ABC: It's Simple as 1-2-3 (NOT)

I’m at “Advanced Base Camp” (ABC; see below) of my current walk/run 5K+ per day streak (#265, as of June 23). Most recently (June 20; #262), I completed Three Seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring) of workouts, all outdoors, in all temperatures and conditions, mostly by upping my protective-clothing and running-shoe “games.”

ABC is not my ultimate destination, which is #286 (a new PR), three weeks away. That said, this was no small achievement. While I have worked out all 31 days of August three times previously, the scorching heat and humidity of late June and all of July have been mastered but once before.

What is Base Camp?

According to Matthew Du Puy , the 17th American to summit K2, and fifth to summit Annapurna, not to mention Everest and Denali, “ … on any big expedition, you drive as far as the road takes you, then you walk until you need a rope to be safe.

“Base camp is where that rope starts and you keep your supplies … Base camp is a camp of relative safety at the bottom of a mountain that requires a staged climb, generally out of the fall line of any avalanches but not always so. It is also something most people can walk to or transport supplies to with pack animals.?

“In big expeditions, there is usually a meal tent, solar or generators to recharge radios and headlamps, etc., a base camp manager, perhaps even a medic and other non-climbing staff. Past any base camp is where the real climb begins on most mountains. ?

“Most climbers define climbing as any movement made on a mountain that you use a rope or other technical safety gear like an ice axe. Many climbs have an Advanced Base Camp (ABC). A place where you can get to with relative ease but requires travel through potentially hazardous areas or require a few technical moves to get to but can be serviced by porters or other visitors so long as they are aware of the increased risk getting there.

On K2, this is usually up the glacier from base camp at the foot of the Abruzzi ridge. On Everest, South Col , this is camp 2” (Elevation: 7,906 m (25,938 ft). The Everest Base Camp trek on the south side, at an elevation of 5,364 m (17,598 ft), is one of the most popular trekking routes in the Himalayas and about 40,000 people per year make the trek there from Lukla Airport.?

Next up on the “ridge”: ?

--?LB Isle Smile (Loveladies Escape): #267 (June 25)

--?Sexi-genarian (birthday to pre-birthday): #271 (June 29)

--?Nine-Month “Jest Station” #273 (July 1)

--?Sloth Independence Day (Spirit of #276) (July 4)

--?Verizon Corporate Classic 5K & PR #286 (July 14)

?Before I enter the so-called “death zone ” of my current fitness challenge—a record from 19 years ago that I thought I would never break again—I would love to know what you consider to be your Everest goal (lifetime legacy), your Advanced Base Camp in getting there (“point of no return,” also known as “crossing the Rubicon,” “burning the boats,” etc.), your current stretch-goal quest or pilgrimage.

What is it that drives you through the gauntlet of adversity—and what is your go-to approach, workaround, or “hack” (heuristic) that helps to separate you from the pack? Or from the bounds of your own reality?

Till then … Happy Trails ??