Author: Jennifer Hofmann

Miles walked today: 1.75
Total training miles to date: 3.55
Days left til I leave: 74

For the first time in my life, I’m going to the gym without intending to lose weight. Could I afford to lose it? Yes. I’m 34% fat, according to the tests from Monday’s training session. I could afford to lose about 40 pounds, really.

But I don’t give a whit.

When the trainer asked me what my goals were, I told her I want to have endurance and balance and feel confident walking long distances. I want to be able to hoist on my pack easily. Most of all, I told her that I wanted to feel strong. Just saying that brings tears to my eyes.

Continue reading “Why I’m not hating the gym (or myself)” →

Miles walked today: 1.4
Total training miles to date: 1.8

After the not-awful training session at the gym two days ago, I hopped in the car and drove 7 miles to the gym to walk this morning. I smirked when it occurred to me that the round-trip drive might be an average day’s walk when I’m on the Camino. Only instead of fossil fuels, I’ll be burning off my meal. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting up to more than a mile and a half to justify the drive to the gym. In the long run, I hope to be walking outdoors more.

A friend lent me a book called Finding the Camino which is a story of a mom and daughter from Newberg, Oregon who biked the route starting from Paris. Jeanne Williamson and her daughter, Lorraine, landed at the Charles de Gaulle airport, assembled their bikes, and started rolling.

Continue reading “Getting moving, getting closer” →

I believe in meaningful coincidences. Happy accidents. I believe that sometimes, in moments of doubt, the Divine acts through the people around you to let you know you’re okay where you are and that it’s safe to move ahead.

I told you about the hilarious Camino conversation with my dad.

Continue reading “The Spirit a-moving” →

On the one hand:

REI has knowledgeable service-oriented staff, an incredible return policy, and quality products. They encourage you to try stuff out. They’ll discuss the finer points of the benefit of a poncho vs. a pack cover for 10 minutes without batting an eye. The same person can walk you around the store and answer various questions. I love this.

On the other hand:

Continue reading “My love/not-quite-hate relationship with REI” →

Perhaps it should be all about soul, but I’ve got to start with my feet. The salesgirl told me today that your feet hit the ground 1500 time per mile, give or take. So what you put on your feet matters.

Including the socks, I come in at a whopping size 11.5 women’s shoe and a D width. Too bad women’s shoes come in B width and whole sizes after 10. Men’s shoes come in D width as the standard size, but are — well, they look like men’s shoes.

Continue reading “It’s all about sole” →

Thanks to some fantastic kids from the University of Michigan, I’ve learned that the first 5-7 minutes of walking each day are the hardest. They call it “the morning hobble”.

Of the videos I’ve watched about the Camino so far, this is my favorite:

Continue reading “The morning hobble” →

I’m not proud. The extent of my workout for the last N years has been the path between my office chair and the fridge in the kitchen. Ahh, self employment.

But I need to start walking more than those 30 steps or so.

Santa gave me a gym membership and I signed up for it today.

Continue reading “Remembering how to walk” →

I’m going!!

I just got my tickets — I’m elated, terrified, excited, astonished! I’m really going!!

I have Mark to thank. I came home tonight and said, “Okay. I’m going to buy the tickets and make this real. But I want a sign.” And when I opened up my email, the very first message at the tippity top was a generous gift from my dear friend Mark, entitled “Spiritual quest support.”

Continue reading “I bought the tickets!!” →

“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!”

This is Part 1, because I anticipate many more.

My leap of faith at the moment is whether and when to buy the tickets. I’ve been hedging for a week.

I realized that my financial plan isn’t 100% solid – and that unnerves me. As much as I am compelled to go on this pilgrimage, as certain as I am that this is the year to do it, I have responsibilities to my partner, my clients, and my creditors too.

Continue reading “Leaps of faith: Part 1” →