Dear Family and Friends,

In 22 days our flight leaves from Pitt. 25 days from now will be our first night out in the wilderness. I can’t wait!!! It’s hard to believe that this adventure I’ve been literally dreaming of for so long is about to become reality. I’m sure I’ll realize that it’s real 124 miles down the trail when I have duct tape on my feet to minimize the blisters, soaking wet socks and my tummy makes a constant rumble from lack of food, but that’s what I am looking forward to.

I’ve really appreciated all your prayers and encouragement thus far, and I hope that throughout the summer you will occasionally think of us. When its storming and you’re in your protected house, or when its 98 degrees out and you’re sitting in air conditioning, or even when you go to a grocery store and see all the food available to you… just think of us, and be thankful for what you have.

As far as preparations go, I have had a little more time to think now that softball is over. We are hoping to spend July 4^th in Tennessee with Karina, and possibly a night in Virginia around my birthday with some college friends. I will have posted before we leave, a list of mail-drop locations that we plan on hitting – with dates, in case anyone feels like sending mail or presents. Keep in mind, anything you send, we have to eat immediately or else carry with us – and the less weight the better. Also – if you’d prefer to send a letter to my house, my sister can include it in the next mail-drop box. If you include a self-addressed, stamped postcard (ha…) with your letter, I will surely write back to you from on the trail.

Physical preparations are slow, but building. Since softball, I’ve been running almost every day, usually 2-3 miles. Combine that with tons of sit-ups, crunches, leg lifts, and planks, and that would describe my workouts. I plan to continue to increase the distance of my runs, as well as add some wall-sits to work on the thigh muscles. When I get home, I will keep running (hopefully with Erin) and then do as many hills as I can fit in. Hills are so ideal for practice, because that’s EXACTLY what we’ll face this summer. A week before we leave, I’ll try to do hills with my pack on. We’re shooting for less than 25 pounds total weight of our packs – but we’ll see how that goes. I’ll keep you all updated. Thanks for reading, stay tuned!

Soon to be expert nature-woman,

LC