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Welcome to the 2009 Climb-A-4,000-Footer Exercise Challenge Reports
April 28, 2009 - Our first Team Meeting! Pat and I are so excited about our first team meeting. We have met with the participants individually and know in our hearts this is just the right group of people joining the Challenge for all the right reasons. We can't wait for you to meet each other... you all have so much that you will bring to the team. In anticipation I can feel myself wanting to slip from excitement into fear - wanting so badly to know for sure that each of our team members will get what they are looking for out of this experience. But then I realize what I am doing and I let it go. I know that Pat and I can't give anyone any particular experience, that each person has to make the experience for themselves. Pat and I will be there every step of the way as coaches, supporters, and cheerleaders. We meet at MoCo Wellness Center and slowly but surely everyone arrives, looking a bit tentative. Which is so understandable. First meetings are always hard. Everyone is wondering who will be there and if they will know anyone else and if they will be accepted and liked. We introduce ourselves and I am touched by everyone's honesty and willingness to show their hearts. As people share about their lives, there are tears of grief as well as excitement and hope for this new opportunity that the 4,000-Footer Challenge offers. We are honored they have all entrusted us with their hopes and goals for this program.
We set a few ground rules - no one walks alone, we find the positive in everyone, we support each other as a team, we treat each other with respect, and we keep what we say to each other confidential. We talked about exercise and how important it will be for everyone to exercise on their own in addition to our weekly hill climbs. Everyone shared what they do for exercise and it ran the whole spectrum from nothing at the moment to attending a gym on a regular basis. We closed the meeting with a story about our first hike on a 4,000-footer. It seemed appropriate to share our first big hike at our first Challenge meeting. My favorite part of that story is this: On our way up we met a group of hikers and they asked us how many 4,000-footers we had climbed so far. Pat proudly responded "This is our first!" while I was mortified that they knew we were newbies and had no idea what we were doing. When we reached the summit of Whiteface, they invited us to join them for lunch. I was amazed and I said, "Wow - that's really nice. You don't even know us." One of the guys responded, "Well, there are no assholes above 4,000-feet." This is reassuring to the team. They will be in good company on that summit in August - they will fit right in. April 30, 2009 - First Exercise Session  Pat and I are duplicating our journey for the Challenge Program, so the plan is to walk between Cheshire Medical Center and Keene State College and back - the same walk that Pat and I did when we first went for a walk together. But they are tearing up Court Street and the sidewalks so we decide to walk toward the Keene State College end of things. We leave MoCo after finding out that one woman had decided not to join the program because she did not feel she would have the time. A sad beginning. We really liked her. Off we go, surrounded by budding trees and sweet smells and tulips and flowering shrubs. Downtown Keene is most beautiful this time of year. I am in the lead, Pat is taking sweep. We are chatting and getting to know everyone. The person I walk with varies as people speed up or slow down in order to chat with someone they do not know. They have taken the rules to heart - find the positive in everyone, cheer everyone on, get to knew everyone. At one point I am walking in the front by myself and one of the women runs up from behind me and starts walking next to me. "We have a rule - no one walks alone!" We wait every so often for the back group to catch up. One woman is struggling but determined. We admire her. We return to MoCo by our 7 pm deadline. I am proud of everyone. May 7, 2009 - Exercise Session  Today we walk an abbreviated version of the Cranberry Run route. I think we walk about 3.75 miles, 9,402 steps, and there is a nice hill on George Street. The black flies are out, so we can't stand still too long. But that doesn't seem necessary, as the back group catches up with the front group pretty quickly. We pass the home of one of our participants, waving as we walk by just in case someone is home and watching us. One woman arrives at the bike path carrying a Chinese food menu - people are hungry and working up an appetite! Our favorite guy on the team tells me he had to go to a funeral today and that he wanted to spend time with his family who he had not seen in some time. But he was committed to our walk. He told me he had one lonely lemon square out of all the delicious food at the reception and then left to meet us. Way to go! Awesome! We arrive back at MoCo proud of ourselves and right on time! We have a great second team meeting and I find myself so grateful for such a wonderful group of participants for our first ever Challenge. We play "Trail Mix-Share" - a way to get to know each other a bit better while we nibbled on the trail mix. We pass a bowl of trail mix around and everyone takes one piece. Then people share something about themselves according to what yummy they picked out of the trail mix:
We learn about one woman who is most proud of graduating from KSC in 1995 and her most scary moment flying in a single-engine airplane in a snow squall. Another participant's favorites are: The Sound of Music, The Bible and Chocolate Cake. Another participant loves Kimballs ice cream and The Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo. Another woman's most proud moment is hiking out of the Grand Canyon is 115 degree heat. One participant says his happiest moment was the day he adopted his daughter. Another participant says her most exciting moment was when she met her best friend when she was 7 years old. Another woman shares that her most proud moment is graduating from college - only 30 out of 3,000 graduated! And her most scary moment was when an intruder tried to enter her home when she was 16 years old and she was taking care of her younger sister. We also share times in our lives when we didn't let any obstacles get in our way. Everyone has a story about how they persevered, despite difficulties -- from starting life anew after a divorce to earning the money for a trip to Europe or to pay for a new roof. What is very clear as we share is that this special group of people can do anything they put their minds to. From there we talk about exercise and people share from their journals and we talk about how everyone is doing with their exercise routines. Nancy talks about the inner cheerleader and the inner critic. The inner critic will ALWAYS be there and is ALWAYS WRONG. So why would we want to listen to her? And we don't have to. It is a simple choice. If you hear your inner critic blathering on about what a rotten person you are, you can choose to flip the switch and listen to your inner cheerleader who loves you and knows your potential. We talk about setting a goal of exercising every day. The day before decide what activity you are going to do and when you are going to do it. Then, when the time comes, ONLY listen to you inner cheerleader and just get yourself out the door. When you get home after your walk, congratulate yourself, put a sticker in your exercise journal and set the exercise goal for the next day. Persistently and consistently set the goal, decide on the time and make yourself do it - one day at a time, one step at a time. Then the next day -- do it again. Pat and I share the story of our four attempts to bag East Sleeper mountain - the first attempt we encounter a high brook that we can't cross and stay dry so we decide to come back the next week better prepared. Attempt # 2 -- we come back with neoprene boots. We cross the brook five times before finally giving up. Attempt #3 -- The next spring we climb Sleeper and find out that we are going for West Sleeper and the peak that counts in East Sleeper. Attempt #4 - With snowshoes in May, heading for the right mountain, we finally bag East Sleeper. Four attempts...and we make it. May 14, 2009 - Exercise Session      
Beth and Sarah share their botany brainpower. Beth finds an Indian cucumber for us to try - yummmm...sweet! And we learn about monocots and dicots and how to tell the difference by looking at the leaves. Dicots have veins that go outward from the center and monocots have major leaf veins that are parallel. We are having so much fun talking that we get a little lost in the woods, but easily find our way back to a familiar place. We take a picture of the wet group at Sunset Rock in Robin Hood Park and again when we arrive back at MoCo. 9,403 steps.   May 21, 2009 - Exercise Session
Because everyone arrived at the trailhead, just where they were supposed to be, early! Because Chuck was the first to get there, all smiles with his new pedometer and Believe in Boston shirt. Because Linda arrived with her beautiful mischievous grin, her wonderful sense of humor and her hiking shorts and shirt - she looked great! She already looks like an experienced hiker! Because when Adriana arrived she had a new beautiful lilac backpack, a sporty salmon t-shirt from LLBean, new light hiking shoes and her usual big contagious smile. Because Fawn told me she had already walked Chapman Hill three times and she had bought new shoes and a pedometer! 
Because Melanie arrived beaming with a positive attitude and the cutest little bottles of water I have ever seen. Because Beth was there with her generous spirit, unique earrings and all her know-how about birds and plants. Our walks are much richer for her sharing her bounty of nature knowledge. Because Sara arrived smiling and determined. Chapman Road is steep and presented quite a challenge for Sara. But she persevered. Chuck offered to take her backpack (I love that he did that). Then Chuck and Pat fought over carrying the pack...Pat won. And Sara kept walking, intent on making it and courageous in the face of a truly difficult climb. Because Pat and I were struggling with our walkie-talkies and no one gave us a hard time...everyone just waited patiently.
Because everyone walked carefully single file down the steep curves of Water Street. Because Pat is loving the group as much as I am - I can tell by her relaxed beautiful smile. Because people were arranging to car pool to Jaffrey for our Gap Mountain hike tomorrow. I love that people are getting to know each other. Because everyone was glowing with pride when we got back to our cars...or was it sweat? That's why! WHOOOO HOOOOOOOO! May 23, 2009 - First Mini-Hike - Gap Mountain
Adriana has read our website and comes prepared with toilet paper and a plastic bag - How awesome is that??? She also was the driver of her carpool that brought 3 others to the trailhead - A generous spirit! Melanie arrives after already having walked 3 miles with her dog!!! She is in shape and ready to go! Linda looks very spiffy and svelte in her hiking pants and bright pink top. Beautiful inside and out! While we wait for everyone to arrive, Linda checks out nature's bathroom and Adriana gets a lesson using poles from Pat. Once everyone is together, we tell the group that Sara has decided not to continue in the Challenge. She plans to spend this year exercising and getting in shape to hopefully participate next year. There are sad faces, and understanding compassionate nods. We will miss Sara and take her spirit with us to the summit of our 4,000-footer. We hike to the top of Gap, taking a few rest stops amid the mosquitoes. Everyone arrives happy. Now, that is not to say that there wasn't some serious huffing and puffing and a few drops of sweat here and there - but everyone summits and, after a few deep breaths, is smiling! When we reach the lower summit, we meet John and his dog, Milo - friends of Adriana. It was great to have them join us for the short hike to the real summit of Gap. John has hiked Mt Rainier so he had no problem keeping up with us! 
We arrive on the top of Gap, amid thousands of flowering blueberry shrubs, at 11am with our lunches. Now really folks. We can't eat lunch at 11am! We decide to hike down the other side of Gap to the Troy trailhead and down we go. I hear mumbling behind me, "We are going to have to come back up this..." I suggest they don't go there and keep walking DOWN! We reach the bottom of Gap on the Troy side and take a snack break before turning around and heading back up. Fawn shares her awesome trail mix with everyone! Yummy! We head back up Gap and before we know it, despite some heavy breathing, we arrive back on the summit of Gap for lunch. Linda brings everyone chocolates. Adriana shares oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Chuck offers everyone ice from one of his four ice bottles - I see Adriana is using one of the ice bottles to cool her forehead! Beth brings her binoculars and points out a Rose Breasted Grosbeak singing his song at the top of a tree. We have a great lunch, take a few group pictures and then head back down. Pat leads us down another trail toward the Inn at East Hill farm to see a waterfall on the way back. It's beautiful and looks so refreshing, but I can't convince anyone to dangle their feet in the water...so we head back to the parking lot. The Challenge Team is doing great!!! So great in fact that we are scrubbing our plans for an intermediate hike for our next mini-hike. We will be heading up Monadnock! Get psyched! Thanks to all of you for sharing so much of yourselves. We are all being blessed by this experience! For me, what determines how good something is, is by how much meaning it holds. If we use that as the criteria for Tuesday's Team Meeting, it was awesome. We start with a game of High / Low where people share their "high" or best experience and their "low" or worst experience while climbing Gap Mountain. Some of the highs...getting to the top with the team...the views...cookies and candy... the breeze as it hit my face on the summit felt like I was taking in the earth's breath... knowing we climbed to the top of Gap TWICE...car pooling together. Some of the lows...mosquitoes...peeing in the woods...not being able to enjoy the surroundings because we kept moving...afraid of tripping...struggling to get to the top the second time...how I felt after. We talk about how everyone felt after our first mini-hike. Most everyone felt the hike physically in one way or the other. Most everyone described breathing hard on the way up. But everyone did great and the after-effects people share are both normal and expected. We applaud them all! Our meeting theme is cairns, the piles of rocks that line the hiking trails above tree line to guide hikers to the summits. We show a video of pictures of cairns that have blessed Pat and Nancy's hikes. Some are huge, some are small and unassuming. Some are artistic and beautiful, a stonemason's dream; others are just a pile of rocks. Nancy loves them because they not only point the way, but when you turn around and look behind you, you can see how far you have come. Pat loves them because she can add a stone and feel like she is contributing to something that feels eternal, important, and necessary. Team members share stories of the people in their lives who have been cairns - people who have guided them, cared for them, showed them the way, changed their lives. The stories are about an uncle, children, grandparents, a daughter, and one team member who is her own cairn. The sharings are incredibly inspiring and very moving. Pat and I are touched by the depth and honesty that fills the room. The emotion the team members share is just beautiful. You know...this is what building a team looks like. It's about getting to know each other on a deeper level and supporting and caring about each other as we physically push ourselves to get in shape to climb a 4,000-footer. This journey is not just a physical journey; it is an emotional one as well. It's not about the hike, it is about engaging and sharing all of ourselves in the adventure. It will change all of us! it already has. Thank you, team! May 28, 2009 - Exercise Session
The game of High/Low, where people share the best part of an experience and the worst part of an experience, is a game of gratitude and connection. We learn about the things that touch people and about what disappoints them. In that sharing we let people see us more clearly and give others hand-holds and foot-holds where they can more easily connect with us and understand us. Chuck's High - seeing the Beaver Dam is his high and echoed by the rest of the team. His Low is not seeing any beavers. Maybe next time! Sarah - In addition to the Beaver Pond, Sarah's High is finding her Oyster Mushroom which hours later, along with asparagus, becomes the filling for an omelet. Her low is the dark, damp rainy weather that afternoon. Fawn enjoyed it all, even her close encounter with the brook! She also went home and did research and reported that the awesome climbing tree next to the Beaver Pond is a Bull Pine. Melanie and Beth's High and Lows are aligned - the Beaver Dam and the wildflowers as the High and the dark damp weather as the Low. Linda had been to the Beaver Pond before, so she reports her high is walking to Nancy's house with Chuck - adding an extra 1.5 miles each way! Whoooo Hooooo! Adriana missed our hike to the Beaver Pond but climbed Mt. Monadnock over the weekend. Wowserinoes! You go girl!!! Her high is doing it, her Low is her footing coming down the rock slabs. She talks a bit about being disappointed in her performance on Gap. Wow! She is hard on herself! She is doing just great! Exercise is next on the agenda. We shared our exercise routines and encouraged everyone to ADD HILLS (incline on the treadmill), SPEED, MILES AND MORE HILLS, SPEED AND MILES. We ask everyone to set an exercise goal for the next two weeks- to write it down and DO IT! Our last team meeting was emotional as team members shared the people who have been cairns in their lives. Tonight we ask them to consider that maybe The Challenge Program is a cairn in their lives as well. For some, that analogy fits. Sarah does some research about cairns and finds that they are a symbol of leaving your cares behind. She also met a woman who showed her some trails, her pond and her rock cairn. Sarah's connection with this woman and the experience feel like a meant-to-be and an outgrowth from The Challenge. For Beth, the It's Not About The Hike Presentation was the first cairn. "The presentation was a wake-up call that said -- this is who you are...get back to it." She shared that doing things for herself are "Beth" things. Joining The Challenge is a "Beth Thing." Melanie says, "this program is the first thing I have done for myself in a while. For me, it is physical and spiritual growth - a chance to make new friends and have new experiences." Adriana saw the ad in the Shopper and it immediately called to her. "This is what I have been looking for! I heard bells!" Chuck says, "I have exercised more in the past 5 weeks than in the past 5 years! I want to be able to say I climbed a 4,000-footer!" But Fawn, wowserinoes - she has a bet with her husband, Rich, that she will make a $500 donation to the Republican Party, not something she would normally do, if she does not lose 2 sizes and reach the summit of a 4,000-footer. Her story is even more compelling than the bet. "Spring was coming. I wanted to lose weight. I want to feel good about myself. I sacrifice myself for my kids and my husband and it is draining. I let myself go. Everyone else takes precedence over me. This is a chance to do something for me. To make time for myself where I never did before. I am making myself a priority. I just need to do it all!" Linda and Sarah do not have internet access, so we showed everyone the website and all the pictures we've taken during our exercise sessions so far. So Pat and I are off to the Grand Canyon and the team has 2 Exercise Sessions on their own. Walk up Chapman Road and a hike up to the Beaver Pond. They will talk about their adventures at our next Team Meeting on June 16th when we are back from the Canyon! Can't wait! It's the Team's Meeting today. They tell us about their experiences climbing Chapman Road on June 4th and hiking to the Beaver Pond on June 11th without us. Their sharing includes lots of smiles, laughing, and kidding each other as we look at the pictures of their hikes. It's great to see everyone coming together as a Team. We are so lucky to have such a nice group of people for our inaugural Challenge Team.
Well, apparently there was quite a stone skipping contest at the Beaver Pond. Both Sarah and Chuck excelled. Chuck won. (Chuck - how many times did the winning stone skip? Is it true it went all the way across the pond?) So Sarah baked a homemade blueberry pie and presented it to him at the meeting. We all shared in his winnings. It was delicious and heart-warming. Thank you Sarah! We talk about setting more strenuous exercise goals and sticking to them. We remind the Team that we believe they can already climb a 4,000-footer. But can they do it and ENJOY the experience? We want the team to be fit enough that they are able to get up and down this mountain and love every minute of it. As people talk about the difficulty of setting a goal and sticking to it, the word plateau comes to mind. The newness of The Challenge has worn off, leaving the hard work of keeping on and the even harder work of pushing oneself to walk faster, steeper, longer. This will test everyone's determination. We encourage the Team to add HILLS, SPEED and MILES to their exercise regimes. We will see. We end the meeting with some tibialis exercises to help prevent shin splints. Next meeting - a wall sit! June 18, 2009 -- Exercise Session
June 25, 2009 -- Exercise Session We walk up to the Beaver Pond today, but we meet at the trailhead on Summit Ridge Road, which adds at least two more hills to the hike. YEAH! Everyone is in good spirits and it is NOT raining. It is a bit overcast and it seems dark in the woods...but no one is complaining! Today we push up the hills a bit faster than we have in the past. Pushing ourselves is important because it forces us out of our comfort zones for a few moments until we realize that we can do it. And then that becomes the new threshold for pushing. We find out we can do more, one step at a time. Chuck carries a knapsack full of flat rocks up to the Beaver Pond - and he skips stones like a pro until the knapsack is empty. Man - he is good at it! Pat tries and manages to skip a few, I try and the rock just goes kerplunk! Oh well... We talk about hiking Monadnock on Saturday. A few people are a bit nervous and we are all excited!   June 27, 2009 -- Monadnock Mini Hike Whoooo Hooooooo! Wow - we accomplished something big today! We summited Monadnock- Chuck for the first time ever, for some, the first time in years, and for Fawn and Adriana - well, the first time this week! CONGRATULATIONS! We learned a lot today - we learned how much water we need to bring on hikes,that getting muddy and wet won't kill us, that wet rocks and downward-facing roots are slippery, and that the leaders fall or misstep with the best of them and don't always pick the best routes around mud and boulders. Most importantly, we all found our own style of Whoooo Hooooo! You know what we love? Every once in a while we would see you guys helping each other over a rough spot or around the mud. We saw you encouraging each other, sharing food and personal stories, offering band-aids, ice, trail mix, and bagels with lox and cream cheese! We all have our lives outside of The Challenge, and we bring them to the mountain with us. And they affect how we feel on any given day. You guys understand that and bolstered each other up in wonderful caring ways...a kind word, a hand on the steep parts, kind encouragement, a touch on a shoulder, a shared laugh. We started as a bunch of strangers, together once or twice a week, doing something physical that's not just about physical but so much more -- seven wonderful individuals with their own stories and motivations, goals and challenges. It is great watching our team come together. We loved seeing you guys pull your way up the mountain, the looks on your faces as we sat down for lunch and, the best part, the celebratory whoooo hoooooos coming down! We are thankful there is a port-a-potty at the trailhead, that Beth shared her suggestion to hike the Dublin Trail and her trail mix, that Fawn shared her dried raspberries, that we all shared some laughs, swearwords, and major panting as we pushed up the mountain, that there were cold drinks at the end of the hike, and that we all made it to the summit and back in great shape. We are blessed to have you as our inaugural Challenge Team! Good job you guys! WHOOOO HOOOOOOO!   July 2, 2009 -- Exercise Session Well, there is good news and bad news. Which do you want first? The good news? It is NOT raining when we all meet in Nancy's driveway for our exercise session. The bad news? Adriana could not join us and we miss her and there has been a ton of rain over the past few days (actually we have barely seen the sun the entire month of June) and we are about to discover where all that rain has gone! We walk up Hurricane Road to the graveyard, pushing part of the way. We check out the gravestones and then made our way to the Beaver Dam trail. It is very dark in the woods, and we are walking in a running stream for much of the way up to the pond, negiotiating over slippery rocks, deep muddy puddles and fallen branches. We hear a few grunts and sighs, and a "are we there yet?" but, everyone remained in good spirits. We bushwhack our way under and around a huge tree that had fallen on the trail, very typical of a real hike, and continue on over the river and through the woods to the Beaver Pond. We arrive at the Beaver Dam, take a quick look at the pond then make our way down the trail back to Nancy's house. One word to describe the way down…WET! We make our way over two streams, most everyone choosing to go through the water rather than the wet slippery broken down bridges. So, although we all start out dry, we're pretty sure no one makes it out dry - we all have boot on that are soaked through. Most of us get to the place where it is no longer worth the energy to try and stay dry and walk right through the running water...except maybe Chuck who holds out hope of staying dry. We arrive back, take a picture and then everyone heads home to change into dry clothes. Great job, Team!  July 9, 2009 -- Exercise Session After walking in the Horatio Colony Preserve the previous Sunday, I know this is the perfect Thursday exercise walk. I wait until 5:29 before I see two cars pull up - great group - carpooling - but I swear I thought I was going to have to hike alone. Linda is always early. So good to see their smiling faces pour out of the cars. After putting on bug dope and packs - Sarah has a new pack - it looks perfect! - I challenge them to walk up the first few tenths of a mile, all uphill, as fast as they are inclined to push. And we are off. We eventually break into two groups - Linda, Chuck, Fawn in front and Adriana, Sarah, Beth and Melanie bring up the rear. Not much distance between the two groups so I move between the front and the back so everyone gets a little Pat time and I get a little time with everyone. At the top, Beth adjusts her new $3 Merrell hiking boots she got at Salvation Army - they are great and what a price - she's getting the old ones resoled. Chuck actually brings out his bandana to wipe the sweat off his brow. First time. Whoo hooo! All of us are sweating - it feels great - although the mosquitoes are tormenting us. When we get started on the ridge portion of the walk Sarah takes the lead. Melanie and Adriana tell us about exploring the trails around Surry Dam last Saturday - they found a beautiful lily pond and a waterfall on their adventure. Fergus, Melanie's Border Collie, was herding Adriana when she lagged behind. And Chuck and his daughter Olivia hiked up Gap Mountain on Saturday - she made it the whole way - next time they will come back in August and pick blueberries. I love that folks are getting together outside of scheduled group time and HIKING! Very cool. The leaf canopy of the trees blocks out the sun, but there is sun and we are grateful. We are wet with sweat but our boots are dry. So different from last Thursday's adventure! We walk down the ridge to the Tupelo Swamp and then we stop and regroup at the Sidewinder trailhead. The mosquitoes are vicious. They mock our bug dope. Adriana starts leading the hike back, then Fawn takes over. I move between the front and rear groups, making sure everyone is ok and still on the trail toward home. Turns out Fawn is fast on the downhill and when I ask why the fast pace she smiles and says, "I like downhill." We stop at the top of the ridge, just before the hike down, and find the ruins of an old building - just the stone foundation left - and Beth spots a view - I missed that view when I came up so this is way cool. We all walk out and enjoy - well, a view of the high school and beyond. We can hear a Swamp Bats game being played at Alumni Field. Folks do well with the downhill - it's pretty steep. We get back to the cars around 7:30 and stretch. It is so great to hear folks talking about car pooling for the Monadnock hike on the 18th and making plans to hike this weekend. So cool! Everyone has a chance to say something to Nancy who is not with us on this session. We miss you! 4 miles - 11, 163 steps  We celebrate the birth of Beth's twin grandchildren and then play a game of True or False. Each member of the team shares a true and a false statement about themselves and the team has to guess which one is the truth. Chuck starts off. Was he the manager of a mattress store or a candy store? It turns out he managed a candy store and got to wear a bow tie, a job he loved. Adriana tells us she went skydiving and deep-sea scuba diving. Scuba diving it was. Wow - very courageous. Sarah says she has skied lots of places including Mount Hood and Mount Snow. She skied Mt. Hood and avoids the crowds at Mt. Snow. And Linda shares she played sports in school - track and volleyball. Linda fooled us all - she was a volleyball player. Beth guesses the most true statements and wins some trail mix for our upcoming hike. We talk about how each person's exercise pursuits are going. Adriana says she is bored. Others chime in saying it is hard to maintain the pace and level when doing it alone, without the group to drive them. We talk about pushing and how hard it is to push when the newness and excitement wears off. Exercise is starting to become drudgery. Overcoming the boredom and getting out the door is the hardest part. Taking one step at a time and focusing on one day at a time makes exercising seem a bit less overwhelming. We talk about the fact that we all want to enjoy climbing our 4,000-footer in the White Mountains, not suffer through it. We talk car pooling and logistics for our Saturday Pumpelly hike. We want the experience to closely imitate that of climbing a 4,000 footer so we asked that they pack as though they are going to climb a big mountain - bringing headlamps, water, safety gear and clothes...just in case. Then we talk about our hike up and around the ski trails at Granite Gorge. Lots of connection for the team this week - team meeting, exercise session and big hike on the weekend. How will it all turn out? July 16, 2009 -- Exercise Session - Granite Gorge Stats2.29 miles 6,071 steps A new adventure! We meet at Granite Gorge, a local snowboarding park, take a few pictures and then we challenge the team. "You don't have to push all the way up the mountain. But choose a pace and keep it steady, don't stop. If you get winded, slow down. Keep going. We'll meet half way up." And up we go! Everyone rises to the occasion, walking through mud, running water, high grass, and wildflowers, and picking raspberries as we huff and puff our way up the mountain. It is a perfect training hill. We pause half way for everyone to arrive and then head up to the summit where we take pictures on the chair lift at the top.  Then we head back down the other side of the mountain. Lots of mud and running water, but everyone stays positive. We get down to the bottom and there is still time left in our exercise session. WHO KNEW?? So, we take our chances and lead the group back up the mountain, this time in the reverse direction, up the Monadnock Half Mile. There are some groans and good-hearted threats of mutiny, but everyone has plenty of energy left to get half way up the mountain before heading down. Of course, before heading down the Zig Zag trail, we had to go up again. We stretch together on the bridge next to the parking lot. The day after tomorrow is a BIG day...Pumpelly Trail on Monadnock! July 18, 2009 -- Mini Hike - Monadnock - Pumpelly Trail Stats9 miles 24,943 steps
We take a picture of the team next to the Pumpelly Trail sign that says the trail is 4.5 miles to the summit. So a 9-mile hike...yikes! We haven't done anything more than 4 miles, so this will be a true test. The rain has finished and we hope for clearing, but the rocks and roots are very slippery and the mosquitoes are voracious. Up we go. Everyone is in good spirits. We are brainstorming team names (Cuckoo Whooo Hoooos) and singing songs about mud and roots and such. As we climb, we share about our lives. We are all sucking wind and sweating within the first half an hour and that continues the entire climb up. We hear a few gasps and a few swear words...which we love! We take a picture next to the 1.5 miles to go marker...everyone is still in great spirits, helping each other on the steeps...both up and down on the Pumpelly Trail. We arrive on the summit at 12:45PM ready for lunch...everyone is starving. So we save our whooo hoooos for our photo session after we eat. We spend about 45 minutes on the top, resting, taking our boots and socks off and wiggling our toes, eating cookies and sharing. We take a few group pictures and then head down.
We arrive back at our cars at 5PM and enjoy cold drinks and Oreos as we debrief our hike. "There's nothing that can prepare you for this," Chuck says. He's right...4.5 miles up and 4.5 miles down! We're ready for our 4,000-Footer! We take a few "We made it pictures" and then people head home to rest and nurse sore muscles. July 23, 2009 -- Exercise Session Stats3.4 miles 8,115 steps
Starting up the mountain we encourage everyone to set a pace and stick with it. Chuck runs up. The rest of us take it just a bit more leisurely, but we are all huffing and puffing midway, sweat rolling down our backs and faces. We pick a few raspberries and then get ready for the second push to the summit. Before we know it we are sitting on the chair lift watching what looks like some major rain coming in as the wind gusts pick up. Chuck, who has stepped in some major mud, is pretty sure we won't get our second loop in before the rain. But we are clear and stay strong - we're doing it twice. We get down through all the mud and water on the lower slopes, making good time. We can tell that the Team is hoping we have changed out minds. There is a bit of groaning and trying to persuade us that going up again is probably not a good idea...but we stay firm and back up we go. Once we start everyone puts their heads down and climbs. Chuck only runs part way this time. 
We decorate ourselves with feathers we find on the trail and share as we climb. We make it to the top and sit on the chair lift for a few more pictures before heading down. The Team wants to avoid the mud on the way down so we take a trail that zigzags down and is pretty dry, BUT it has a bit of an uphill part way down which gets EVERYBODY groaning. We are at the bottom before we know it. It's 7:15 and everyone is anxious to get home for supper. We stretch and head home, never having seen one raindrop! Great job Team - Granite Gorge - two times! We meet at Keene State College and are missing Adriana. Melanie has to leave because her older dog is not doing well - we are thinking of her. We share photos from our Monadnock hike and have a few laughs. Then we talk about how everyone fared on the Pumpelly Trail - Monadnock hike - and everyone did really well. There were some sore muscles and people were tired, but all in all, everyone did splendidly! We are ready for our 4,000-Footer! But our final climb is not for another 4 weeks, so we encourage everyone to keep exercising. They have built up their strength and stamina and we don't want anyone to backtrack now! We are too close! Everyone sets an exercise goal for the next two weeks and we will check in on that goal at our next team meeting. Our plans are to go on our final Challenge hike on Saturday, August 22, unless the weather is predicted to be so bad that it would be dangerous. We will have a good weather plan (Plan A) and a wet weather / thunderstorm plan (Plan B) for August 22nd. We are all hoping for good weather, but we certainly have proven that we can enjoy hiking in the rain - lots of our Exercise Sessions have been in very wet weather. We set a Plan C -- horrendous forecast for August 22nd alternate date of Sunday, September 6. We make a very important date change. Our final Team Meeting will take place on September 1, instead of August 25. This will ensure that Beth can be with us and will give everyone an extra week to work on their Challenge Hike Reports. We also begin talking about logistics for our final Challenge hike. Our next Team Meeting on August 11 is a VERY IMPORTANT MEETING. We will talk about all the logistics for our final hike! Get psyched!
July 30, 2009 -- Exercise Session -- Chapman Road to the viewpoint and down through Robin Hood Park Stats:12,845 steps 5.5 miles We meet at the bike path parking lot at 5:30 and waste no time heading up Chapman Road. The Team is in shape, we know each other and we know this hill - so we are comfortable with the process and each other. We set a good pace. It is an absolutely beautiful evening, nice breeze and clear sunny skies. We've hiked in rain our fair share of the time, so it is really nice to have a dry hike! We get to the casket mailbox and take a picture and then head off to the top of the hill. Chuck goes the long way and tries to meet us at the gate, but we beat him...by just a bit. Up to the cell tower we go, pushing a good bit of the way and we all arrive within minutes of each other. Then we head down into the woods to the viewpoint. We enjoy a beautiful view on a gorgeous evening before going back down. We head into Robin Hood Park to avoid going down Roxbury Street and arrive back at our cars in a few minutes over two hours. Great exercise Team! we have really come a long way. Whoooooo Hooooooo!   August 6, 2009 -- Exercise Session -- Hyland Hill Fire Tower Stats:6,613 steps 2.7 miles We meet at Nancy's house and, once we remember that Fawn is on vacation, we pile into Nancy's and Pat's cars and drive the 5 minutes to the trailhead for the Hyland Hill Fire Tower. The trailhead is signed No Trespassing and Under Surveillance, so we are a bit nervous heading up. We talk about what we will say if we are stopped...everyone will say they are following Pat and Nancy...great ...what do WE say? It is still a bit muddy, but we are used to mud by now. It is a beautiful evening, light breeze, blue skies and we are pumped to attack the hill. Everyone just walks right up. We stay close together, no one is lagging behind, everyone is breaking a sweat and breathing heavily, sharing as they climb. We have come so far! We take a wrong turn but figure it out pretty quickly and are back on track in minutes. We arrive at the fire tower and everyone climbs to the top for the view and a picture. Adriana is scared to death, but valiantly heads up. She feels dizzy on top, but hangs in there through the picture and view chat - then heads back down. Courage, Adriana - you are an inspiration! We head back to the main trail and take a left continuing to push to the summit of Hyland Hill before turning around. It is only another 10 minutes up before we turn around at the height of land and head back down. Everyone stays together on the way down, everyone keeping up and doing a great job. We are ready for our Challenge Hike and we are psyched! We arrive back at the cars and drive back to Nancy's house where she hands out extra copies of the Monadnock Shopper where the team is pictured on the front page, Famous and in Shape! Whooo Hoooo!   August 11, 2009 -- Team Meeting It's finally here! This meeting is all about preparations for our final Challenge Hike on August 22. We are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather and everyone is psyched! Plan A is to do Pierce and Eisenhower. It is a 10.5 mile hike with 3,052 feet of elevation gain. The Team's most challenging hike to date has been Monadnock via the Pumpelly Trail - 9 miles with 1,815 feet of elevation gain. We are definitely ready to tackle a 4,000-footer! The bad weather Plan B is to climb Tom, Field and Willey, 3 4,000-footers, 9.6 miles, 3,348 feet of elevation gain. It will be an early morning for everyone. We are meeting at Michael's at 4:25 AM, stopping at the Tilton Diner for breakfast when they open at 6 AM and then to pick up some goodies at the Mountain Bean in Twin Mountain, then driving to the Eisenhower (Crawford Path) Trailhead. We hope to be at the trailhead, heading up the mountain by 9:30 AM. We will bag Mt. Pierce first and then head over to the summit of Eisenhower for incredible views and lunch. Then we head back down. It is a beautiful hike, lots of time above tree-line, non-stop never-ending views. We hope to be back at the cars around 7 PM, have a picnic dinner on the way home, and be back at Michael's between 9-11 PM. It will be a long glorious day! Team members have a list of what to pack and what to bring in the car. It's all stuff we have brought with us on our other hikes, so again, this already feels comfortable because we have been practicing! We hand out an explanation of the Hike Report assignment due at our Celebration Meeting on September 1. Team Members will write about their Challenge experience and share the report with the group at our Celebration. We have found that writing about our hiking enhances the experiences and helps us understand what was happening in our hearts as we climbed. It has enriched our hiking journey and we hope it will do the same for the Team. We finish off the meeting talking about our upcoming exercise sessions - the Ski Jump Stairs in Brattleboro for this Thursday and Horatio Colony Preserve for our last Team Exercise Session. We are giddy with anticipation. For us, as leaders, we cannot wait to bring the team to the summit of Eisenhower. And no matter what the weather, what the circumstances, it will be an awesome experience. We now know, like and care for each member of the team. For us to be able to cheer them to the summit - it just doesn't get any better than that. August 13, 2009 -- Exercise Session - Harris Hill Ski Jump, Brattleboro, VT
The Challenge Team is blown away by the sight of the stairs as we emerge from the corn field. There are 371 stairs and about 400 steps, straight up to the top of the ski jump. And we're going to the top...over and over again! We tell everyone it is not a competition, listen to your body, push yourself, just hard enough to be uncomfortable. No pain. Climb the stairs as many times as you can in the next hour. And away we go. Everyone has the right attitude. It is harder for some than others. For some the sheer drop off from the stairs looking down is pretty scary - and yet they still climb. Courageous, Fawn. Courageous. We are half way up the stairs on the first round and we are all breathing heavy and sweating profusely. Wow...this is gonna be fun! Everyone is definitely up to the challenge and keeps moving at a steady pace. Everyone's face is red, wet and...here's the best part...smiling. Really. There is some eye rolling going on, and maybe a few swears beneath one's breath, but for the most part, everyone can find a smile and a high five when they pass a team mate on the stairs. Way cool. 
Each time we reach the top, totally out of breath, legs burning, arms trying to help pull us up the last couple of stairs, we think we can't do it again. Then we head back down the stairs or the trail, and about half-way down, we've forgotten how hard it was and by the time we reach the bottom, and have a quick drink of water, we are ready to go again. Linda is full of energy and just motors up those stairs. Adriana, Beth and Sarah are happy sweating and full of smiles. Fawn and Melanie take the trail back down and then head up again. All great sports! We are so lucky to have these people on our first Challenge Team. We all miss Chuck. We know he would have loved the stairs. We are all talking about how far he would be able to run up the stairs before he would have to slow down and walk. After the workout of a lifetime, an hour later we leave the ski jump and all 371 stairs feeling like we have all done something pretty remarkable. No doubt about it! Whoooo Hooooooooo!!!!! August 20, 2009 -- Exercise Session - Horatio Colony Preserve It's Christmas at Nancy's house! Everyone gets an It's Not About the Hike t-shirt from Nancy and Pat, an "I Like Ike" button from Fawn and a bandana from Chuck. Whoooo Hooooooo! We head over to the Horatio Colony Preserve. It's a steep up, then a hill here, a dip there, but mostly flat along the ridge. We do a loop, hiking about 45 minutes out and 45 minutes back. Everyone is walking FAST! Holy moly -- they are ready for The Challenge! No doubt about it! We can't keep up with the Team! Want to know why they are all moving so fast? It's the mosquitoes. Oh my GOD! We can't stop or even slow down. And please may no one have to tie their shoes -- they will be eaten ALIVE! The mosquitoes are angry and hungry and they like us! Everyone is swatting them away with their new bandanas, or tree branches or whatever they have. There are quite a few "mosquito frustration noises," but everyone stays in good humor. When we get back into the car there is no chatting. Everyone hops in, slams the doors and breathes a sigh of relief...safe from the mosquitoes! This is it -- the Challenge hike is the day after tomorrow. The weather is not looking so good -- but everybody is keeping a positive attitude.   August 21, 2009 - A Change of Plans... Wow -- was that a tough call to cancel our Challenge hike! Nancy and I agonized over it, talked ourselves into going on the hike, then talked ourselves out of going, and back and forth we went. We checked out the weather on weather.com, NOAA weather and the High Summits forecast -- 80% showers with a possibility of an inch of rain (that's a lot) and thunderstorms -- which meant that we were definitely going to have to hike Tom, Field and Willey. It also meant a really wet hike, very slick footing and no views for sure. We were not comfortable taking the Team up a 4,000-footer under those circumstances. So we called the team and cancelled. Those were really hard phone calls for us to make. Everyone was disappointed. September 6 is our next shot - which in some ways is fantastic because we have a rest day before and after the hike. Whoo Hooo!!! Our plan remains the same --Eisenhower unless there are thunderstorms and then we will do Tom, Field and Willey. Both Nancy and I really appreciate the support we felt from the Team on Friday night. Even those who were gung ho and ready to go come hell or high water understood the sensibility behind the decision not to hike on Saturday. The weather turned out better than predicted, but there was just no way of knowing that would happen. In light of this delay, the team gets to exercise together on the next couple of Thursdays. We sure don't want to lose all we have built up! So we plan to go back to the Brattleboro stairs. This Thursday we will meet at Nancy's at 5:30 promptly and we will drive in two cars to the Ski Jump Stairs and knock out as many round trips as we can in an hour. On Thursday the 3rd of September we are going to do the walk we had hoped to do on our very first Exercise Session between Keene State College and Cheshire Medical Center. We weren't able to do this back then because of construction on Court Street. We will meet behind Elliot Hall at 5:30 and go for it, rain or shine. Everyone on the team has been a trooper -- exercising in all kinds of weather, keeping up their spirits and supporting their teammates. These extra two weeks are a gift! Let's enjoy them! Keep your fingers crossed for beautiful weather on September 6th. August 27, 2009 - Exercise Session - Harris Hill Ski Jump We go back to the ski jump -- Chuck, Linda, Melanie, and Fawn -- and challenge everyone to climb the stairs as many times as possible in the next hour. Up they go. Fawn takes the trail, and is later joined by Melanie and then by Chuck. It looks like the trail is more popular than those 371 stairs. Linda masters the stairs 3 times this session - good for her. I forget my camera, so I don't have any way to prove they are huffing and puffing and sweating - but believe me, they are! At the end of an hour we talk about postponing the Challenge Hike before heading home. It's Not About the Hike, this 4,000-footer Challenge Program, is truly not about the hike. When we postponed our 4,000-footer hike, everyone had to deal with their reactions. The whole team climbed a mountain that day; it just wasn't in the White Mountains. It was a challenge of the heart. How did they feel when we postponed? What did they do with those feelings? How long have those feelings lasted? Are they the same as when they were first told the hike was cancelled or have their feelings changed over the past few days? What did they do that day with their new-found free time? Was there anything they learned from the experience? We asked them these questions. The answers varied. Some people were relieved the hike was cancelled because they were worried about the weather. One person reminded us that it IS a Challenge and It's NOT About the Hike and felt we should have gone. Linda and Melanie refocused the strength they would have used to get up the mountain into something else - Linda in her garden and Melanie cleaning her house. It's true...it's not about the hike. The challenge is to really feel what it is about for each of us and find ways to express it that helps us learn about ourselves. |
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It's Not About the Hike Nancy Sporborg & Pat Piper PO Box 270, Keene, NH 03431 It's Not About the Hike@gmail.com © 2009, It's Not About the Hike, All Rights Reserved  |
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It's raining and everyone is smiling. How lucky are we???? The destination is Robin Hood Park. We head up Roxbury Street and encounter our first hill heading towards the Park. From there we hit the trails of Robin Hood. People are sweating, breathing heavy and swatting the bugs away, but everyone is keeping up and seem to be enjoying themselves. Who knew it could be fun walking in the rain?
Wow - I love our Challenge Team! Why?
Because we were all swatting away the black flies and mosquitoes with humor. Those darn bugs can't ruin our walk!
We leave the trailhead for Gap Mountain at exactly 10am as planned. Everyone is on time, with packs and water and poles and bug dope. We are ready!!
Chuck and Linda arrive early, having walked from their homes on Hastings Avenue! That's dedication to the mission! Everyone else arrives ON TIME (what a Team!) and we set out in the drizzle to climb up to the Beaver Pond off of Hurricane Road. The trail is a bit muddy and has a few obstacles including wet leaves, slippery rocks, an incomplete bridge, a brook with a broken bridge and a huge blow-down. The team maneuvers around these with no problem. We arrive at the Beaver Pond in 45 minutes - perfect timing! Beth shares some trail mix (thank you, Beth!) and we take a few "summit pics" and head back down. Sarah finds her dinner - a mushroom and, ah...Fawn has a bit of an issue with the brook on the way back...but Fawn wins! It is good to have Sarah with us, back after her vacation and we miss Adriana today. We arrive back at Nancy's house at 7 pm - right on time! Everyone is in great spirits - rain just can't put a damper on this team. Whoooo Hooooo!
The best part of the meeting is the dessert. But let me back up a bit. Sarah shares that as a child she used to have stone skipping contests and her grandmother used to make a blueberry pie for the winner.
We meet at 8:30AM at the trailhead where we find out that Adriana is not going to join us. BUMMER! Then we see her drive up! Everyone is thrilled. That is what makes this group of people so special. We have bonded, we care about each other and we want everyone there. Chuck is there as well. He was quite sure for some time that he would not be able to make this hike because he had work commitments. He reports that he had to donate his left kidney, but he is there, ready to hike with us. The whole team is here...yeah!
It is still slippery heading down; we are a bit quieter as we focus on negotiating the slippery rock ledges. The mosquitoes are fierce, but we are all covered with bug dope...so the pesky critters stay away for the most part. Beth bangs her head into a tree limb and gets a beautiful egg on her forehead and Chuck immediately offers ice. Linda scrapes up her knee and draws blood...trail wounds to show where we have been. We are tired. this is the first really long hiking day and I tell the group that this hike is most like hiking a 4,000-footer than anything else we have hiked. 
We gather in the parking lot, a small group today. We miss Melanie, Adriana and Sarah. We may be a small group, but we are mighty strong and a bit cranky on our second loop.
We've talked about the stairs in Team Meetings, and threatened to do the stairs a few times. The time has arrived. We take on the stairs. Everyone is anxious, excited, wary and ready to go! We arrive at the Ski Jump, park across the street and walk through a corn field to get to the ski jump. The Harris Hill Ski Jump is the only 90 meter ski jump in New England and one of only six in the USA of this size and caliber.