yay for FANNY PACKS!!!!

So i have realized now that I am older, I'm more independant when it comes to what I wear. Before when I have been travelling, I would never ever carry fanny pack despite the incredible usefulness of them. They score way to high on the dorkiness scale. I can remember the early nineties/late eighties when for a glorius moment they were in style. I had a snazzy one when I was about ten and I loved it. It was white, with bright multi colored hawaiian flowers on in. It had one main pouch and then a second smaller pouch on the front. The small one was perfect for my most prized possesion- The ninetendo GameBoy. In the larger pocket I carried the acessoris, headphones, games, and the instruction books Even after the heyday of the fanny pack I still used it, for a while. Fast forward to today- my next fanny pack.  A great addition to my kit, I think.

First, I am a maximalist, so when one would do, I invaribly buy two.  The one on top I specificaly purchased in order to travel with me on the camino. During my time on the Francis, I didn't have anything for a night bag nor did the backpack model I was using have very large pockets on the hipbelt. It was annoying. At night I would use my sleeping bag stuff stack as a makeshift purse and would also take it to the shower, with my camera, kindle, passport, wallet etc. This particular model was only $6 at walmart. It fits my kindle perfectly and I can also fit my camera, mp3 player, and a snack so I won't have to stop mid-walk to get out my kindle to look at the guide. Also I will be able to listen to audible books as I walk and have easy control over them. It works well , I have been using now when I am cleaning the house , doing dishes etc. Big thumbs up. The second I got for when it gets hot and I am running in the desert. I find sometimes camelbaks can get quite hot on the back, I want to see if these are any cooler. I will try that out tomorrow durng my run. It was only $10 and it came with the two waterbottles. 

Battle of the bulge

So today I felt like going over my pack for the camnino which is mostly packed. I decided to try on my super nifty convertible north facepants.And they are supertight. No way I can hike all day in them, fly in an uncomfortable plane for 12 hours, even breathing will be hard. While I have been running fairly consistently, I have been eating, when i'm bored.tired, hungry sad. And I can tell. Let alone the horrible pictures I just saw of myself. I read an article in the UK magazine Running fitness, how little running does for wieghtloss for the average person and it is all about food. while Ideally I would like to lose 25-30lbs, my goal before I leave is going to be eight pounds, about a 1 lb a week, Hopefully I will be able to lose a little wieght on the camino as well. I did last time but I gained it alll back once I wasn't walking for hours day. This is the first time I have publicly declared an intent to lose wieght,  (though its not too public really). Hopefully it will work. I will wiegh in on Weds.. I am too ashamed to post my weight but promise to be truthful about losses and hopefully not gains. Not only for my health but it will help me walk closer to the schedule I need to complete the kms I need to meet daily without putting as much strain on my body.  I've been sick but did manage to jog 2 miles today. I have been runnig about 16 miles a week and would like to get my miles up to at least 25-30 before I go.

Deletion

So I really dislike the post I wrote yesterday. I have been going back and forth on deleting it. It seems not like me, I am not sure why. Maybe a little pretentious or something. I need to work on my wirting skills. I wanted to convey how having never heard of the Camino for my first 31 years I heard of it 3x in less than a month, which I felt was, as cliche as it sounds, for a reason.  But I am going to leave it. This is what I do all the time. I am so terrible at keeping in touch because I will write reply emails, delete them, write them agian delete them.  I feel they need to convey something worthwhile before I can send them, Before I know it year has gone by and I have lost touch with some truly wonderful people. I sadly didn't keep in touch with anyone from my first camino, something I hope to rectify this time around. One of my many faults is not reaching out to people who have reached out to me. I tend to keep people at a distance, though I do want to have close friends. Its a bad coping mechanism and one that can easily add to a slide back to depression. Definately a place with room for improvement.

Finding the Way

I didn't know about the way until 2011. I was backpacking in New Zealand, in thier winter so it wasn't very crowded at all. In fact there were several times were I was not only the person in a room, but the whole hostel. I had been alone for couple of days, which for the most part I really enjoy. One day I finally had another person in the room. I'm sad to say I can't remember her name( I didn't really journal during that trip either). She had been doing yoga in Bali I believe. We got to chatting and I talked about a hike I had done that day in Wanaka, up a fairly steep track called Roy's Peak. It was stunning and pretty hard. I had said that my favorite thing to do now when I am travelling now is to go hiking, or go running in a city I don't know. She casullay mentioned that in northern spain you could hike from village to village all across the country to coast, staying in places wtih people who were also doing the same thing. When I was back in the states, my sisters' friend's sister had just got back from doing the camino. I found out the name of the trail, and called her up to pick her brain. Finally in our small town, we still have a brick and mortar video shop. While browsing the movies I noticed the Emilio Estevez, Martin sheen film "The Way" and rented it. I loved it, and most of all I loved the idea of the camino. I'm not Catholic, but liked the sense of doing something that people have been doing for hundreds of years. Also the chance to medidate and be a minimalist for awhile. Especially as I am a maxiumist in my day to day life.  I made the decision to go, using a $400 bump credit I had to purchase the ticket.

An Introduction

Well I have been thinking of haiving a blog for quite awhile now. I just kept putting off the first post as I felt it needed to be perfect, but as someone told if you keep waiting for something to be just right beofre you try you will never do it. So I decided to just bite the bullet and write a quick post. 

After walking the Camino de Santiago in 2012 in Spain, I was immediately hooked. I loved it. If I could stay on it for the rest of my life I think I would. One of my regrets is that I didn't journal. I even carried one, but I am a lazy writer, my hand has lost all stamina from my college days when people took notes on paper. I plan on using this blog as journal, mostly about the camino, packing, training (if you can call it that) for my next Camino which is scheduled for April 24, 2014 leaving from Sevilla on the Via de la Plata hopefully all the way to Muxia this time. And whatever else strikes my fancy, reviews etc. 

Hopefully this is the frist of many entries not like my journal from when I was 12 that has a total of 3 pages and was left to languish for the next 20 odd years.

Buen Camino!