Rory Conlan speaks up

 

ENGAGING  THE   ENDEAVOR

Several months ago, while engaged in a telephone conversation with a friend of many years, I was asked if I’d be interested in participating in a long walk.   More specifically, a walk across the United States, coast-to-coast.

                My initial reaction was mildly negative; my verbal response, after a few seconds pause, was non-committal:   “I’d consider it."

        In retrospect, that transaction is consistent with a life pattern I’ve worked to develop – a life pattern that emphasizes approaching decision making deliberately, logically, “linearly” – not emotionally.

        Now, having said all that, I’ve “deliberately, logically, linearly” decided to become a “partner-in-crime” in this coast-to-coast endeavor.  A significant factor in arriving at that decision was my recognition that this isrepresents an ADVENTURE!!

The ADVENTURE has commenced!!

More  later.

Facing Forward...The Second Trial Run (or Walk that is)

The Way Forward on the Second Course of Ground Work

Last weekend, I managed to put the rat race behind me for a relatively short period and conduct the second of what I'm currently calling my training walks.  The concept of training for a Transcontinental Pilgrimage (TCP) strikes me as a bit laughable on the surface of things, but until someone can suggest a more clever title, that's what I'll call these relatively short weekend jaunts for now.

To a degree they do provide some of the escapism that I believe I was seeking when the idea of the TCP first entered my mind.  I found that reflecting back on my first training walk and planning for this one was a much needed diversion from the monotonous bureaucratic grind of the current method I've landed for earning a living.

This walk was just 10.2 miles covered in the space of 3 hours and 01 minutes.  For the math wizards in the audience, you will no doubt note that the pace was just a bit off from the first training walk.  I would be fibbing a bit if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed in that factoid, but as soon as that thought enters my mind, I intellectually understand that particular reaction is an almost Pavlovian response to the some of the very aspects of the rat race that I'm trying to distance myself from.  It's an indication that I have some additional "spiritual," or at the very least attitudinal, work left to do.

All that said, it was a good walk.  I was able to cover the entire distance of what may become one of my principal training routes over the course of two weeks.  As you can see by the picture, I conducted the walk in  the rain.  Interestingly enough, the weather was not such a bother and a little wrinkle in the planning that I found injected a wee bit o' apprehension and challenge to the whole event.  I have a bit of a taste for chaos (more on that later perhaps), so I drew upon this minor adversity in satisfying ways.

I continued to have a minor vexation with blisters, but this last longer walking experience has shifted my butt, and I've continued to take action to mitigate this development.  I'm applying a salve derived from some things suggested in hiking and ultra-marathon forums.  It's pretty early in that process, so I'll report on the results after a little more run time.

One final note.  I looked back on the post documenting my first training walk, and I noticed that I managed to violate an idea that's been maturing in my experience over the last several months that characterizing events or experiences as good and bad is becoming less and less valuable as I get older.  This "philosophy," if you will is relatively knew and probably warrants an explanation all to itself (more on that later I think), but suffice it to say for now that narrowly bucketing any of the experiences associated with living as good or bad is intellectually lazy at best.

I am grateful to have experienced this last walk, and I'm looking forward (but not too far forward) to whatever comes as a result of this endeavor.

The Rat Race in the Rear View Mirror

The Commute

I briefly touched upon the fact that the idea of walking across the United States has been an ongoing compulsion of mine for the last couple of years in the introductory post of this journal.  One of the things that I hope I can develop over time, is a somewhat reasonable and rational explanation for just why this idea has become so "sticky" or resilient in my mind.

When the idea of walking across the country first entered my consciousness, I was in a very dark period of my life.  It would be comforting to blame this on external circumstances, but if I am honest, most of the reasons were largely self-induced.  I strongly suspect that, at the time, I was manifesting a fairly strong desire to run away...run away from my problems...run away from my circumstances...but mostly just run away from myself.

A relatively short number of months later, I find myself with a completely different outlook on life.  The path to this point has not always been easy, fun, or rewarding in the traditional sense, but I am truly grateful that I have had the opportunity to wind my way through it.

That being said, the idea of walking across the United States has not gone away.  I'm no longer running from all of the circumstances in my life, but the compulsion remains.

One thing that I have discovered over the last twenty-four months is that life is an endlessly fascinating journey.  Each moment is a special gift, and staying with this "Present Moment" mindset is both rewarding and surprisingly challenging.

The photo above is representative of my thirty-four mile commute (each way) every day.  It is an analogue of one of the myriad of things that I had grown to loath and was I suspect was trying to escape during those darker times.  I would find myself on the road, at least two hours a day, with 200,000 other people making the daily slog to a job that I did not find fulfilling to support responsibilities and obligations I had collected over the course of my life (often unthinkingly) and absolutely hating every minute of it.

The irony that the drive is about the same distance as the distance that will be required to walk from Newport, RI to Newport, OR in the timeframe I am planning on has not been lost on my.

One of the ways the idea of taking on this adventure has evolved is that I'm no longer running, but I do want to put certain aspects of that "Rat Race" in my rearview mirror.  I don't think I'm particularly unique in this desire, and I think that just about everyone could take the time to live, take the time for a real adventure, put the things we are collectively encouraged to value in the rearview mirror and make our own path.  That is an underlying value for me in this endeavor.  To prove to myself that I can do it, and to show to others that they can as well.  It's an effort to shrink my world, to live in the present, to revel in the now.

I invite you to join me on this journey of discovery with whatever small sense of wonder that I've been able to renew since the idea of the walk first struck me during the darker days.