Wednesday, July 15, 2009

My Everest

There is only one thing worst then a dream not fulfilled and that is a dream which has been forgotten. Dreams give us hope, dreams make us smile, dreams keep us vibrant and dreams drive us to obtain the impossible.

I am back down south working and will not be able to get back to my cycle for 3 weeks. Maybe the time away from riding is a good thing because I have had some time to ponder of dreams long past. After reflecting on my life, I have found that there is yet one goal I have not yet achieved. My Everest is to complete the Appalachian Trail. Ashamed as I am to admit, I tried to complete the AT when I graduated college. My unsuccessful attempt lead to a string of bad decisions which continued till I got my head together in AmeriCorps*NCCC. . The Appalachian Trail represents one last Goal I have not yet obtained. It's funny because a while ago before I graduated High School, I came up with a bunch of things that I just needed to do. It's crazy because at age 37 I have accomplished all but one task. One more achievement to make before I can start a new list of things to do. Well I am about 50 pounds overweight, have financial and family responsibilities to contend with but when there is a will one can find the way. I just need to find it. The first step may be to stop drinking Coke and eating Twinkies.

10 comments:

  1. You would be amazed how much of that 50 pounds will disappear when you stop drinking the Coke.

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  2. Coke and Twinkies…and I thought my eating habits were bad. Did you know Twinkies can survive a nuclear blast?

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  3. imagine it, visualize it, ask for it, focus on it, and you'll do it... :) great post.

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  4. Danny, Since I wrote this post I have not yet drank any soda, just skim milk and water.

    Scribe816- At least the cockroaches will have something to eat!

    mq01- Good advice, thanks for your thoughts.

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  5. Hey my son who now lives down under in Australia used to put the pounds on and off depending on how many Sodas he downed in a week... it wasn't the food...lol

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  6. Baron- In the past I used to drink 4 20oz bottles of Coke a day and that did not include the soda I had with dinner. Since this blog entry I have not had a drop of it. Man over the last 5 days I have been so cranky but I am now normalizing. Who knows maybe I will get back to fighting weight.

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  7. Heather just informed me that I was 36 years old. Wow am I getting so old that I don't even know my own age? I guess so...

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  8. I did that once, forget my own age that is! When I was pregnant with my first child, the nurse asked me how old I was, and I tod her 30, thankfully Pete was in the room to correct me, I was really 31...crazy how soon it all begins to slip away!

    Anyway, on to the important stuff. Ahhh, the TRAIL. Your attempting to accomplish it was always something that I admired greatly about you. One thing I have learned from my short amount of time here and there on the trail and from talking to those who have spent a lot of time on it, it seems to be filled with young(er) people (with no other responsibilities) or folks who have recently retired and have always hoped to hike/complete the trail.

    You had some tough extenuating circumstances during your first try at completimng the trail. Now you are a married man and father, with a whole load of responsibilities and other obligations. Don't beat yourself up over your not being able to accomplish this goal at this point in your life. You may have to do it in increments, or put it off a bit. But maybe you need to be realistic about the goal itself and be okay with fact that it just may not happen for a while...oh and Rob, as your longtime friend, someone who REALLY cares about you...Twinkies, really?!!! Come on now? You are BETTER than that, and your body deserves better than that! I could hop on my soapbox, but I won't...

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  9. Rob, it's great to catch up on your blog and hear what you've been up to! We miss you guys. It's a well-kept secret that Twinkies are actually the best training food ever. Power Bars have nothing on them! You can drop the Coke, but never lay aside the golden spongecake that never hits an expiration date!

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