36 Days and Counting

An Inca wall

Five weeks before I leave for Peru! Yikes!

Training has NOT been going as planned. You might say I have hit a wall! After recovering from the fall in December, I started again in mid-Janaury - a bit too enthusiastically which caused a little set back.  I went through a bit of a dip with my spirits plummeting and feeling very frustrated. Then I came down with a chest cold and a hacking cough from which I am just now starting to recover. This again curtailed my activities, although I wondered if being at altitude would feel the same as trying to exert myself when I can't breathe. Maybe this is the perfect training ground! I am choosing to believe those who tell me that I am capable of doing the hike today - well, I'm trying to believe it. I hope they are right because I'm not sure how much things will improve in 5 weeks.

The picture is much brighter on the fundraising front. People have been simply amazing and I am $150 shy of reaching my goal of raising $4000 for Cuso. My Participant webpage will stay up and accepting donations until the end of April, so I will surely meet and maybe even surpass my goal!

With the anxiety about meeting my fundraising commitment and getting into shape behind me (well sort of), I am shifting my attention to the more pleasurable phase of detailed preparations. I discovered I have more vacation time than I had calculated so I have been able to add a few days to the end of the Challenge making the trip 16 days in total. It looks like there will be 14 of us on the trek and some of the others are also arriving a bit early or staying a few days after so it's possible that I will have company for some of my extra days.

OK, so now I'm getting excited!