shoot dang (mile -599.5 to mile 0)
preface: i am re-reading this post now and…shoot dang…bear with my complete ramblings and stream-of-consciousness topic bouncing.
i’m 599.5 miles (according to google maps ‘walk’ setting) away from the southern terminus and 63 days away from my start date. the excitement grows stronger, the doubt gets louder, and the research is also ever-growing. also you might be wondering, ‘hey a.j., didn’t you do an instagram poll? didn’t the people say they wanted instagram posts?’ well, my friend, you’d be correct. but what i haven’t shared is that i don’t have photos to post, as i’m still working my beloved 9-5. so with that, here is a blog post 🤠
i am also realizing that i’ll be a number of miles away from my friends, my communities, at any given moment on this trip. i spent saturdaay in half moon bay with my day one from stanford, leila. beyond the best company and a dank lunch, i got to write a little bit:
my brain is going 100,000 miles a miinute and the aact of writing is hard. there’s nothing bad or scary in the dome today - just silly, quick, fleeting multiplicities* of life.
*look this word up later
i must have heard multiplicities in a podcast or read it in a book. i’ll own my attempt to use a fancy word - hey, i’ll admit even after a google search, i’m not entirely sure i used it right. to all my homies that have good vocabulary, how’d i do? but that quote from my journal is here, because it is the guiding light for how this post is about to read. shoot dang.
shoot dang, as this post is so aptly named, is the phrase that is on replay in my brain right now. shoot dang this is real. shoot dang what is happening. shoot dang this coffee is good. shoot dang i should have gone to bed earlier. shoot dang what am i bringing for my lunch tomorrow. shoot dang if i keep eating overnight oats now while i have access to cooking apparatuses are my talenti-jar-cold-soaked-oats going to be equally appealing for the 2600 mile journey? shoot dang is not a negative phrase, nor a phrase of regret. it’s a phrase that, to me, encompasses all the emotions. try it out in your next 5 life moments where an expletive might come into play, you might find it to be fun.
i’ve been dually writing this post and flipping between my open tabs on my laptop since my pals, bren and nur, left after they dropped off my bike. i had a big fuzzy feeling take over my body when they visited - i was bopping around showing off my cabinets, my toilet, my multiple crafts, my gear collection, i showed them my blog, and my fruit basket. i was transported back to my 1st grade show and tell…and i fucking loved it. re: that fuzzy feeling, i love hosting people and sharing space with people. if i did the ‘if i won the lottery i wouldn’t tell anyone, but there’d be signs’ trend that’s making rounds on tiktok, my signs would be endless dinner parties and a house with a good kitchen.
back to the pct for a sec. if you see the list of names of people i know who have done the pct there are 10!!! some of them being my best friends!!!! but 10 people! that’s bonker town to me. these athletes (who i’m lucky to call friends) have left big trail runners to fill, but you know what they say (and i’m forcing myself to practice)…hike your own damn hike. moral of this section is, excited to tack onto the list of people in my little world that will hop on this rollercoaster of an adventure. the real, real, real talk is - i’m proud of myself for even trying. every one of my friends who has hiked has been on #athletemode. we’re talkin’ strong, peak bagging, division 1 collegiate, rock climbing, (ultra)marathon running, good at all activities athletes. i am proud to say, me, the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none narp (non-athlete regular person) is gonna be giving it a go?! how rad!
wow thanks for bearing with me on that one. i’m off to drink the rest of my tart cherry sleep concoction and pop a magnesium pillie so this boy can get 2 sleep ~~ ta ta 4 now
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if you want to up your pct media consumption here’s what i’ve been putting into my noggin:
podcast — thru by cody hofmockel: i’ve linked the parents episode, where cody digs into his parents’ biggest worries about his journey. good humor for a wondering, worried mind
graphic novel — americana (and the act of getting over it) by luke healy: many thanks to zane for this physical and metaphorical gift of a read. healy details his journey on the pct and walks through his trials and tribulations with humor
book — thirst: 2600 miles to home by heather ‘anish’ anderson: anish is an inspiration. she quit her job, left her stable life, and doubled down on holistic badassery as she details her time on trail
folks i know (erika/tyler + ian + zane + austin + jackson/sammy + jon + tommy + brant)
youtube videos — elina osborne and quadzilla and courtney eve white and austin ceder