Marathon

I was going to hike the A.T. last year leaving around the same time but decided to push it back a year for a few reasons , at the time i was pretty bummed about not going ,but looking back now I don't regret it for a second.
I was able to do things the proper way, spending time with family members and new and old friends, I  accomplished goals I set to myself and really solidified my desire to go hike.
Because I stayed I was able to finish getting my captain's license  (a process I was working on for 5 yrs)  Also I dedicated myself to training for a marathon that was ran on the  3rd of January.  (After training for 26 weeks I'm now obsessed with running and accomplished something I never thought I'd be able to do.)

So as the trail comes speeding towards me it's bringing alot of things into perspective.  I have a really good life filled with truly great people. Leaving will be hard for many reasons but my mantra while I was training for the marathon was this, "No matter how hard it gets, it's always worth it in the end"  so I will hold true to this while on the trail. Under no circumstances will I give up, I know saying that now is one thing and it will really be tested once I'm doing 20 miles a day and walking through a foot of snow  and dodging lightning  on mountain tops while sleep deprived and hangry (but that is what makes it awesome right;)

I recently posted a video on a YouTube channel that I plan to keep updated along the trail. 
https://youtu.be/FllpsvmN4UA

This morning I'm out to go for a trail run with a really great group of people who I met because I stayed this year.