me on my toes and which will make me or break me. But so far, my life has not been short of mental challenges, to be sure. I've overcome many challenges that others might not have, and in many ways, discomfort has been a way of life at various times. Personally, I'll put my money on me finishing, despite the odds. People don't call me 'mental' for no reason. :)

Ron