'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,738 miles down and 41 miles to go

Frodo Baggins with 'The Ring'

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging 15 more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged five miles on Sunday, five more on Wednesday and five more today (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 1,738 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 41 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 97.7 percent of the total trip.

 

In relation to Frodo Baggins’ overall journey to destroy the One Ring at Mount Doom in Mordor, I’m on the 26th day of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 21 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update on March 20 at Mile 1723, which was one mile from where Frodo and Samwise Gamgee stopped to rest. Two miles later, at Mile 1725, they camp just off the road at the end of the day, but hear troops moving around after dark.

 

They begin the next day, March 21, by returning to the road as Frodo, more and more, is bowed down by the Ring. Four miles later, at Mile 1729, they stop to rest, and four miles beyond this point, at Mile 1733, the find a cistern with muddied water in the bottom. Here, they drink, fill a bottle with water and eat.

 

Four miles later, at Mile 1737, they stop to rest again. I’ve covered one more mile beyond this point, to Mile 1738, and the next significant milestone comes three miles later, at Mile 1741, where they camp just off the road at the end of the day.

 

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 the late 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 1,779 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 1,779 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 10 more miles next week, and I’ll include all that in my update next week.