The beginning of Month #2 started April 15th with inactivity, as the family went to Monterey to show the baby the ocean and the aquarium. It was a fun trip, but I did nothing but one round of pilates, 4.5 miles and 8.2 miles at 6000 feet in 8 days. Yikes. No way to make it up the mountain!
I added a new walk of 8.2 miles with 5 uphills interspersed with flat or downhill, all at about 6000 feet. Surprisingly, this takes as long as the killer 7 miler, about two hours and 20 minutes. This is Walk #5 and it is pretty hard. I have tried to do it two days in a row and failed. Maybe I'm too old for this.
Because the weather has been absolutely abominable (daytime temps around 40, snow, rain, sleet, hail, high winds, fog--YUCK) all the walks so far have been on streets around my house. Hiking the mountain trails probably won't happen until June.
"Week" 2: Total of 32.9 miles mostly at 6000 feet:
8.0 miles (daughter picked me up for the last .2 miles!) at 6000 feet
3.0 miles at 8500-8900 feet
5 miles at 6000 feet (really, really tired today, legs just dead)
a day of much needed rest
8.2 miles (in snow, fog, hail, some sun, wind--YUCK) at 6000 feet
3.5 miles (33 degrees, fine hail, strong winds, snow) at 6000 feet in new boots
5.2 miles at 6000 feet
No blisters, but the boots are not getting any lighter. This weather has to get better (it'll probably turn into summer and I'll be complaining that it's too hot!)
"Week" 3: Total of 29.4 miles
May 1: Rest
May 2: 10 miles @ 6000 ft. This extra 1.8 miles took a whole HOUR more!!
May 3: Big blisters from yesterday, no walk
May 4: Pilates, no walk (granddaughter home) Ripped out a dead tree
May 5: 5.2 miles at 6000 ft in new boots. 4 blisters
May 6: played golf with a cart
May 7: 5.2 miles at 6000 ft
May 8: 9+ miles at 6900 - 8028 feet in new boots. Blister on heel, swollen instep. Walked with El and her sister A my neighbor:
Gotta stay out of the higher elevations until it stops snowing!! Current conditions in my back yard (May 10, 2010) in last photo
Cheers,
Marlene
I commend you for your commitment and diligence in getting prepared - way to go!
ReplyDeleteQuestions - How many miles/day will you be doing on the actual Mt. Kilimanjaro climb? You said it will take 7-9 days, right? How many people will be in the climbing party? What will the temperatures be like?
Believe it or not, we have not settled on a route up yet! We are contemplating the Umbwe route, which is scary-sounding when you read about it, but people who have done it agree it is not scary (nothing technical). It is shorter by 6 miles overall, and spends more time and fewer miles at high elevations. At this point we have three in the climbing party and at the top it should be about 20 degrees F in the daytime, around 0 at night. Here's a good website to check out: http://www.ultimatekilimanjaro.com/index.htm
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