Failure to Prepare is Preparation for Failure

I’ve always found hiking to be one of the most peaceful pursuits imaginable. It may not be a sport, as such, but it is something that I have always enjoyed doing to test myself. One day I will go for a hike and see how long it takes me to reach my destination, and three days later I will do the same course again and see if I can beat my original time. I’ve yet to go for a hike where I didn’t manage to shave some time off second time around, and I see it as a way of introducing structure into the hike. If this sounds like the very opposite of peaceful, I can understand. Nevertheless, I find that it helps take my mind off things.

I’ve never joined a club, though, because I have always found that the most relaxing thing about hiking is being alone with your thoughts and being able to just think through things while pushing yourself physically. The anxiety that tends to build up otherwise can become quite overwhelming, but it gets squeezed out when you go for a proper hike because your body is too busy to be bothered with butterflies in the stomach or anything like that. So whenever I am feeling a bit contemplative, I pack my backpack and off I set. I’ve solved any number of problems while pounding the ground, just due to the thinking time it gave me.

My backpack doesn’t contain all that much. Just a hydration pack and a small first aid kit, and maybe a book if I’m planning to stop off somewhere on the way back for a bite to eat and a drink. The amount of times that the hydration pack has come back from a hiking trip empty is testament to just how much effort I put in when hiking. It really can be thirsty work. I might also take along a few cereal bars, too, because sometimes I get fairly aggressive (don’t laugh!) and I walk with such purpose that I end up pretty low on energy. I have long ago learned the importance of real preparation for hiking. Without being well prepared, it is just glorified walking.

Just for the fun of it, I challenged a friend to a race a few months ago, and he one-upped me by suggesting that we made it into a run. I was fine with that, as I run a bunch when I go to the gym and cardio-vascular exercise actually makes me really happy. When he went off at maximum pace right at the start I was expecting to have a bit of a tortoise and hare thing take place. He’d tire, I’d pass him, we’d laugh, I’d win. It turned out he was actually pretty durable and I found myself straining to catch up. When I finally did, the adrenaline was enough to take me to the finishing point first, but I have never felt so drained. I may well have got through the hydration pack in two gulps that day.