Am I ready? I mean, really-really ready?

Well, here it is, the "long anticipated" 2010 July 4 weekend, the Saturday morning before the "one week to go point", and the "last chance" to get all the gear ready for travel. It seems like "just last week" we had 9 months to go and now here it is! I know-I know I'm talking in clichés, but nerves have robbed me of my own cleverness, so they'll have to do.

I've chatted with Nancy F. a few times through the last week; she WAS sharing my case of nerves but seems to have found her inner calm (which annoys me just a tiny bit - yes, my "misery really does love company"). Lynn, I'm sure, is her same stoic self without one little doubt that she's prepared absolutely as much as she can (I'm avoiding her this week - her confidence is definitely not good company for my apprehension), and I have a feeling Nancy D. and Shelley are both equally as unflappable, although they both live too far away and other than a few email exchanges here and there, we don't communicate a great deal. In preparation for the Kilimanjaro climb, Nancy F. and Nancy D. are climbing with a group of friends this coming Thursday and Friday to 10,000 feet to help acclimate themselves to higher altitudes, Lynn spent a few weeks in Telluride, CO, training in higher altitudes, and from what I understand Shelley has some hills in her area to help her train, but none of significant elevation to help her train for thin air.

You know, the single most common question I've been asked is, "how do you train for high altitude in the flatlands of east central Illinois?" Well I tell you - aside from the little Powerlung machine I bought, I don't. I have the prairie and the football stadium ramps, which by the way, thanks to Howard and Lenny for giving me permission to train there, have been perfect for building strength in my legs, core and arms, but I don't think 5 stories makes for good altitude training...maybe, but I'm thinking I need to get at least as high as Denver, CO to do any good...Did I mention that's the highest I've ever been and it was only a 2-hour layover at the mile high airport and that Denver is not quite 1/3 as high as the mountain I'm climbing? It's true, but I've been thinking...you know how in gambling there's beginner's luck...you know those first few wins that keep a perfectly sane person at the craps table way longer than is logical hoping to feel the high from that first win just one more time....Well, I'm really-really hoping that altitude acclimation works the same way and my body will say, "well this is a little different, but let's ride it out for a few days and see what happens" and by the time it realizes what's going on, I'll be back on reasonable ground, no worse for the wear. So for those folks who have asked what I'm doing to train for 19,340 ft... this is my brilliant "game plan".

So, am I ready? Thanks to Darnell Cox, my trainer, and his team at iPower and NutritionPlus, I'm more physically fit than I've ever been in my life; thanks to Champaign Surplus and my very own team of gear specialists, Lynn, Dan, Steve and the staff of CS who have ALL been more than expertly helpful, my gear is of top quality and my gear list has been quadruple checked to make sure not one little thing has been overlooked; thanks to TPHWellness, I have really cool technical bamboo clothes to wear that will help with blood and oxygen flow; thanks to my boss, I've been able to ramp-up my training significantly for the last month and have seen a huge increase in my strength and endurance; thanks to my Facebook friends, our entire climbing team will have the very best prayers lifting us up the mountain; and last but not least, thanks to my husband, I not only know exactly where to stand on the mountain when my picture is being taken, so I "don't fall off", I also have all the moral support a person could ask for, so yes, I truly believe, I'm ready.

For those of you, who are Facebook users, Verizon Wireless is loaning us a global phone with global data access. They believe that we will be able to post pictures and blog to Facebook during the climb. Our friend, Lisa, has created a Facebook events page, which we were able to make accessible to all FB users, whether you're on one of our FB friend lists or not. The page is called "Nancy&Lori Climb". You can easily find this by using the Facebook search option. If our connection allows it, we will be blogging along the way, answering questions and posting pictures. Please join us there between July 11-24 to follow along as we climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.