Gladiators in Training

A couple days ago I was getting ready to hike and I told John, “Sometimes I feel like a gladiator getting ready to do battle.” I strap on my knee braces, lace up my boots, extend my trekking poles, adjust my backpack, and check my water line. These steps are now routine for us. Not to mention the manner in which we get our packs ready. After a week of frustration searching for things over and over again, we established a precise routine of exactly where everything is packed.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my first day was incredibly hard. But as the psalmist says in Psalm 139:14, “I will give thanks to you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” As each day has gone by, it feels like my body is making gradual adjustments. What seemed insurmountable on last Monday, now seems as least possible a week later. Uphill sections I dreaded last week are almost anticipated as a relief when we’ve had too many downhills. And the stops I had to make to catch my breath are much shorter and less frequent.

In spite of almost daily adaptation, this adventure is by far the hardest physical thing I’ve ever attempted. And it will continue to be challenging as we reach other parts of the country where mountains are higher, rocks are more pervasive and winds will blow you back down the mountain. A hiker we met from Israel put it very well. “At the end of the day, when you get done hiking it’s like your body is broken.” But what is broken can be restored. We have discovered a good night’s rest does an amazing job of healing the aches and pains. Even after coming in from a hike feeling “broken,” we are restored and ready to hit the trail again the next morning.

There is a point during an extended hike where you supposedly get your “trail legs.” From what I understand, it’s a magical moment where your body suddenly catches up to your brain’s desire to hike and starts cooperating. This transition allows you to hike farther with more ease and enables you to increase your daily miles. I believe it’s simply the ability to listen to your body and give it enough time and rest to recover after “breaking” it. What is broken gets restored to an even stronger state. I am sure the cavernous blister I have been sporting since last week on my right heel will be the toughest part of my foot when it finally heals!

Sometimes the trail is even and smooth, other times strewn with rocks and sometimes flooded with water. But regardless of the difficulty we are choosing to view ourselves as gladiators in training. Every hard and challenging section of this trail is an opportunity for training we will desperately need further up the road. A chance to be broken so we can become stronger.