Nothing to Fear

I issued an ultimatum the other day on my April 17th post: "join the haters or join my supporters. The former will be sitting in their parent’s basement wasting their lives. The latter will be celebrating with me, drinking bud light and eating lobster in August". One of you chose to become a hater. I am looking right at you, Tommy. You and I will both be enjoying early bird specials 4 months from now. The only difference is, mine will be with hot chicks and lobsters. Yours will be at the Country Kitchen Buffet with mom and dad. You've made your choice.

I recently saw a news story about bears in the northeast portion of the trail, almost exactly where my ‘09 run in occurred! I remember sending a text message to the game warden back in March, alerting him to the bear problem, but apparently he didn't listen. I was supposed to leave again today, to head back out onto the trail. I made up an excuse, said I wasn't feeling good and that I needed another day. An overwhelming panic struck, and I headed into the bathroom to rinse my face with cold water. As I regained my composure, I looked at my reflection and asked myself what was really going on. Deep down, I knew the answer. I'm afraid! All right! You want to hear me say it! You want to break me down? All right, I'm afraid. For the first time in my life, I'm afraid. Then I thought to myself, is there really anything wrong with being afraid?

There is. For me, there is.

I was feeling really down, wondering if I had what it takes to get back out there. So far, I have hiked about the same total distance as I did in ’09. I could easily call off the rest of the hike. There would be no shame in it. Less than two percent of the world's population has hiked even one mile of the Appalachian Trail. That puts me in the 98th percentile already. I just needed to gather a bit of steam, so I went back to a place that inspired me a few weeks ago: Dave & Buster’s.

I rocked Cruis’n World for about an hour and then moved to Time Crisis IV. The adrenaline hit and I felt like I had just gotten a B12 injection. After about four hours of play, I was reborn. The weakness I showed earlier today was not real. That was not me. I am ready to go back on the trail. Due to the closure, I am going to have to start a little further ahead. I am checking out my interactive maps today and will let you guys know where I get dropped off tomorrow.

Tommy, you are welcome to rejoin my blog as a follower. Know this: once I cross the Virginia border, that offer comes off the table.

One of the chicks in the crowd captured the action.