With another couple of training hikes behind us, I think we’re ready for a few more pearls of snailwalking wisdom.
Rule 6: Be Zen. Zen is all about getting lost in a moment, forcing your brain to stop judging and analyzing and living purely in the “now”. It struck me as we were doing that retarded uphill climb from CP 1 to CP2 that hiking is actually a good way to understand zen. you find yourself with a huge, seemingly impossible goal ahead of you, in this case get from the bottom to the top of a very high pile of rocks. The beauty is that no analysis or judgement is needed to achieve the goal – its inevitable that if you just keep taking one step after another , you are guaranteed to reach the summit. The same extends for the entire 100km – its just a couple of thousand ‘now’ moments of taking one step after another until you hit the goal. There’s an expression I heard once in Japan which I think beautifully sums it up – roughly translated to “Dust makes the mountain”. Nike got close as well with “Just do it”.
Rule 7: consider a walking stick – I find it handy for keeping balance on serious downhills and helping drive the body weight up on uphills, but they’re not for everybody. I certainly never use 2 poles, although people claim its better for distributing strain and load across your body. The main reason for using a stick is to make you feel like a proper walker, and for bashing trees and plants down as you walk around Hakone national park (joke, pls dont disqualify us). Fact: you always feel more outdoorsy with a chopped off branch in your hand. Finding that perfect walking stick usually preoccupies me for the first hour or so of any hike as I hunt the undergrowth at the side of the path for lopped branches that might make a good stick. Yesterday I found the best walking stick of all time – a true keeper made of a bit of freshly-cut bamboo found by the side of the road. Bamboo is very light, very strong, and smooth so you don’t get blisters on your hand. I liked it so much I had to climb back up a hill when I realized I’d left it behind after a break.
Rule 8: Boo Chafing! This used to be the worse part of hiking for me, and a big concern for me was worrying about having to walk like a t-rex for 60 km due to friction burns on my nether regions. Luckily theres some good dri-fit underwear out there now, which wicks the moisture away and prevents the sweat which causes the rubbing and pain. Mizuno do a great range in “science friction” gruds – either a long-john, full length or shorter boxer. Pick them up in L-Breathe as normal. Since I started wearing these, hiking has been much more comfortable. Reza has also recommended rubbing a liberal amount of vaseline over your feet before putting on your hiking socks to prevent blisters, I’ll be testing that one out next week..