'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 242 miles down and 1,557 miles to go

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging six more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged five miles yesterday (Thursday) and one mile today (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 242 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 1,557 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 13.5 percent of the total trip.

 

In relation to Frodo’s journey, I’m on the fifteenth day of his trip, which is Oct. 7 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off on my last update on Day 14, at Mile 236, which was five miles from the start of Day 15. Three miles later, at Mile 239, Frodo’s group comes near to the south end of the path at midday and reaches the dell at the western foot of a hill near Weathertop.

 

One mile later, at Mile 240, the group climbs to the top of Weathertop and enters the ruins of the Watchtower of Amon Sul (Hill of Wind). From there, the group can see the Black Riders on the road below. Frodo’s group then returns to the dell, camps there and are attacked by the Nazgul later that night at the end of Day 14.

 

Frodo is injured in the Nazgul attack and Day 15 (Oct. 7) begins with him being carried on a pony, headed south from the dell. I’ve logged one more mile beyond this point, and the next significant milestone comes nine miles later, at Mile 251, where the group will cross the Great East Road.

 

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.