My wife and I are planning to thru hike the AT in 2017

I’m excited to be getting my first backpack at the end of April and really get started on this AT adventure finally. With the backpack I will begin to feel like a hiker.

As far as sports and money go this isn’t really bad. The big items are a backpack, tent, and sleeping bag. You can get crazy expensive with the other stuff but you don’t have to in order to have a good time.

Versus $1100 to $4000 for a triathlon bike, $90 to $120 for triathlon kits. $130 for running shoes (I’m a Newton snob!) another $100 for cycling shoes, $70 for the GOOD glasses, $30 for a running hat, etc. It all adds up so fast!

So for less than $1000 you can be almost ready for the AT. Well, that is if you buy the right gear the first time. I’m certain that as we do the “shake down hikes” we will need to get some gear changed out. RE: Gear Tweaking! So maybe a little more than a grand for the NEW stuff, I’m looking for the “gently used” stuff that didn’t work for someone else but will work for me. I’m planning on hiking in trail runners so less than $100 for shoes for me! I might need 4-6 pairs but after hearing of all the boot horror stories I’ll stick with sneakers and Vapor Barrier Liners (VBL’s) for when it’s snowy, wet, and cold.

The wool socks that hikers are using today are really awesome. Not like the wool socks that made my feet itch so much that I thought I was allergic to them as a kid. They are warm to me but NOT hot. I’m thinking of switching into hiking socks full time. They feel really great, don’t bunch up like cotton and keep the moisture away from my feet too.

I’m amazed that as I do and learn sporting activities how much the skills and tools of the sport help me in other aspects of life.

As a diabetic I have low blood sugars. The doctors recommend things like glucose tablets to bring blood sugar up and I’ve learned that I need 45g of carbs or more to bring me to the land of normal (for me that is between 90-120). The tablets are very chalky, I need water to choke them down and I need 3 of them. OR I can have 1 GU pack and get by for another 20-30 minutes. I much prefer the GU’s. The GU’s last a long time in storage (yes they have an expiration date, but so do the tablets.) I attended a diabetes class last year and the educator and dietician hadn’t heard of them so I gave them the 2 I keep in my cooler (diabetes kit) and they thought it was a great idea. They liked all the flavor options too.

If I had never started training for a marathon, I never would have learned about GU’s and their family of products that I will probably need on the Appalachian Trail.