So why would I choose this moment, in my early 40's with 2 teenage kids, to do something so self absorbed as walking for 3 months?
Given my age it would be tempting to think it's a mid life crisis thing. A trampers equivalent of buying a Porsche or a Harley. Turning 40 was weird for me (I've always considered I would be happy to live to 80, but wouldn't want to live much past that point, so I'm half way!), but I've got over that; definitively it is not a mid life thing.
When the trail was first mooted I paid attention, and once the route was firmly fixed in 2011 I made it a long term goal to do it, perhaps in my early 60's, or if I was fortunate a little earlier when the kids had left home. Karen would take the time with me, and drive as support between the various trail heads (incidentally this is now the plan for the North island part of the trail).
However as the years went by, the need to do the trail became more pressing. Once you have a big idea like this it is difficult to let it go; certainly completing it sat in the back of my mind.
Additionally I have been suffering from burnout at work. I find I need a period where I can take a mental break, where I don't have to consider anything more complicated than what the weather is likely to do. Short of changing careers, this is pretty good way of achieving this.
I'm also looking forward to the digital detox. So much of my life revolves around using and enabling technology that I often feel beholden to it. 3 months with nothing digital should get things back in proper perspective (albeit I'll be carrying a cell phone, satellite phone, Kindle, GPS watch, and solar panel to keep it all juiced!).
I said earlier in the post that age is not a reason for doing it. Not entirely true.
The largest reason for doing it now, is that I know (or at least think) that I can.
In my late 20's I started suffering from a sore back while playing football. This went on for a few years until I found it so annoying that I insisted on some scans when I was 30. An x-ray showed I had Spina Bifida in the bottom of my spine, and the pain was the onset of osteoarthritis in my back. I remember the doomsday prediction of my doctor at the time, he expected me to be in a wheelchair by my mid 40's. For the record I don't think this will ever put me in a wheelchair, nevertheless it has impacted my life. There are certain things I find more difficult, or at the least unwise, to do.
Doing the trail requires 3 months of sleeping in a tent or on dodgy hut mattresses. Frankly this is going to play merry hell with my back. I will be taking Panadol and voltaren throughout my walk to keep things in check.
So the deciding factor to do the walk now is I may not be able to do so in my 60's, or even my 50's. It would be an exceedingly difficult pill to swallow to have this big goal, but then get to a point where I could not achieve it.
So in early 2017, once I had Karen's blessing (she's amazing!!!), I set the goal of doing it in the next 1-2 years. Queue lots of hard work planning, and a lot more hard work doing overtime and contract work that I will use to essentially pay myself to keep everything running at home as per normal while I'm away.
Carpe diem!
