Family Climb of Blue Mountain
All posts by Kristen Baumann
Beausoleil Island Push-ups
If I have to train, there aren’t many places I’d rather be than on Georgian Bay.
Taking Advantage of Great Weather
Today, Cindy & I enjoyed a beautiful 2.5 hour hike at Awenda Park. The fall leaves are starting, and the view from the beach was amazing! Hopefully I can make a habit of long walks on sunny Wednesdays.
Hiking Blue Mountain
I took the advice of CTG OT Lindsay Amey and hiked up Blue Mountain a couple times. Wore the pack with 20lb weight and enjoyed my first hike with my poles. My friend, Cindy Thor, joined me and our best time up Cascade Trail was 19 minutes.
Four Months
Four months from now I will be on the plane – flying to Africa!! It is exciting, thrilling and very scary all at the same time. I will admit that in the past nine years the longest I have been away from my girls is 3 nights. And now, I plan to be half way across the world for 12 days! They will have a fantasic “Daddy & Girls” time – but I will miss them all like crazy!
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Making Progress
My training continues to progress. This week I took 10 minutes off the “long, hilly walk”. I held a plank for just over 2 minutes. And, this morning I did 11 push-ups (admittedly, they were not consecutive – but 5+3+3=11!)
Long Hilly Walk – with my pack
This morning’s training was a long walk – 2 hours, 13km of hills, with a 20lb pack. I wore my hiking boots to continue to break them in.
The walk felt great, but my feet were glad when it was over!
Plank Challenge
My strength work-out has been shaken up – and includes a plank (to exhaustion). Lisa Longman (CTG CSA) said her best plank time is 1 minute – and challenged me to beat it. What’s your best plank time – post in the comments! 🙂
CTG PT Help
For a few weeks I switched up my hour walk to a run/walk…but my hips didn’t like it. Today CTG PT, Nadine Leiper, assessed me, and has added some new strength exercises for my hip stabilizers. I will continue with a fast walk, until I get stronger.
Push-Up!!!
I did my 1st real, nose-to-the-ground, military-style push-up today!!!!
Closing the Gap & Outward Bound Partnership
A press release was made today, announcing the partnership between Closing the Gap Healthcare Group and Outward Bound Canada. View it here.
Kristen 1, Hills 0
I am (un)fortunate to live at the highest point in Midland. There are 8 parallel streets that lead from downtown up to this side of town. Every week I have been adding another hill to my training regimen. This morning I finished the circuit – I biked up and down all 8 hills! As my quads were burning and my lungs were screaming – I just told myself that if I can’t make it up a hill in Midland….how will I ever make it up to the highest point in Africa? My kids are tired of hearing me proudly tell them every Wednesday that “Mommy biked up this hill this morning”.
Approved for Takeoff!
My passport arrived today! I am legally able to travel to Africa!
I’ll be needing that passport on January 12, 2014 @ 8:30pm!
Sarah Wiley
Today I met Sarah Wiley, the executive director of Outward Bound Canada. She participated in the Huronia Triathlon (and won her age group!), so my family & I met her after the race to chat.
Sarah has climbed Kilimanjaro on a few occasions before. She shared with us that last year two of the ten climbers did not reach the Summit – but other years all of the participants did summit. We learned that for the ten participants and two OBC guides, there will be approximately 40 support people from Chagga Tours – Guides, Porters, Cooks, Wait Staff, one poor sole has the responsibility to transport our latrine.
Day #2 – another great day!
We are now at Shira Camp. I am sad to say that my cell connection is not good, so I realize these blog posts are not getting posted in a timely manner (or at all). I will write anyway.
Today was another fantastic day. We walked for almost 7 hours, and gained about 900 meters of elevation. The landscape is Mooreland. The bushes are lower, the rocks are mossy. We had another great day of weather – no rain, and a comfortable temperature. I was even in a tank and shorts for part of the day.
The porters and guides with Chagga tours are great. They are so caring. We arrive to camp and have hot drinks waiting, tents are set up, and they bring us a basin of water to wash.
I am taking in every moment of this adventure. Thank you all – I love this 🙂
Sent from my BlackBerry.