May 1, 2018: Physical Preparation

Greetings, all!

As the countdown towards our trip continues, I thought it might be helpful to talk about specific areas of preparation! (I tried to come up with a helpful acronym but unfortunately, nothing was working.)

These areas of preparation are as follows! 

- Physical Preparation 

- Emotional Preparation 

- Spiritual Preparation 

- Mental Preparation 

- Relational Preparation 

- Financial Preparation 

This week, I want to talk about Physical Preparation! If you look at the photo included in this post, you will see an image that I screenshot from Google Maps that was taken in June of 2017 (as you might be able to see by the little compass icon in the bottle right-hand corner). This will be a portion of our walking tour route in Prague! What you might not be able to tell from this photo is that this walk is relatively steep. How steep, do you ask? 

Well, let's just say that by the end of this 17-minute walk, we will have ascended (or gone up) 249. 34 feet. 

If that doesn't boggle your mind, consider that we will be ascending a hill at a pace of almost FIFTEEN feet per minute. 

Given that multiple sources, including National Geographic, rank Illinois as the second flattest state in the entire United States, such a walk might easily spell doom for our unaccustomed little legs. 

You might be thinking, "Ah, I'm fine! I'm an athlete!" Or perhaps even, "I'm thin! So it's a bit of an incline! Big deal!"

Let's take a moment to read a brief testimonial from local Zumba Instructor and Team Secretary, Brittany Smith, who visited Prague for the first time last September. 

"As someone who teaches Zumba 3 times a week, I was quite confident in my ability to walk up some cobblestone roads and a few flights of stairs. But alas, I was wrong--my knees were shaking, my legs were quaking, and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. What I thought was a mild incline was actually a subtle attempt to turn my legs into Jello." 

Given this, I want you to take a look at the two older women who I purposely captured in this screenshot. Residents of Prague are used to this sort of walk, even the elderly, but those of us from the 2nd flattest state may have a little more trouble with it. So what does this mean? Prepare your body! Prepare your legs! Walk up the hill at Blackwell Forest Preserve. Set the incline on your treadmill a few notches higher. Use the stair stepper. Be PREPARED! Even if you don’t do these things, it will be worth it once we get to the top. However, I can tell you from experience that it’s a lot more enjoyable when you aren’t stopping every few minutes to “pause and take pictures” when you’re really just trying to catch your breath.