The Way-My Way: Count down

Time is moving one and its now less than 6 months until i board the plane to the UK, My first flight has been booked and i just have the forwarding flight from London to Biarritz to book, I have sat down with a friend who is coming along with me to sort the itinerary so that i can now book the final flight and the first 2 nights accommodation, Once that's done and i hope it will in the next week i can relax and concentrate on my fitness,
I have increased my walking and i am lucky to live a very scenic area with lots of trails, I walk on the MST which is the mountains to sea trail, Which not yet finished will stretch from the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina to the NC coastline, Around 900 miles, The trails are through thick woodland and at this time of year very colorful, the leaves are now starting to drop and the trails are getting somewhat tricky, Only last week i took a tumble and quite a heavy one, I now use my hiking poles all the time, Which help if you go over on a rock/root or just wet leaves, The poles also help getting up and down the slopes and are said to take up to 20% off of your weight,
I have started using an APP on my Phone called Runkeeper which i have to say is awesome and free which is even better, Runkeeper tells you your distance,average speed and time which you can set, I have mine at the default of 5 mins and yes it tells you by voice, This is a good as well as bad thing as it makes you somewhat competitive and if your speed drops slightly i feel myself increase my pace, Purely physiological i guess, I train with 2 friends as well as on my own so have different speeds for each, I am currently walking 3-4 times a week up to 12 miles and a minimum of 7, My best week so far is around 50 miles and a max of 15 miles, I am at a stage of being very comfortable at 12 miles and with 5+ months still to go am very confident for the trip, I am not having any problems with blisters or hotspots which is a god send, Last year i was getting hotspots and managed 1 blister but after months of trial and error have come up with a combination that suits my feet and i stress MY feet and will not suit everybody, Some people swear on liner socks, Vaseline/sportslick, talc etc etc, I have tried all the above but just simply use my Salomon x ultra mid GTX boots with smartwool ultra light hiking socks and thats it, Since increasing my milage i am having 2 small problems, I have inner arch ache on my right foot and a pain in my left ankle that i have a pin and screw in from an accident many years ago, I dont think theer is much i can do re the left foot buy i am keeping an eye on the right foot to make sure that i do not get Plantar fasciitis, On my walk which was a very fast 11 miler i used some drop in Plantar fasciitis insoles that i purchased from walmart and they seemed to help, I may see a foot doctor just to make sure, better to get theses things sorted now, one thing that has happened is an increase in foot size, I think this may be a lowering of the arch caused by walking which is stretching the foot, I am now nearly a full size bigger than a year ago!! You will need to take this into account when selecting shoes/boots and i would always advise getting a full half size bigger than normal to allow for feet swelling and to stop black toe which is caused by your toes hitting the ends of the shoe when going down hill-you will loose toe nails if this happens, REI have a great returns policy and if you are a member and have shoe/boot problems you can return them within a year,
Since i increased my distance and effort the pounds seem to be falling off and i have dropped 17+LB in the last few months which is a big benefit, My last doctors visit showed big improvements to my health with decreased cholesterol, I wonder what my weight will be after walking 500+ miles,
I have hit the stores especially during the sales and now have some REI waterproof trousers which fit very nicely, The feel is of quality and they were very reasonable, I have yet to walk in heavy rain so will report back on that one, My outfitter of choice is Eddie Bauer, I have been a fan ever since living in the States, Everything washes nicely and feels as good as the day i purchased it, I have all kinds of layers, My problem at the moment is that i am shrinking weight wise and things are getting too big for me, Which is better than the other way around, I think i will need to replace a few things before i go and the boots will be one of them, Not that the soles are wearing badly but i have put 600+miles on them already, The insoles i feel may have compressed so a month or 2 before the off i will get another pair and give them a few walks to break them in,
I have purchased a camera for the trip, Being a photographer i though it would be easy but the selection of smaller cameras is huge, Image quality is very important so that means a larger sensor than most compacts, My mind was set on a Sony RX 100 but after looking around i settled on a Fujifilm XM1, My budget was around $800 so the Fujifilm XE2 was out of the question, The XM1 uses the same sensor which is 16mp, More than enough, The camera is lightweight and you can buy some very nice lenses if you want to make it into a proper system, I have a thinktank camera bag that fits onto the backpack strap so its always at hand without getting in the way, Obviously i would love to take my Nikon Dslr but the weight would be a PITA so it will stay at home,

Walking the MST at Falls lake