'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 468 miles down and 1,331 miles to go

The Fellowship of the Ring

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging 10 more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged three miles on Sunday, four miles on Wednesday and three more miles today (Thursday). So far, I’ve logged 468 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 1,331 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 26.0 percent of the total trip.

 

In relation to Frodo’s journey, I’m on the first night of the trip past Rivendell, which is the night of Dec. 25-Dec. 26 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update on Mile 458, which was the point that the group completed the 458-mile journey from Bag End to Rivendell on Oct. 20. Between Oct. 20 and Dec. 25, Frodo’s group rests up and joins forces with the Fellowship of the Ring.

 

At dusk on Dec. 25, the fellowship leaves Rivendell headed for Moria and Lothlorien. On mile later, the climb out of the valley and onto the moors. Seven miles later, at the Ford of Bruinen, the group turns south on “narrow paths among folded lands.” I’ve traveled three miles past this point and have seven more miles to go before I reach the next significant milestone, where, to the west, the Bruinen cuts a steep-sided canyon.

 

So far, I’m on track to travel from Rivendell to Lothlorien, which is the forest realm of the Elves, between Rivendell and Mordor. To pull this off in a year’s time, I’ve got to travel at least 8.9 miles per week, that is, a little more than a mile a day. So far, so good, since I covered a total of 10 miles this week.

 

For those of you reading this for the first time, I began this “Walk to Mordor” fitness challenge on Jan. 1, 2015. 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 11 more miles next week, and I’ll include all that in my update next week.