Friday, June 19, 2015
'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 223 miles down and 1,576 miles to go
In
relation to Frodo’s journey, I’m on the thirteenth day of his trip, which is
Oct. 5 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off on my last update on Day 12, at
Mile 210, which was 12 miles from the eastern edge of the Marshes. One mile
later, at Mile 211, Frodo’s group camped by a stream, among stunted alder
trees, at the end of Day 12 as the moon waxed.
The
next day, the sixth after Frodo’s group left Bree, begins with frost on the
ground and clear skies. As the day begins, Frodo’s group can see crumbled ruins
on the hills ahead. I’ve covered 12 more miles since this point and have six
more to go to reach the next significant milestone, Mile 229, where Frodo’s
group will camp at the foot of the Weather Hills at the end of Day 13.
For
those of you reading this for the first time, I began this “Walk to Mordor”
fitness challenge on Jan. 1. Using a book called “The Atlas of Middle-Earth” by
Karen Wynn Fonstad, fans of “The Lord of the Rings” created this challenge by
mapping out Frodo’s fictional trek to Mordor, calculating the total distance at
1,799 miles. They also used the original "Lord of the Rings" text to
outline the journey, so you can follow their route by keeping up with your
total mileage.
The
folks who worked out 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 very 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.
In
the end, check back next Friday for another update and to see how much closer I
am to Mordor. I hope to knock out at least 13 more miles next week, and I’ll
include all that in my update next week.
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