Porters

It is impossible to write about Kilimanjaro without writing about the porters (and guides and other members of the support staff) as they are such a defining part of the experience.

It's a legal requirement in Tanzania that you cannot go up Kili without a certain number of guides and porters per person. I'm not actually sure what that number is, but suffice it to say that it is non-zero. This has a couple purposes: 1) it employs locals, thus stimulating the economy and 2) makes sure that idiot tourists don't go up the mountain without adequate preparation and then use up valuable local resources requiring a rescue, or die and generate bad press. For our hike we were told that for every one of us, there were 3.5 people supporting us.

To understand the porters, it is probably helpful to go through a typical day of our hike:

We'd wake up early to the sound of one of the kitchen guys at our tent (Jeremy or Elias), asking us if we wanted tea or not. While their English was much better than our Swahili, attempts to order tea with some amount of sugar and/or milk for two different people often led to fairly entertaining exchanges which only sometimes resulted in both parties actually getting tea in the style they preferred. As the temperatures got colder the higher we got, this hot cup was a much appreciated incentive to get out of our warm sleeping bags.

Next came a different fellow to offer a hot bowl of water for washing up "Water for wash!" We were on that mountain for 8 days without a shower, and no matter how many baby wipes we used, hours and hours of hiking left us filthy by the end of each day. Hot water for wash was a neat luxury.

We packed up our kit, separating out a day bag which we would take with us during the day with the layers of clothing we thought we'd need, water, and snacks, and packed everything else into a bag which the porters would take. While we had breakfast in the mess tent, the porters started to break down the rest of the camp. We set out after breakfast and would be passed by a continuous stream of porters zooming by us in order to have camp set up by the time we got there. In the narrower parts of the trail this led to a constant call of "Porter!" from the people hiking in the back of the pack as we hiked along - an exhortation to move aside and let pass the fellow with the much, much heavier load whose passage ahead of us would only make our lives better at the end of the hike. They balanced the loads on their backs or on their heads or both, and despite the difficulty of their job tended to have a friendly "Jambo!" when they passed.

The same porter would carry our main pack through the entire hike. Mine was called Mishek and he not only carried my pack, he would also meet me when I got to the camp in the evening, take my day pack off me and guide me to whatever mysterious location my tent had been pitched at. When there I would find that he had also taken my air mattress out of my main pack and blown it up. Given that I really didn't want to expend the air when already short of breath at high altitude, it was an appreciated service. Not everyone's porter did these things, and while one may say that he just wanted a bigger tip, I was very happy for the trade.

It was all told very humbling - lest we think we were doing anything particularly impressive in climbing Kilimanjaro - seeing firsthand the work that these guys did. They practically ran up the mountain in gear far worse than ours and under loads much heavier. In fact, some of the guys on our hike claimed to have made return trips of 8 hours (8 hours! It took us 8 days!) on the mountain. And these are not sherpas. I don't think they are literally evolutionarily adapted to the work, and generally they live at relatively low altitude themselves. Arusha, the main city nearby is only 4,100 feet or so, or 12oo meters. Sometimes they get altitude sickness like everyone else, but don't tend to have any medicine for it or for the symptoms. From what I gather, accurate or not, including tip they might make $100 for a week long trip up the mountain.

At the end of the trek we had a formal tipping ceremony where we handed over the cash, and they actually all sang for us, and Mishek, who was a super-cool sort of dude, did a little faux break-dancing. Since I don't have the video I took on account of the whole stolen camera thing, I'll just link to the song. It doesn't quite sound the same as when 60+ burly men sing it on the side of a mountain.

Kilimanjaro redux: part 1

I have arrived home in Seattle, and as I'm still sick and jet-lagged I have a fair bit of time to go into detail of what really happened on Kilimanjaro while laying around recuperating. As I'm doing this from memory and no notes and no pictures to refer to, I may not line everything up exactly correctly, so please forgive any seeming inconsistencies.

From day 1 I was sick. Before you start climbing you go to one of the gates and register. At these gates they weigh the packs to make sure the porters aren't overloaded, and they also have various rules and words of advice posted. There was one that said literally "If you have a sore throat, do not proceed past 3000 meters." I read this sign while sucking on a throat drop, in the early stages of what turned out to be a hellishly nasty cold, or probably the flu which I presumably brought with me from Egypt. I turned to the doctor and she said, more or less, that I should ignore the sign and hope for a recovery. After all, having made it to the point, I wasn't exactly going to turn around due to a tickle in my throat.

Day 1:

Day 1 was supposed to be an easy 3-4 hour hike to camp. A gentle introduction to hiking Kilimanjaro. It didn't quite turn out that way. The first rains of the season came and washed out the dirt roads to the starting point. As we couldn't drive up, we ended up adding 1-2 hours of hiking time just to get to the starting point, and past that point everything was a muddy morass, slowing us down for the rest of the way. We ended up pulling into camp after night had already fallen. Fortunately about a third of us, including myself, were paranoid enough to have our headlights with us in our daypacks, and we were able to provide enough light for the entire group to keep going. All told I think it was more like 6 or so hours of exhausting slog through the mud.

Day 2:

Day 2 was meant to be the first hard day. Having barely slept the night before and already being under the weather, I found the statement to be well-deserved. The last hour or two I was fighting back nausea and once I got to my tent I almost immediately dove back out again to puke out lunch. Spoke to the doc - not altitude sickness, but rather a combination of exhaustion and illness. Camp at the end of day 2 was the first time since arriving in Tanzania that we actually saw the summit, and the reaction was a near universal "You've got to be shitting me!" as it looked so immense and so distant that the concept of being on top of it within a few days seemed laughable.

Day 3:

Day 3 was supposed to be an easy day. Again, this day took much longer than expected, and I felt so terrible by the end of it that the concept of it being the easy day had me beyond dispirited. Mid-way through we had an optional acclimitization hike to a higher altitude, which I attempted and immediately gave up on, opting instead to hang out with the people suffering from altitude sickness and other forms of distress. During the last stretch of the hike back to camp, I took the opportunity of someone else's need to stop for medical reasons to once again puke out my lunch. I had taken an anti-nausea pill donated to me, but that went out with everything else. Once again spoke to the doctor, once again concluded it was exhaustion/illness and not altitude sickness. Despite the fact that to all appearances all my ills had nothing to do with the altitude, I decided to start on the altitude pills (the brits called it Diamox, but it was the same drug my travel doc had prescribed me) more or less against the doctor's advice that it wouldn't help with any of my actual issues.

Day 4:

Day 4 was meant to be another hard day. We hiked up to 4600 meters before going back down to more like 3800 to camp. And perhaps it was the Diamox, or perhaps it was the fact that I'd got a good night's sleep for the first time since we began, or perhaps it was something else entirely, but I felt great aside from the crazy face-tingling caused by the Diamox. We sent someone from the group who had MS and dislocated knees, who 2 months prior hadn't been able to walk but ambitiously took Kili on anyway, back. The doctor asked me if I'd like to go back with her as I'd been feeling such shit, but as I for once was feeling ok I opted to press on. At this point in the hike, the physical and mental strain was increasingly apparent in an increasing number of people and there were literally people in tears at points. Interestingly I could see that my conditioning seemed to have been as sufficient as I could hope for - my legs were totally fine and not particularly tired or achy by the end of our hikes. I was constantly out of breath, but that was partly altitude and partly the inability to do any high-impact training for a month or so prior to setting off due to my knee issues.

The rest of the days to follow, as well as more about things not immediately involving my physical well-being during that time

Safari

The safari started on a terrible note. While we were sitting in traffic in Arusha someone ran up to the car, reached through the open window to where I had my camera in my lap reviewing pictures I'd taken, grabbed it and ran off. So there went my camera and the almost 3,000 pictures I'd taken over the course of the last month. I won't lie - if someone had offered me a plane ride back to Seattle at that instant, I would have taken it without hesitation.
But life goes on. The camera is gone. The pictures are gone. I'm fine, and everyone else in the car was fine. The tour operator got the police report filed so I should be set to make an insurance claim when I get back. That won't give me the pictures back, but nothing can. Life goes on.

The safari itself was pretty amazing. We stayed in "luxury tents" and I was fairly concerned after driving mile after mile on dirt roads that were so bad we literally off-roaded for better driving conditions, that I'd be pulling out my smelly kili sleeping bag and sleeping on the ground in a hovel. Couldn't be farther from the truth. It was like a tropical paradise, with the bar looking out over herds of zebra and palm trees. Amazing.

http://www.tanganyikawildernesscamps.com/camps/maramboitentedcamp/accommodation/



The safari covered Lake Manyare, Tarangire, and Ngorongoro crater (though there was some sketchiness regarding whether they were going to take us to Ngorongoro or not that worked out fine in the end). They each had their ups and downs. Tarangire was amazing for the masses of animals we saw. Herd after herd of elephants, and hundreds of zebras and wildebeests amassing at the river for water. We actually got out to eat lunch, and there was something surreal about eating lunch on a tree root looking at a herd of elephants 200 feet away going about their business. Ngorongoro is an enormous crater (I couldn't believe the scale when I saw it) with tons of animals in a confined area that just can't get out. I was expecting to see maybe a lion or two if we were lucky, but not only did we see multiple groups of lions, we were actually lucky enough to see a lion take down a wildebeest, which was pretty wild.
There was something freeing as well about being on Safari without a camera. You just have to sit there and take it in and not worry about the pictures you could be taking since you can't take any.

All told, I'm ready to be done. Not sure I'd do another safari but it was certainly an interesting thing to do while I'm here.

Today has been lazing by the pool. The hotel they took us to back in Arusha is in a shady part of town. Basically they said don't leave the compound. After the camera incident and being told that if we'd given chase we might have been killed, I'm pretty ready to take that advice. I changed my tickets to not have an additional day tomorrow, so when the ride to the airport gets here in a few hours I'll finally be on my way home!

There and back again

I am alive and (more or less) well. Made it through the long slog to summit night, and made it part way up the summit, but due to illness I did not, alas, actually make it to Uhuru peak. I'll elaborate more on this in a few days when I'm home and have stable internet access, but for now suffice it to say that for better or worse, I'm done with Kilimanjaro.
Safari for a few days now, and then home at last!

At the foot

At a lodge at the foot of Kilimanjaro. The mountain's been clouded over, so shockingly I''ve not seen it yet. Tomorrow we start the climb. It's real now.

Cruising along

In Aswan on the last night of a Nile Cruise. The things you see on these cruises put the antiquities in Cairo to shame, but mostly it's just a very different experience. No time to post or ability to post pictures at the moment, alas. Tomorrow I leave Cairo and Saturday morning I meet up with my fellow hikers in Nairobi assuming all goes well!

wedding recap

The invitation said 8pm. People here told us to expect something more along the lines of 9 or 9:30, more or less. In truth the wedding started closer to 11pm, with food coming out at 2am and the party shutting down at 5am, and was worth every moment of the wait. Bagpipers and belly dancers and amazing food and a poolside view of the Nile at night. It was very probably a once in a lifetime experience and I feel very lucky to have had a chance to be a part of it. As the only other wedding I've ever been to was on a goat farm, I feel like I'm getting a pretty unusual data set to extrapolate from.

Today we saw the oldest synagogue in Cairo. Apparently that’s next to the spot Moses got pulled out of the reeds 5,000+ years ago. You can’t go 10 feet in that part of town without passing over some spot where the major players of the Bible were hanging out. Dear lord.

Wedding Day

Today is Noha and Javier's wedding - the reason we're all in Egypt. Most of what I've learned to expect is that there wil be dancing until there's food, and then there will be more dancing. Not to start before 9:30pm and unlikely to end until 2am. There is some worry about sandstorms destroying the wedding. Fingers crossed on that front.

Yesterday we went to the Citadel (historic fortress/mosque) and the Coptic Quarter (Christian part of town). As our guide kept reminding us, Egypt is about 87% Muslim and the rest are Christian, so going to see the religious sites is kind of a must do. At the Citadel they didn't seem to care if women covered their heads or not (we did as we're not jackasses), which surprised me, but they almost made me put on an extra robe over my clothes even though I was covered from head to toe, because my pants were slightly sagging when I walked by the guard and my belly was showing momentarily. I found that fascinating. In the Coptic quarter we were in churches that were 1600+ years old, one supposedly built over the place Jesus and fam hid when they fled to Egypt 2,000+ years ago. I knew Egypt had old stuff, but it had not really occurred to me that included things since the pyramids. Talk about history. That just makes all those centuries old churches I've seen in Europe seem kinda...well...new.

And of course, speaking of traditions as old as time, yesterday was when we got the heavy handed introduction to what we termed the "shakedown" where we got taken by our tour guide to the places to buy all the tourist swag. Since we did actually buy stuff I'm not sure whether that made the shakedown more or less ok. The day before we'd gotten our first shakedown - a "tour" of a "school' where ten year olds were hand making oriental rugs. Interesting to see and also a bit sickening. A big rug was quoted at $5,500 before haggling. Given that they explained it would have taken ish 2,000 hours of effort and you know the kids aren't seeing the profit, it's kind of astonishing that was a touristy thing to swing by. Today we got a mini-shakedown just walking down the street from the hotel. Everyone is trying to sell you something all the time. It's impressive. Still, most of the "negative" things I've seen in Cairo pale in comparison to the equivalent I saw in Mumbai. I realize though that I'm far more sheltered here than I was there.

Most surreal moment of the trip so far has been driving an hour+ out into the desert to a gated community to see how the ultra-rich of Cairo live. Lush garden + pool + several story mansion where we awkwardly ate sweets and listed to some hired musicians, far, far, far away from the noise and crowds of the city. It was nice, just a bit surreal. Getting away from the noise and crowds is no small achievement. I can see why those who have money to burn do it. Javier tells us that Cairo is the loudest city in the world, and I can't say I have any reason to doubt him. Even conversations seem louder here. I can't tell if it's just a culture that likes to argue with each other or if everyone is angry all the time or if what sounds like shouting to my english-inflected ears is actually the norm.

I finally acquired an Egyptian phone number, though surely it would have been more useful to me earlier in the week. Better late than never, right? My number is 0194884393. No idea if that is all you need to dial or not. But I have a ton of minutes so feel free to reach out if you need to. As long as you remember it's a 10 hour time difference from Seattle. If you want a post card from some part of this Africa trip, let me know!

Also, while it turned out I had 45 free internet minutes A DAY (I thought total) and I wish I had known that earlier, after today I'm not really sure what my internet situation is going to be like. I do have a phone from which I think I can at least kind of get online so at minimum I should be able to check in every once in a while.

Touristing it up.

We’ve spent the last couple days sight-seeing. Today was the big day – the pyramids of Giza and Sakkara, and the Sphinx. Poor Judy seemed to melt in the desert, as expected. I confirmed that I have inexplicably inherited high heat tolerance from my Polish roots and Seattle life. I was a little hot. Alas, I’ll have no tan when I get back – between the outfit and the SPF100 sunscreen (I’m allergic to everything else) I’ll be as pasty as ever.
Oh yes, also rode a camel. That was mildly terrifying, but it was certainly an experience.

I'm in love with Egyptian food. Noha tells me we have no Egyptian restaurants in Seattle. That's quite a shame as everything I've had has been wonderful. Of course, Noha has been handpicking the restaurants and the menus, often with an eye to my garlic desires.

No phone yet. Also, may not get photos online any time soon, but rest assured many are being taken.

Cairo Time

After a long day's travel I've arrived in Cairo safe and sound and tired as you'd imagine. So far all we've done is check into the hotel and meet some of Noha's friends for dinner. We're at the Cairo Sheraton so we're not hurting for comfort. The city is hazy like I wouldn't believe - it's smoggy but I think a lot of it is sand that literally strips away the exteriors of buildings that aren't made of super hard stone. Other than that, I seem to not be as overwhelmed by chaos as the locals expect from Americans. The driving is no crazier than Buenos Aires. Tomorrow when we're less travel-weary and jet-lagged, we'll go sight-seeing. Pyramids and all that good stuff that one does when in Egypt.

On the eve of departure

When faced with clear empirical evidence, I'm forced to admit it, I'm apparently a terrible blogger. Suffice it so say that I've done a lot of fundraising, done a lot of training, and the moment has finally arrived. In about 6 hours I'll be getting on a plane heading to Cairo, where I'll be spending a week seeing the sights and then attending a wedding. The next week I'll be doing a Nile Cruise, and after that comes the big adventure - Kilimanjaro. If I have internet access at any point, I'll attempt to be better at blogging. After all, it's the African adventures that are the most intriguing part of this whole process.

By the by, for those who are interested, I raised over 2800 GBP. With the switch in trek my new goal was actually only 1975, so I blew that goal out of the water! Thanks everyone for your support!

Progress!

I bought my tickets. Things are starting to get more real, more immediate. I'm also starting to get nervous. Hopefully this is all a good sign.

I owe a long gym post coming up with the May recap and June works - I've been working out (though sickness has stolen a few workout days). I simply am once again behind on recording it.

Things apparently got complicated

It turns out that being forced to switch treks was more significant than just a change of dates and people I'm climbing with. The financial structure appears to have changed as well, and I finally had a conversation with the folks in the UK to confirm how this works.

Before I had a goal of 2500 GBP, but if I raised 4000 GBP I would pay no actual trip costs except plane ticket myself, and the amount I payed was on a sliding scale based on how much between 2500 and 4000 I raised. Thus, there was incentive for every dollar raised up to 4000 GBP

Apparently the sliding scale no longer applies. This is kind of a big deal, because the new structure is raise 2420 minimum and pay an additional 695 trek costs, or raise 3975 and pay no trek costs. No sliding scale. As you may have noticed, 3975 - 2420 is a lot more than 695 so this is actually a pretty expensive switch. I've already made my 2420 goal. I can close out my fundraisers, accept the fact that I'm paying an additional 695, and all the excess just is extra cash for VSO (which is of course not a bad thing) or I can try to push hard to get from the roughly 2600 I have now to 3975 in order to not pay any trek costs. But until I hit 3975 - 695 = 3280 that's the much more expensive option. In other words, if I fail to meet that goal I'd actually costing myself money to take that option. In theory I'm not actually supposed to be able to switch from one to the other but they'll let it slide since my circumstances are a bit odd. Now I just have to figure out how I feel about the rest of my fundraising efforts.... It's all going to a good cause but it's a bit hard to want to take on the sheer effort involved when it might mean that most of what is happening is that it, if I'm lucky, I'll have spent a lot of time fundraising in order to spend about the same amount of money out of pocket.

The money is still going to VSO and being used for good work, make no mistake. This is just a calculation of whether it really makes sense for me, under the new structure, to continue putting a lot of time I could otherwise use hiking and getting ready for Kili in setting up new fundraising events now that I have met my minimum mark and raised thousands of dollars for charity.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

It's no monster truck rally, it's the Princess Bride! On the Big Screen! With Rodents of Amazingly Unusual Size! All this can be yours at the Grand Illusion (1403 Northeast 50th Street) on Sunday May 23rd from 1-3:30m for the cheap, cheap price of $7, or the even cheaper price of $5 if you're in Prince Bride related costume. That even comes with popcorn, so how good a deal is that?!

Yard Sale Success

Today was the Wallingford Yard Sale (a route of houses, heavily advertised, with yard sales raising money for John Stanford School) so naturally I took advantage of the day when everyone would be yard saling to have my own. I've been steadily trying to sell all your generous donations via used goods stores, craigslist, etc, but today was all about the standard yard sale. And what a beautiful day to sit around drinking tea, reading a book, and selling stuff to passers by.

It went great! One early buyer got my hopes up with lots of purchases, making me quite apprehensive when things slowed down heavily until lunch time, but around lunch we made most of our sales in a couple hours. That included one woman from Argentina who basically bought me out of all the donated tiny sizes of women's clothing from my mom and Noha.

All told just today I raised over $187 by reselling stuff that other people were trying to get rid of anyway! I also still have a bunch of stuff left, and plan to get more donations from people as they're moving/cleaning out their spaces so I hope to do at least one more. In other words, it is not too late donate to the garage sale efforts. I've raised over $380 from reselling donated items. Continued huge thanks to everyone who has been funneling things to me, and please keep them coming!

Better about going to the gym than blogging about going to the gym

Fortunately if one had to choose either going to the gym or blogging about it to do, going to the gym is pretty unambiguously the higher priority. Still haven't hit my overall goals for gym attendance but April was an upswing and hopefully a good trajectory.

Also! I went for a run with Aurana around Greenlake. Ok, so we didn't jog all 3 miles straight but we did commit to meeting up 1-2 times a week to do it, and agreed that running with a buddy makes it way easier. I'm also excited to note that we agreed to tackle the bleachers at Greenlake - I think I need to start reminding my body what it means to go Up Up Up Up Up.

So here's the stats to close out April and start out May:

April Gym Visits: 8
Long walks: 4

Visit 1:
Miles jogged: 1
20 @ 45 lb chest press
30 @75 lb leg extension
30 @ 105 leg curls

Visit 2:
Miles on elliptical thingo: 1
Miles jogged: .85
30 @ 45 lb chest press
30 @ 90 lb leg extension
30 @105 lb leg press

Visit 3:
Miles on elliptical thingo: .9
20 @ 60 lb chest press
35 @ 90 lb leg extension
20 @ 120 lbs leg extension
70 crunches

And starting off May:
May Gym Visits: 1
Runs: 1

Miles jogged: 1.68
20 @ 45 lb chest press
30 @ 90 lb leg extension
25 @ 30 lb and 10 @ 45 lb shoulder press
30 @ 105 lb leg press
80 crunches


Cumulative Stats through April (I really need to figure out how to get a counter widgit)
Gym visits: 19
Hikes: 1
Long Walks: 4

As you wish!

Change in plan! The people have spoken and, as you wish, it will be the Princess Bride at the Grand Illusion (1403 Northeast 50th Street) on Sunday May 23rd from 1-3:30m

Yes, it's this classic as you've never seen it (well, at least as I've never seen it) - on a big screen surrounded by dozens of other fans. This movie has it all! Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...

This is a fundraiser! Tickets are $5 if you come as someone from the movie, or $7 if you don't. That being said I'd encourage that not everyone come as the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Why? As many of you may know by now, I've signed up for the crazy challenge of climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro in September and raising money for a British charity called Volunteer Services Overseas (http://www.vso.org.uk) on the way. The money I'm raising is going to fund projects such as HIV education efforts and giving people the knowledge and tools to build secure livelihoods.


Free popcorn comes with your ticket! You're welcome to bring any other snacks you want.

You're also welcome to bring drinks. There will be some wine and possibly other beverages on hand that may or may not contain iocane powder. Beverage donations are happily accepted, the better to allow people to build up their tolerance.

As this is a fundraiser I'm trying to fill every seat, because every ticket sold means more money going to the charity. So PLEASE RSVP. Tell your friends! Tell their friends! Just let me know how many people are coming. I'd love to fill all 70 seats in the theater.

TL;DR? The Princess Bride at the Grand Illusion, in support of a great cause. Tickets are $5 or $7 depending on your attire and come with popcorn. If you can donate beverages, let me know. RSVP and tell your friends!


If you can't attend but are interested in donating, you can do so online at http://original.justgiving.com/jessicablat

Finally hit 3/week

Tuesday, Friday, Sunday. Finally I went to the gym 3 times in one week. Since that's my general goal that shouldn't be remarkable - it's remarkable I hadn't hit it yet. Ah well. With everyone moving (my mother, girlfriend, and good friend) at once, things have been busy. Still now that I've finally hit my 3/week and seen it can be done, I hope to continue the trend.
I screwed up my foot mildly - it's already getting better but because of it I decided to use my running time this week doing ellipticals instead due to the reduced impact. While I found the exercise to be as good or better a workout as running, I also found it much easier to maintain the effort for longer. I may start doing this more often with running being a more occasional part of my routine.

April gym visits: 5
Long walks: 2

Some gym stats:
Visit 1: ran some, didn't note the distance
30x45 lbs chest press
15x75 lbs and 15x90 lb leg extension
30x90 kb leg extension
70 crunches

Visit 2:
1.35 miles on elliptical (26 minutes)
30x45lb chest press
30x90lb leg extension
60 crunches

Visit 3:
1.35 miles on elliptical (26 minutes)
30x30lb shoulder press
30x90lb leg extension
75 crunches

Also! Donations have continued to pour in for the Summer of Garage Sales. I have a ton of stuff to try to sell, but can and will always take more. Today was a milestone as today proceeds from sale of donated items passed $150!
And in more fundraising news the May Movie will be Army of Darkness at the Grand Illusion. Exact date is still TBD for now.

Quiz for a Cause

Had a fun night at the Blarney Stone courtesy of Jon and Geeks Who Drink. Not the biggest fundraiser ever but a relatively low-effort one at which people had fun. Raised $174 for VSO.


April Stats:
Gym visits: 2
Long walks: 2
Miles Run: .83 (was running on a tight schedule)
...some machines

Pub Quiz! For a Cause!

Pub Quiz for a Cause (proceeds supporting Voluntary Services Overseas) is less than a week away!

That's right, it's on Monday, April 12th at 8pm at the Blarney Stone at 1909 3rd Ave. Entry is $5 per person - part of that will go toward a cash purse for the winning team and the rest of will go to charity.

That means now is a great time to figure out who you know that could best fill out your pub quiz team due to their deep knowledge in the domains of trivia you yourself lack, and recruit them. If you've never done a pub quiz before, read here to learn more about what to expect: http://www.geekswhodrink.com/blog/index.php?p=26&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Teams are normally three or four people. Up to six is ok and less than three is also perfectly fine. If you don't have a pal or two who are interested in coming, let me know and I'll help lone trivia-goers team up.

In addition to offering a cash purse, we have some great prizes available for the top teams and the second-to-last team all on the theme of eating, drinking, and being merry with extra cash in your pocket. And of course, we'll be simultaneously raising money to support a great charity that does important work in some of the world's poorest nations.

Hope to see you Monday! Let me know if you have any questions at all. Bring your friends to share the fun! Bring your enemies so you can taunt them about your superior skills! Bring your coworkers as a way to blow off steam after a long day in the office! Bring someone you'd like to know better! Basically, invite anyone you've ever met!

Two miles

I kicked off April with a gym visit on Easter Sunday. And I passed my next big milestone.

I ran TWO miles straight! I can confidently say I've never done that before. Ever. And moreover, I stopped partly because I was getting bored and mostly because I really had to get going to make it to a potluck. I can see the mental block is the next big thing for me to work on, but it feels pretty awesome to be able to do a thing I've never been able to do, and have it not actually seem that hard at all.

Though where the boredom is concerned, my newfound habit of listening to This American Life while working out is really working out well as it's giving me something interesting and external to focus on.

Also did a walk around Greenlake Monday evening with an old friend from high school, who is doing Team In Training and wanted to catch up in a format that was a little healthier and more in keeping with our training schedules than going out for a pint or two.

That being said, I should have gone to the gym tonight and didn't. <_<

April gym visits: 1
Long walks: 1

This visit-
Miles run: 2
Chest Press: 10 @ 45 lbs, 20@30 lbs
Leg Curl: 15 @ 105 lbs, 15@90 lbs
Leg Extension: 20@ 60 lbs

March - could be better

In February I went to the gym 5 times. It's less than I wanted, but it was a short month and I didn't even belong to a gym until a quarter of the way through. That was my excuse.

In March, though, a full length month during all of which I belonged to a gym, I only managed to go 6 times. I also went on 1 hike, but still, kind of lame even if I'm jogging far more than I ever had before. I definitely need to kick it up a notch. I'm really liking the "bring my gym stuff to work and stop by on the way home" thing, though, so I'll try to keep that up.

March gym visits: 6, hikes: 1
Miles jogged: 1.7
75 crunches
10x3 @ 30 lbs chest presses
10x3 @ 90 lbs leg curls
15@60 lbs and 15@45 lbs leg extensions
30 @ 90 lbs leg presses

Goodbye Rongai, Hello Lemosho

"Hi everyone,

I just wanted to provide you a brief update on a few things that have been happening behind the scenes over the past week or two, and also let you know of some actions that you will be required to take over the course of the next few days.

As you will be aware from previous comms, to make the trek worthwhile and affordable there is a minimum level of participation required, which we haven’t managed to yet meet. At the moment there are a number of places still open, meaning that costs would be prohibitive if we went ahead.

The result is that we have been asked to consider moving those already signed up to this trek onto another open trek a couple of weeks earlier. This would bring both treks up to the numbers required to allow everyone signed up to take part.

What Changes?

Aside from the dates of the trek nothing else changes. You will still travel the same amazing group of people on the same fantastic route. You will still get to visit one of VSO’s projects. You will still get very, very tired and grumpy as you get closer to the summit.

Some Details

The trek we propose to merge with runs from the 26^th August to the 5^th September. There is no change in costs."

So begins an email I got just over a week ago. That's the email that tells me that the trek I was going to go on isn't going to happen. That if I want to go on a similar trek, I would have to miss my sister's wedding (the one she moved the date of so I could attend the original one). That email was the beginning to what turned out to be a hellish week for related and unrelated reasons, and, as you might imagine, a lot of stress. I wanted to take on Kilimanjaro as an all-consuming personal challenge - the fundraising, the mental and physical preparation. I wanted to take it on as the major focus of this year - of something I could be proud of having the guts to take on. And here was me being told actually, it might not happen. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. I did not want to post here until I knew what was going to happen. A weeks worth of frantic emails back and forth later, I finally stand on somewhat solid ground again.

The good news is I AM STILL TREKKING UP KILIMANJARO.

The good news is also ALL THE MONEY I RAISED IS STILL GOING TO VSO.

The may be good may be bad news is that I am now taking a different route up. The open dates I could find are for a trek following the Lemosho route, not the Rongai route. Since I haven't been up either I can't really say if this is good or bad. Lemosho is supposed to be very beautiful, and it takes a day longer so allows greater time for acclimitization. I think it's overall longer, more arduous, and possibly more crowded. But as I won't know the difference I'll call it a draw.

The bad news is that I will no longer be doing a VSO site visit. While the money is still going to VSO, I cannot make the VSO specific trek dates. So while previously I would have been hiking with my colleagues from around the world, all in support of the same cause and having the chance to see where the money is going, now I will be hiking with whoever else from where-ever else happened to sign up for this date. And since this trek is not for any particular charity, there's no site visit associated with it.

The bad news is also that it's also more expensive. It's longer and thus has greater costs, and the deposit is a whopping 340 gbp more, more or less. That's over $500 USD more to go on the trek I didn't really choose. That's not from money I'm raising, that is all out of pocket. I think I'll get some of it back since I'm not actually using the flight from the UK that's part of that cost.

I also believe the fundraising targets are very slightly different. When I have confirmation of all the numbers, I'll update my targets and re-assess where I am in fundraising.

But again, the important thing is that this is just one more challenge on the way. One that can be overcome. I'm still doing the trek, damnit.

V

Went to the gym as I won't be able to work out for a couple days after I get my wisdom tooth out. It was a pretty crappy day and I'm not sure why - I couldn't even run a mile. Usually I have the physical capacity, not the will. Tonight I had the will but my side seized up and it was starting to hurt. And when I called it quits my scooter wouldn't start and that is an entire other epic adventure. So while I'm glad I went, it was a pretty rough night.


March gym visits: 5
March hikes: 1
Miles run: .8
Crunches: 60
3x10@30lbs chest press
10@75lbs + 20@90lbs leg curl
15@45lbs + 15@60lbs leg extension

Wardrobe Fail

I've been failing at hitting the gym. Spending all my energy thinking about the fundraising and being lazy on the physical stuff. So between that and the fact that I'm going to be benched for a few days after I get my wisdom tooth out on Thursday (dentist's orders), it seemed pretty important I go today.

I'm trying to start being prepared to just go straight after work. It seems like a better model for success. So today I packed up some clothes and bused straight to the gym after work. That's when the realization of wardrobe fail started:

1) No sports bra. Whoops.
2) One of my gym socks had a hole in it that was basically my entire heel.
Either one of these can make a workout pretty uncomfortable but I went for it anyway and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't matter too much.
3) I started jogging an realized that despite my efforts to tighten the drawstring, my shorts really just wanted to fall off. It was a lot of hitching things up, tucking things in, and other desperate attempts at modesty over the course of my jog.
4) As I was considering the multiple points of wardrobe fail while jogging on the treadmill, my shoelace came untied. Since stopping and starting sucks way more than it really should, I just kept going.

Nothing terrible. More amusing than anything. I'll do better at bringing the right stuff next time.

March gym visits: 4 March hikes: 1
Miles run: 1.25
Crunches: 60

The Grand Lebowski was this afternoon. By my reckoning we had 39 people, mostly in bathrobes and raised $499.22 (don't ask me how we got 22 cents). So I made 8% of my target just over the course of this afternoon. Plus the reactions I heard from people were generally positive, so unless people were just being polite I hope that means everyone had a good time. The lesson here is that alcohol tie ins are key.
I was very unsure going in how many people would show up. The end result was that almost everyone who promised to show up did and everyone who said they might show up didn't. This is a valuable lesson for planning for next time.

Speaking of next time, based on the success of today I would indeed like to do a next time. I had a quick poll before the movie started and these seem to be the most popular movies:

-Army of Darkness
-Hedwig and the Angry Inch (singalong)
-Star Wars

Anyone care to sway the vote one way or the other?

As the exchange rate keeps fluctuating I will hold all my offline proceeds in dollars until it's actually time to send it out to VSO so I have a better idea of what the actual relevant exchange rate is. The "Offline Fundraising" on my VSO page is thus just an estimate:
Current total funds raised offline in USD is
499.22: big lebowski
100: u2 tickets
174: pub quiz

Rattlesnake Ledge

Last Saturday I hiked Rattlesnake Ledge with 13 or so friends as step one of my field training up to Kilimanjaro. This location was suggested by William, who sent me an amazing email a few weeks ago outlining a training regimen, tips, offers of support, etc. He also gathered the crew to make the hike happen. It's great to know such helpful and supportive people. :)

I had never been to this location before, and I admit that I'm glad I requested we start on the lowest level of difficulty he found suitable. And, judging by the swarms of children and dogs happily galumphing up the mountain with ease, it was indeed an easy hike. Still, by the time we had gone up the 1000+ ft over the course of 1.5 miles, I was getting pretty tired of the up, up, up. I was definitely one of the least able people there, given that one of the members of the group carried one of the other the last quarter mile or so. Just means that it was a good start. Plus the view from the top was beautiful. All around a good day. William suggests Tiger Mountain or Cougar Mountain next.


But probably I need to hit the gym quite a lot so these hikes get easier. Found a lot of difficulty getting myself to go to the gym recently. Must reverse that trend
March gym visits: 3 March hikes: 1
Miles run: 1.3
Crunches: 50
Miles biked: some - may stop keeping this statistic as I mainly just bike to warm up the muscles before stretching.

30%

Just wanted to note that I've been fundraising for almost exactly 1 month (and February, the short one at that!) and I'm already 30% of the way to my goal! Thanks so much to all of you!

Marching on

Forgive the lame pun.

Already gotten the first round of donations for my Biggest Garage Sale Ever, and already made my first circuit of the used clothing stores on the Ave with my first bag of clothes. Total funds raised: $5.25. It's a start, and it's $5.25 more than I would have had otherwise so while my wildest hopes have certainly not been surpassed, I'm pretty ok with this drop in the bucket. I also now have a better idea of who is buying what, and how to sequence things, so it was a good learning experience.

Lest I forget, gym metrics:

March gym visits: 2
Miles run: .75/1 continuously and 1.2/1.25 total

Both were a bit rushed, but the first was more along the lines of higher intensity but shorter duration activities.

Have plans with William for my first hike of the season! To ease into things we're hitting Rattlesnake Ridge next saturday, and I am looking foward to it.

Spring Cleaning for charity

Get rid of your unwanted stuff and help me raise money for charity! Here's the idea - spring is coming, or, if the cherry blossoms are to be believed, already here. It's time to clean out the house and, for a surprising number of you, a time to move.

What does that mean? That means you've got a ton of stuff that you want to get rid of. Some of that stuff is probably even worth money to someone else, but it might not be worth your time to find that person.

Hence my Biggest Garage Sale Ever fundraiser!

Namely, I'm accepting donations of used items in resellable condition (and conceivably resellable merit), and I'll do the legwork to try to find a buyer. With the power of the internet, used book stores, used clothing stores, and the good old garage sale, I'll try to turn all the stuff you're desperate to get rid of into charity money for VSO. And if I can't find anyone to buy it, I'll just turn around and donate it to charity.

You get an emptier closet. I raise funds for charity. Someone else gets the item they've always been looking for at probably a good deal. Charity organizations still get reasonable donations.
Everyone's a winner!

I'm accepting donations now and will continue to do so for the next several months so if you think you'd be interested in donating stuff let me know. Bear in mind though that I have to weigh transit costs versus the value of the item - if I have a chance of getting $5 for your desk and I definitely have to spend $30 on a UHAUL to get it, then while I really appreciate your generosity I will probably have to decline.

20 minutes

20 minutes can be a very long time or a very short time. Examples of things that take about twenty minutes, give or take:

• An episode of the Office
• my upcoming wisdom tooth extraction
• a default manually set workout on the treadmill at the gym

It's that last that is relevant tonight, because yesterday I did something which I don't think I've ever done, which is to jog the entire 20 minutes without slowing down or stopping once. I powered through, and though I was a bit wobbly and tired afterward, it didn't feel like much of a struggle at all. I think I might be at a minimum level of fitness!


Metrics:
Miles biked: 1.1 uphill
Miles jogged: 1.56 straight!
Feb Gym Visits: 5

The Grand Lebowski Invite

What? The Big Lebowski at the Grand Illusion Cinema. The places is ours for the afternoon to enjoy this old favorite on the big screen. Also! Special bonus! We'll be screening "Third Days Child" - the popular short from the Scifi shorts film festival by local filmmaker SJ Chiro. If you missed out then, this is your chance to see it!

When? Sunday, March 21st. 1-4pm.

Where? The Grand Illusion Cinema is in the U District at 1403 Northeast 50th Street

Why? As you know if you've been reading this blog, I've signed up for the crazy challenge of climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro in September and raising money for a British charity called Volunteer Services Overseas (http://www.vso.org.uk/) on the way. The money I'm raising is going to fund projects such as HIV education efforts and giving people the knowledge and tools to build secure livelihoods.


Cost? Well, like I just said this is a fundraiser! Tickets are just $5 if you come wearing a bathrobe, or $7 if you don't. Donations beyond that are very welcome and very appreciated as the proceeds are going to charity.

Snacks? Free popcorn comes with your ticket! You're welcome to bring any other snacks you want.

Drink? You're also welcome to bring drinks. I would love to find a few people willing to donate vodka and/or coffee liqueur to the cause of having white russians on hand for the event. Please let me know - if we can procure the ingredients without eating into the proceeds, I'll make sure there are white russians there.

Anything else? As this is a fundraiser I'm trying to fill every seat, because every ticket sold means more money going to the charity. So PLEASE RSVP. Tell your friends! Tell their friends! Just let me know how many people are coming since their are only 70 seats in the cinema. If you learn you can't make it, please let me know so I can try to get someone else into your seat.

TL;DR? Big Lebowski at the Grand Illusion, in support of a great cause. Tickets are $5 or $7 depending on your attire and come with popcorn. If you can donate booze, let me know. RSVP and tell your friends!

Triumph of the will. More or less. Kind of. Ish.

While I've had my scheduling issues, today was the first day where I planned to go to the gym and when the time came I just sat there saying "I don't feel like it." That continued for quite some time but I did eventually find the gumption, made easier by knowing I'm only hurting myself and would only be more upset with myself if I bailed. So I went. And while I didn't have the time or energy for a full workout, at least I did something and didn't let myself down. Especially important now that I have my first donor signed on to the "Sponsor my gym visits!" donation system of $1 per gym visit to help keep me motivated to push myself as much as possible.

Metrics:
Miles biked: 1.2 uphill
Miles jogged: .8 continuously, 1.55 total
Feb gym visits: 4

Also I got the ok from the director to show one of the better-received shorts from the Scifi shorts film festival at my Grand Illusion fundraiser. Just need to work out the logistics. Exciting! For that I'm currently leaning toward the Big Lebowski purely because the Egyptian is doing it as their midnight movie on the 26th, so if I do it on the 21st I can still snag people but if I wait until the month after interest will surely be more limited. Now if only I could figure out how to serve white russians for extra fundraising without breaking state liquor laws.

I've never climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. That's kind of the point of this whole challenge. But I should recognize that pretty much no one reading this, with a very few possible exceptions, has climbed Kilimanjaro either. And so, when I say things like "the tallest free-standing mountain in the world" I'm not sure that sinks in. Especially coupled with descriptions like "non-technical" and "you don't need mountaineering experience" because, while both of those are true, I think they leave one with the impression of just a kind of long hike. And my own blog name is an allusion to that - it's just a long walk up a big hill, right? Well, figures vary wildly on the overall sucess rate but it seems pretty safe to say that about 40% of people who go up don't make the summit. Why? In addition to simply underestimating the mountain, altitude, altitude, altitude. To paraphrase Brian, it's a mile more than Mt Ranier, the most dominating thing in the Seattle skyline. Straight up. I noticed that everyone takes care to say you only spend enough time to take pictures at the top, and the below entry explains why. Between the temperature and incredibely thin air, It's actually dangerous to stay there for long. Congratulations! You made it! Now get the hell out of here.But, again, I've never done it. I can't speak to it. I can just read and talk to people. Below is a pretty descriptive account of the day on the trek when you summit. The longest day of the expedition. We'll be doing the Rongai route, which joins the Marangu route for summiting.

Source
Kilimanjaro Climb on the Marangu Route - Day 4(= Day 5 of the Rongai route)

I hope you arrived at Kibo Huts early enough to get plenty of rest. (Rongai route climbers will have, Marangu route climbers may not...).
Your day pack should be ready with everything you will need tonight: rain gear if you aren't wearing it anyway, enough water, hand warmers, balaclava... You should have fresh batteries in your head torch and camera and you should already be wearing the right clothes. Make sure everything you are wearing is bone dry!
This day will likely go down in your memory as the most physically challenging day in your whole life. Likely it will also be one of the earliest starts you ever made...
Your guides will wake you up some time between 11.00 and 11.30 pm. There will be some hot drinks and maybe some food, but mostly it's a matter of crawling out of your sleeping bag, putting on a few more layers of clothes, your boots and your head torch. Grab your day pack and off you go... Around midnight or not long after.
As you emerge from between the Kibo Huts you will see strings of little lights. They are the head torches of the climbers ahead of you, and as you continue through the night they will also appear behind you.
All those groups of little lights are moving in slow motion, following the path snaking back and forth, back and forth, up the steep scree slope that is the side of Kibo Peak. It's actually rather pretty. Whether you'll be able to appreciate it is a different question...
As steep as the slope is, due to the many switchbacks the path itself isn't all that bad. However, nothing's easy without oxygen and the air is incredibly thin, getting thinner all the time.
You may feel horrible and the fact that this is supposedly the easier path to the Kilimanjaro crater rim will offer little consolation...
Take all the time you need and for goodness sake don't let anyone pressure you into moving faster than you feel comfortable to. Steady, steady, one tiny little step after the other.
Other groups overtaking you? Let them go!
It doesn't matter if you reach Uhuru Peak or even the rim in time for sunrise. It only matters that you reach it and that you will be able to get back down safely! You can not move too slowly on Kilimanjaro.
The people who do not feel the effects of the altitude are few and far between. Hopefully the worst you have to deal with is a headache and the occasional wave of nausea. Throwing up is not as uncommon as you might hope and is no reason for concern. (It's just awful...)
There are several landmarks that you will likely use as resting points and that break up the slog:
Williams Point (you'll notice a big rock, or maybe you won't notice...) marks the 5000 m line (16400 ft). The Hans Meyer Cave lies at 5150 m (16900 ft), about two and a half hours from Kibo Huts.
It's impossible to have long breaks in these temperatures. The cold starts creeping into your hands and feet first, then into your whole body. The next section of switchbacks is the most exposed, and if it happens to be a windy night you'll feel it badly.
Another one and a half hours after leaving the cave you start noticing rocks on the path, breaking your steady rhythm and requiring bigger steps. Some are also a bit slippery and you have to watch your step. The area is called the Jamaican Rocks. (There are several stories as to why...)
This is the most difficult part of the climb, but take heart, Gilman's Point is not far now! It will take about another hour.
If you are among the slower climbers, don't worry. The break of dawn invariably provides a much needed boost of energy for those last metres, and before you know a sign will be welcoming you to Gilman's Point, at 5681 m/18640 ft. At least that's what the sign says. It is actually a bit higher than that. Anyway...
Climbing the Marangu route you reach the Kilimanjaro crater rim at Gilman's Point
Congratulations to you, for you have done well!!
The park authorities will reward you with a certificate, even if you decide not to continue along the crater rim past the glaciers to Uhuru Peak.
If you want to continue, it's another hour and a half or so along the crater rim to reach Uhuru Peak. And even though most consider the climb up to Gilman's the hardest part, the walk around the rim can prove challenging, too.
The more time you spend at this extreme altitude, the more you will feel it. Uhuru Peak is another 200 m higher, and believe me, 200 m make a difference at this height.
The first part of the rim walk is the easier part, but once you pass Stella Point the path leads uphill again. (Stella Point is at 5752 m/18171 ft and is the point where the other climb routes reach the rim.) The path may not look steep, but by now every step uphill can be a battle...
To get to Uhuru Peak and back allow another three hours that may turn out tougher than you expected.
(Mind you, for other people it's a breeze, but it's certainly better to be prepared for the worst and find it easier than expected, than the other way around.)
Congratulations again. What you just accomplished is truly impressive and no matter what you expected, the reality of it will be totally different. Some people get very emotional, some are on a big high, some are so dazed, they barely take any notice at all... There is no way to describe or imagine the experience of climbing to nearly 6000 m altitude.
It's time for hugs and photos. There won't be time for much else, because it will be too cold and also too dangerous to remain at this altitude for more than a few minutes.
You probably don't have the tiniest little bit of energy left now. Well, guess what? The day has only begun and it's another long day...
You now have to drag yourself back to Gilman's Point. From there it's nearly 1000 m down, down, down... Until you get back to Kibo Huts. The descent is cruel on the knees and you will appreciate the walking poles!
If you scree run then this isn't too bad. It's actually quite fun. And fast! But pity those who have to stagger back down the same way they came up, switchback for painful switchback...
Lunch should be waiting for you at Kibo Huts. You just want to collapse and sleep; you can not imagine getting up from that chair again. But after what you have done to your body today it is not safe to remain at this altitude. You have no choice but to pack up your gear and keep going, the sooner the better. Three more hours to Horombo Huts...
What will happen now is something of a miracle. Because as you descend further there will be air again. Oxygen! Lots of it!
Oxygen is life and that is exactly what will be injected back into you. You may not believe this now, but there is a good chance that after another three hour descent you may feel better and have more energy than you did at lunch time.
Dinner is often a much livelier affair, with everybody's eyes shining as they recount the experiences of the day. And I have no doubt that you will sleep well tonight!

Some things come first

Ok, so one drawback of signing up for a non-24 hour gym: they close at 7pm on weekends, which I decided was ok because I would make it enough of a priority to plan my day around.

But today filial piety took precedence, and what I thought was going to be a quick lunch with my mom turned into an epic condo-viewing day that lasted just long enough to stop me from heading to the gym. Ah well. Just need to try to make sure that's the exception rather than the rule I guess.

On the plus side I walked about 6.5 miles yesterday, so it hasn't been an entirely slothful weekend.


Also! I've got vague plans of throwing a garage sale when the weather gets nicer, and am accepting donations now of things to sell. If you find yourself facing a closet of stuff to donate, consider donating it to me first, and I'll make sure anything that doesn't get sold still gets donated to charity.

Goals at the gym

I jogged a mile straight!


That's right, I have already met my first goal. What I had always seen as a huge challenge actually proved to be totally attainable, faster than I thought once I was actually motivated enough to do it. Of course that means now that I have reached the arbitrary goal I had set for myself as a marker of being at least vaguely in shape enough to actually get in shape, I probably need to figure out a more rigorous and goal-oriented training plan.
On a side note, I found the scale at the gym, and while this is not my primary goal I do want to lose at least 15 pounds. That's not entirely un-Kilimanjaro related. The porters won't be carrying my extra flab up the hill, so it's definitely in my best interest on that one.

Metrics:
Miles jogged: 1 continuously, 1.6 total
Miles biked: 1.25 uphill
Inclined crunches: 50

Upcoming Events!

Many more details to come as we get closer but in exciting news I've confirmed venues and dates for two upcoming fundraisers, so set your calendars for what promise to be fun times for a good cause!

Sunday March 21st: 1-4pm for a movie at the Grand Illusion. I'm currently soliciting suggestions for movies that would sell out the 70 or so seats. I'm leaning toward something highly visual that goes better on a big screen.

Some brainstorming:

Die Hard (or Live Free or Die Hard)
Amelie
Moulin Rouge
Bladerunner
The Matrix
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Room
Star Wars
Clue
Wall-E
K2
Reign of Fire
Totoro


Monday April 12: Pub Quiz at the Blarney Stone! It's three of my favorite things all at once - beer, trivia, and raising money for charity. There will be prizes! Also soliciting donations of prizes or suggestions or what would be suitable, otherwise we'll be using some of the proceeds as a prize which will be easy but will reduce the amount that goes to VSO.

Conspicuous lack of gym post here

I started this week thinking the working out was going great but very apprehensive about the fundraising. However, as the week has progressed, people have repeatedly proven their generosity, and I'm farther along on that front than I ever hoped to be by now. I'm also finalizing details for an upcoming Pub Quiz and an upcoming movie night (Big Lebowski, in a theater, white russians and bathrobes welcome, anyone?). So that front is going swimmingly!

But it's already Wednesday evening and I haven't had a single workout this week- I wanted to establish Tuesday and Thursday + 1 weekend day as my default workout days, knowing the importance of routine in making things happen. Those are also the days that Judy is in class until late. But Tuesday had too many things going on so I told myself Wednesday would do. Now it's Wednesday evening and once more I'm telling myself "tomorrow." I know that things will come up, but I need to find a way of not letting that totally derail my workout routine or this will simply not work. It is both good and bad that time is on my side, in this sense.

I found out an old coworker has trekked up Kilimanjaro. I look forward to talking to him on Friday for a more personal account of how to prepare and what to expect.

The climb

I've spent most of my energy thus far focusing on raising money and getting into shape, but ultimately the reality I have to prepare myself for is the actual mountain - Kilimanjaro.

Got this link from Phil. While there are many accounts of the mountain, and I hope (but have no reason to think I will) have fewer issues with, eg, altitude sickness than the person highlighted, the NY Times provides an interesting interactive visual of the trek itself that I think some might shed some light on the task at hand. It is a sobering account and reminder of just how serious and challenging the task ahead is.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/26/magazine/20071028_KILIMANJARO_GRAPHIC.html

Enormous thank you

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far, but I also wanted to specifically thank the anonymous person who just donated £500. Your generosity is amazing and incredibly appreciated. I am touched.

Gym 2: Electric Bugaloo - also Bon Jovi!

Surprisingly good workout today. It was supposed to be workout #3 but other things came up on Thursday and I let it slide. Just goes to show even early in the training schedule, when enthusiasm is high, I can't be lax about making myself go.

But today went very well. I created a new Pandora station to make sure I have the right motivating tunes, and I got all the machines to do what I wanted them to. More importantly, I ran 3/4 of a mile, then walked .1, then ran another 3/4 of a mile. This was shocking to me. I think in the last ten years or so I have maybe been able to jog a mile straight just 2 or 3 times, and if I recall correctly I threw up afterwards. So while for some such a small distance isn't even worth mentioning, to me, getting anywhere near that is huge.

That means I have my first goal in my training schedule: run a mile, straight.

Metrics for today:
Distance run without stopping: 3/4 mile. Total, 1.6 miles
Miles biked: 1.5, but "uphill"

As I get into more weights into my regimen I might start to add metrics around weights/reps, but for now I don't have enough consistency in the program to make that meaningful.

Also! I'm giving away Bon Jovi tickets for next Saturday's show. Contact me if you're interested!

Kicking off the fundraising with a night at the symphony!

I cannot raise $6500 without your generous support. I know that this is a hard economy to be asking for money in, and I also know that non-profits are some of the first to feel the strain of that, so it is times like this when donations are more important than ever. If you think you could even begin to consider any size of donation, please read this post for some background on who I'm raising money for and why.

As an extra incentive and an extra thank you as I kick off my fundraising in earnest, I have two tickets to the Friday, February 19th 8pm Seattle Symphony concert (Seattle Pops: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim) for the top donor in the next week, if they want them, if I can raise at least $100 by EOD Thursday the 18th.

You can donate and see the status of my fundraising at my justgiving page: http://original.justgiving.com/jessicablat
Donations of any size are very welcome and very appreciated. Thank you.

The Cause

Or, why you should support my trek
Or, where the money goes

I have signed up for the daunting task of climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in early September, but the much more important and possibly much more ambitious part of the challenge is the pledge to raise £2,500 (about $4,000 USD) in support of VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas).

This trek is a tremendous challenge and amazing adventure, but more importantly it's in support of a charity that is making a difference in the lives of those people living in the shadow of the mountain, where over half the population lives below the poverty line. VSO is a volunteer-based development charity, where people can volunteer in overseas skill-based opportunities, bringing their knowledge or skills to local organizations working to improve the lives of the people they serve. For example, VSO Tanzania aims to reduce poverty by focused and dedicated projects to improve access to, quality and relevance of education and HIV and AIDS services and to strengthen the ability of disadvantaged people to make a viable living. Your donation is not going into food or clothes, rather you support projects that help make a lasting difference to the people in Tanzania.

The money you donate can help volunteers fight global poverty and disadvantage.
£50: provides HIV and AIDS training for a VSO volunteer to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS in local communities throughout Zambia.
£250: helps a VSO volunteer to train 20 local teachers in special teaching methods and in the management of Special Needs Units in Kenya in order to support children with disabilities.
£1000: helps to fund a community-initiated project in The Gambia that, with the support of a VSO volunteer, could help to set up small enterprises run by local communities.

I will be donating £2,500 regardless of whether it comes from donations or out of my own pocket, which should be some indication of my dedication and also of how much I appreciate any support you can give. In fact, while that is the minimum amount I will be either raising or donating, my actual goal is £4,000 (about $6,500 USD). The money I raise is all going to VSO, not toward the travel expenses of the trip to Africa and up the mountain.

I'm grateful for donations of any and all sizes so please know that any amount is welcome. If you are willing to donate, the easiest way to do so is at my justgiving page: http://original.justgiving.com/jessicablat

Let the gyming begin!

As a pasty computer nerd I was as surprised as anyone to find that what challenged me about my time at the gym tonight was not my ability perform physical activities without collapsing in a heap, but rather using the new-fangled high tech gym gear.

I should have known something was up when the Pandora station I was listening to decided that what I really needed was the mellow side of country/blue-grass for my work out, playing it consistently until any moment I might be doing a cool down or stretch at which point it instantly transitioned into the upbeat techno pop I more normally associate with a work-out mix.

I started with a "Spin" bike. I surely cannot explain to you what made this bike different from the other exercise bikes other than that it had a shiny screen and did not respond to any of my attempts to set a program, or make it tell me any useful metrics about what I was doing. I know this was my failure to understand the technology and not a lack of ability in the tool, since the woman next to me had an incredibly complex display up. Of course, none of this really mattered. Turns out when you pedal a bike, it goes, and you get exercise, regardless of whether or not it's hooked up to a fancy paper weight.

Turns out it's secretly a bike

Things went pretty well after that until I hopped on a treadmill. I jabbed at all the buttons until I realized I probably couldn't handle whatever the treadmill would throw at me if I let it decide, and went for a manual setting. Or so I thought. I was jogging away, actually quite pleased with my ability to make it more than 30 feet without feeling exhausted, when the treadmill told me I had two minutes left and put me on mandatory cool-down. I upped the speed in what was ultimately a vain attempt at self-determination as it just turned off and gave me a workout summary at the end of my "cool-down" anyway.

All of this left me somewhat bemused but generally pleased with my first deliberate work out in I don't even know how long. So far so good though we'll see how I feel in the morning. Right now I'm riding the high of everything seeming totally doable. Now I can just add the challenge of figuring out all this fancy equipment to the rest of the things I've signed up for.

And since I'm a consultant, and consultants love metrics, here are a few numbers to help track progress:
February workout count: 1
Miles jogged continuously: .5
Miles biked: 4

Getting into shape

I am not in Kilimanjaro shape. In fact it would be more precise to say, I am not in shape period, and even I know that needs to change if I'm to make any part of the ascent at all.

So today I signed up for a gym membership. It took a surprising amount of shopping around. The gym near my house wants $75 a month in dues, plus a $100 sign up fee, and while I generally believe in paying for convenience, I don't believe in being robbed for convenience.

University Fitness never answered their phone. Eventually I discovered that University Fitness went out of business, despite signing up people for memberships until the bitter end. Sketchy.

I ended up signing up at a place that combined a generally walkable location (the mile+ walk will be good for me!) and affordable prices.

If anyone reading this is interested in supporting my efforts to get in shape for the trek, I have a proposal. Sponsor my gym visits! It's 7 months until the trek. If you'd like to help keep me motivated into getting in shape while helping me raise the funds I need to, consider pledging $1 for every time I go to the gym for at least one hour between now and September. If I go just once a week that's only $28, but with the dual incentive of not dying on the mountain and meeting my fund-raising goals (if anyone takes me up on this pledge), I will strive for 2-3 times a week. I have two big challenges ahead of me, and it's the sort of pledge that is challenge-efficient. :)

Because easy isn't interesting

At 19,341 ft (that's 5,895 meters for those of you who live in...well, everywhere else in the world) Mount Kilimanjaro is what they call the "highest free-standing mountain in the world." I suspect that has more to do with the fact that it dramatically rises out of the plains than whether or not it has external supports.

I'm no mountaineer. And I'm not even a thrill-seeker. When I first heard of George Mallory's famous reply to the question of why he wanted to climb Mt Everest - 'Because it's there' I thought he must be crazy. I didn't really understand wanting to undertake something so enormous just because it might be possible.

And yet here I am. I received an email from the Accenture LGBT network saying the group was seeking volunteers interested in a charity trek up Kili - and not just to climb the mountain, but to raise thousands of dollars for charity at the same time and I found myself in a more Mallory-like mood than I'd ever anticipated. The lure of not just one life-changing challenge, but also a challenge that would change many more lives than my own was irresistible. So here I am. In seven months exactly I'll be flying to Kenya.

There is quite a lot to do between now and then.