The most frequent question of late is "How are you going to do this?"
Plan but Flex
The most important feature of the plan is "be flexible". We have a template for how we expect each day to flow; however, we know that "things will happen"--weather, how I feel on a given day, and a world of potential but unforeseen issues.
Overnight
We are not camping. We will be staying overnight in nearby cities and communities for two reasons. 1) It will give me a better chance to rest. 2) Staying in nearby communities gives us to experience what's around the Parkway (and tell you about it).
Mostly Morning Running
We'll do most of the running in the morning. Day 1 starts at 9 AM, but depending on who is running with me and weather conditions, we could start anytime between 7 AM and 10 AM. We hope to be finished most days by 1 PM. We expect the run will take between 3.5 and 5 hours each day.
Sustaining the Effort
The goal is to cover roughly 20 miles per day. I'll let the running pace, amount of walking, breaks balance the total effort for the day based on how I feel and the difficulty of the terrain. I'll stop at least every 4-5 miles for water, fuel, take photos, and hopefully meet folks. If we must, we'll take a day off.
Down Time
The afternoons will be spent getting to the next place to stay, resting, visiting communities, and blogging the day's events.
Documenting the Journey
We will post blogs, videos, and photos on RelayWithRay.Com/blog/; however, most of the photos will go on BRPWeather.Com. The newest feature on BRPWeather.Com is that any reader can now post photos on the BRPWeather.Com map and comment on other photos. We'll populate the map with photos in hopes that our efforts will spur you to upload your best Parkway photos there as well. This new feature is cool enough to become the "Instagram of the Blue Ridge Parkway".
Enjoy!
We'll do our best to take you along for the journey in a way that is fun and informative. It all starts Tuesday!
Ray, good luck on your adventure and sounds like you have received some great advice on how to handle this adventure. Just a small tip from someone who has been there ( 500 miles across the state of Washington, 350 miles across Indiana, 210 miles across N.J. the long way): take it easy the first couple of days. I can see if Tuesday is a nice day you will hit 20 & still feel good and be thinking of doing a few more to ” get some in the bank” DON’T If you take it easy at the beginning you will find that your body will get stronger as you go along and will assure yourself that you will make it all the way. I will try to catch you around 288. Have fun & enjoy, Dick
“Discipline when I feel good.” That’s my mantra.