'Walk to Mordor' Update No. 1: 31 total miles down and 1,768 miles to go

When I was in junior high school, I read J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” and all these years later, they’re still among my favorite books. Those of you who have read them know that these tales involve long treks by the main characters, especially in “The Lord of the Rings,” where Frodo and Sam walk all the way from Hobbiton to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring.

A year or so ago, I read about an awesome fitness challenge called the “Walk to Mordor Challenge.” Using a book called “The Atlas of Middle-Earth” by Karen Wynn Fonstad, fans of “The Lord of the Rings” have actually mapped out Frodo and Sam’s trek to Mordor and calculated the total distance at 1,799 miles. They also used the original text to outline the journey, so you could followed their route by keeping up with your total mileage.

Those who worked out all the nuts and bolts of this virtual journey have divided it into four parts. It’s 458 miles from Hobbiton to Rivendell, 462 miles from Rivendell through Moria to Lothlorien, 389 miles from Lothlorien down the Anduin to Rauros Falls and 470 miles from Rauros to Mount Doom. (Those locations should sound familiar to “Lord of the Rings” fans.) The hobbits averaged 18 miles a day, but if you walk (or jog, as I sometimes do) five miles a day, it’s possible to cover 1,799 miles in a year.

If you’re interested in learning more about the “Walk to Mordor Challenge,” I suggest you check out two Web sites, http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/23/walking/ and http://home.insightbb.com/~eowynchallenge/. Both of these sites provide a ton of details about the challenge, including how to get started.

As part of my ongoing “bucket list” project, I began my own “Walk to Mordor Challenge” on Jan. 1, and I hope to post weekly updates on this blog every Friday to update my progress. So far, I’ve walked/jogged seven different times between Jan. 1 and Jan. 16 and have covered a total of 31 miles. Frodo covered 18 total miles on the first day of his journey and this took him from his start at Bag End, across the Great Road and into Tookland and the Green Hill Country. He eventually loses sight of Hobbiton, reaches the Stock Road and camps. On the second day, he covers a total of 28 total miles, but I’ve only covered 13 of those so far.

I hope to knock out another five miles tomorrow and five more on Sunday, but I’ll include all that in my update next week. In the end, how many of you have ever attempted to “Walk to Mordor”? Let us know in the comments section below?