Countdown to an Epic Journey

[Wollio]

Hi everyone, I'm Michele aka Wollio. I've just recently come into the realization that I am, in fact, a nerd though I never really saw myself as one up until recently. Throughout junior high and high school I was very into the drama and music scene at school and the only sport I've ever played was baseball when I was about 10 years old. My parents let me quit when they realized that I got excited when it was my turn to "have" to sit out an inning. 

 

Despite not being very active and having a terrible diet in high school, I was incredibly thin, even to the point of doctors accusing me of being anorexic (which I certainly was not.) Understandable when a 5'4" girl weighs 98 lbs at age 19. However, when I started holding a full-time data analyst job where I stared at a computer screen...you guessed it, I started to gain weight. 10 pounds a year to be exact. Three years in I had just had a baby, weighed 140 lbs, and had a realization that if I kept going in the same direction I wouldn't be looking too good by the time my son was in kindergarten. 

 

I started counting calories and losing weight, getting myself back to around 125 lbs where I am now. I don't plan to intentionally lose anymore weight, but have a big concern about my muscle and strength (or lack thereof.) I am extremely weak, in my opinion, and I hate it. I don't like having to ask other women at my work to open jars for me, not being able to carry my own SCUBA gear when I go diving, and not being able to go sailing with my husband by ourselves because I'm not strong enough to help him raise the mast. 

 

My husband and I are approximately one year away from starting an epic journey that we have been planning and saving for a couple of years now. Next fall, we plan to quit our jobs and buy a sailboat to live and travel around the world in. I am terrified of having something go wrong on our boat or while diving that could mean injury or worse to my son or husband because of my lack of strength and stamina. I'm not going to be the woman who had to watch her husband die because  she couldn't lift him back into the boat to get help. (Morbid I know, but my grandmother seriously watched my grandfather die in their driveway while waiting for the paramedics to arrive because she couldn't lift him into their car when he collapsed. That's not going to be me.)

 

So here are my fitness goals for the next year:

• Do 10 pull-ups in a row
• Do handstand push ups
• Bike 100 miles in a day
• Complete a triathlon 

And my life-style goals:

• Learn to cook more food from scratch... no more help from Kraft and Betty Crocker
• Save approximately $50,000 for purchase of sailboat (currently saving ~$3500/mth, just need to keep it up)
• Eliminate useless junk that won't be coming with us
• Improve posture and self-confidence

Have any suggestions for me? I'm all ears! Thanks guys!

 

[Ba'sini'on]

This is from my list, which is more of an "In-case List"

Learn CPR

Learn emergency medical aid, up to being able to perform emergency surgery

Be able to hold breath for 5 minutes

Gain tracking skills

Take extensive survival courses for all terrains: Desert, Mountain, Sea, Forest, Winter, and Jungle

Learn at least two other languages

Become able to handle different types of firearms

Learn how to cook anything out of anything

 

That's all I've got right now, but this is to help me when I join the Marines. Like you, I don't want to be caught with my knickers down so to speak. If a fellow Marine is injured and unable to get out of harms way, I want to be able carry him to safety just as quickly as the men can.

 

You and your husband's epic adventure sounds amazing! I hope your going to start a blog on your adventures. Welcome to NF BTW! Are you going to join the next challenge?

[Wollio]

Great suggestions, especially the learning languages and first aid stuff. We actually do have a blog if you would like to see it, www.followthehorizon.com.

[Wollio]

I almost forgot, I am planning to join the next challenge that comes along, I just figured it was a little late to join in the middle of this one.