'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 357 miles down and 1,442 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 three miles on Wednesday and three more miles today (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 357 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 1,442 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 19.8 percent of the total trip.

 

In relation to Frodo’s journey, I’m on the 21st day of his trip, which is Oct. 13 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off on my last update at Mile 351, which was four miles from the start of Day 21. Four miles later, at Mile 355, Frodo’s group camps not far southwest of a bridge, and the camp is high enough for Merry to see the Loudwater River far in the distance.

 

One mile after the start of Day 21, which is the seventh from Weathertop, Frodo’s group reaches the Great East Road. This comes at Mile 356, and, so far, I’m one mile beyond that point. The next significant milestone comes at Mile 358, where Strider finds an elf-stone on The Last Bridge and the group crosses the River Hoarwell/Mitheithel.

 

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 nine more miles next week, and I’ll include all that in my update next week.