Back in April of this year, I experienced my first backpacking trip in a group of 12 students from UW-Superior. Over the course of that pleasant weekend, we manage to cover 9.6 miles (15.45 kilometers) of the Superior Hiking Trail. Prior to that trip, I had the urge of being out in the woods alone. It inspired me from both reading the book and watching the movie, Wild, about a young woman hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. My story could never compete with Cheryl Strayed's story, but I'm making a few camping trips this summer for the exercise and solitude. When I finally made time for my first solo backpacking trip, it was scheduled right after Duluth's Grandma's Marathon weekend. I've noticed many friends competing in both of full and half-marathons and felt left out. While making my lonely way through the Superior Hiking Trail, it occurred to me that the last time my body has covered so much distance in one day was when I ran the Grandma's Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon back in 2014.

The Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon (13.1 miles) - June 21, 2014

I had a six-hour sleep before stretching every muscle I can. I repeated my stretches at my apartment, at the bus pick-up for all of the runners, and at the starting line where we were dropped off. I fueled myself with a single granola bar and plenty of water packed aside of my glasses case and casual shoes; all brought to the finish line in Canal Park. The morning got brighter with gray clouds and mist. It must've been a relief of cooler weather for all of the other 7,300 fellow runners surrounding me at the starting line in the middle of the Scenic Highway 61. I kept my pace with enough confidence to keep myself moving and pass through others respectfully. Some of the participants ran in pairs, and some ran alone with headphones playing in their ears. Since I've been use to it in my personal training, I had no need of music to keep me motivated. Water and Powerade were provided every two miles until it got more frequent by every single mile in the last six miles. I saw both of my parents cheering me on with two miles remaining. My prior workout consisted of running 45 minutes twice per week for six months, and it resulted my debut record time of 2:14:55 from those 21.1 kilometers. It liberated me enough with a finisher's medal, bananas, yogurt, and even more water as the very awards to be chasing after. I couldn't thank the volunteers enough that day while I went back to stretching to ease the pain away on my legs.

The Superior Hiking Trail - North of Two Harbors, Minnesota (11 miles) - June 20, 2017

After starting the middle of my solo trip's hike at 7 A.M., I could finally determine my actual hiking pace at one mile per hour since I wasn't able to before my last backpacking adventure two months before. The next 18 kilometers covered an entire section starting at a demonstration forest, south of my campsite. I had a bowl of oatmeal and a granola bar to fuel myself enough to pack up my gear. My pack must've weighted 70 pounds (31.75 kilograms) as I strapped it onto my back. No matter how lonely I got, I took my time to press on and rest with some journaling, reading and snacking. For water, I stopped by two rivers for each time I needed to refill my three bottles. They were all purified with my brand new SteriPen, which it kills pesticides with UV rays one liter at a time. As I expected in my research, the trail's section was relatively flat. Like in the half marathon, it kept me at a constant pace but with the extra weight. On my third break around noon, I had to unroll my foam mat and lay down straight to rest my back. I made myself alfredo and noodles for lunch. Like how might distracted myself from the pain by looking over the half marathon crowd, I took pictures of the trail's features: Toads, butterflies, and fields of bright green tall grasses and ferns. I wish I could've seen more views of Lake Superior like I did before on other parts of the trail- north of Silver Bay- and the half marathon, but there were just more swamps than hills. The mosquitos and ticks would've made the day longer if it wasn't for my fresh reek of bug spray. At 5 P.M., I made rapid time to my last campsite before being picked-up tomorrow afternoon. Just like how it felt returning home from the half marathon, my body ached and recovered after an hour-long nap in the tent.

The two stories seemed to have never change the challenges of my own fitness in between the last three years. I achieved and accepted the pains grown familiar to me.