Episode #127 - Randy Forest (PT)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 ā¢ 599 Ratings
šļø 17 January 2019
ā±ļø 65 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
When Randy Forrest reached out to me so that he could tell his own story of hiking the Appalachian Trail as a member of the Class of 2018, I knew straight away that I'd found a man changed by the experience.
Like many people, Randy came to the trail via YouTube, comments made in passing, and the end of his career. The challenge appealed to him, so he planned accordingly.
We all rely upon good fortune to get us to the end and most of us fear a hike-ending injury. A fractured ankle would normally fall into that category but Randy wasn't to be denied. Ignoring his doctor, Randy hurried back to theĀ trail to pursue his dream and made it all the way, seven months after settingĀ out.
You canĀ follow some of his journey on YouTube atĀ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXTUWYqN3qb_kQgaE8zG5lg,Ā as well as Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/randy.forrest.79Ā and InstagramĀ atĀ https://www.instagram.com/rforrest719/.
In my preparations for my upcoming hike, you'll hear that I'm still second (sometimes third) guessing myself and making about as much progress at this stage as I'd always expected to make, ie, very little.Ā
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we talk the walk with shows by hikers |
| 0:05.3 | about hikers for everybody. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:33.8 | Hi everybody and thanks once more for downloading our little show. This is episode number 127 of |
| 0:39.4 | Marty Blue on the Appalachian Trail and this week we have another happy member of the class of 2018. |
| 0:44.8 | Randy Forrest or PT reached out to me as he was coming down from his high of finishing the |
| 0:49.5 | Applection Trail. I'm really enjoying getting these reactions to such a life-changing event and as you've |
| 0:55.3 | doubtless notice, everybody seems to go through something of an epiphany in their lives. |
| 0:59.9 | I may be wrong, but I can't imagine anybody completing this and remaining entirely unchanged. |
| 1:05.5 | In some ways, and I've been thinking a little bit more about this, it may be a little bit of |
| 1:09.5 | the reason that I want to go again. It's not that I'm necessarily particularly unhappy with who I am, but we can all |
| 1:15.7 | do with some improvement, can't we? In his previous life, Randy was a probation officer, so I'd |
| 1:21.4 | imagine the trail was quite a revelation to him as well. Randy will be on soon. Once again, |
| 1:26.6 | from middle section, I'm talking about my somewhat sporadic preparation for |
| 1:29.8 | the AT this year, and I'm back on the subject of tents and backpacks. |
| 1:33.8 | Finally, there's Day 25 of the Year we seize the Day by Elizabeth Best and Colin Bowles. |
| 1:39.2 | They're getting there, but for Colin, it is still a hard, hard road. |
| 1:44.1 | So now let's meet Randy, or PT, which is still a hard, hard road. |
| 1:48.6 | So now let's meet Randy, or PT, which is short for probation termination. |
| 1:58.9 | Okay, today's guest, Randy Forrest, was kind of so excited about his 2018 through hike. |
| 2:00.6 | He wanted to share it with all of us. And after just about one or two, maybe three messages between us, we made it happen. Hi, Randy. How are you? I'm doing great today. How about you, Steve? I'm good. It's three Kings Day here in Spain. And I've just been celebrating that at lunch. It's now about 4 o'clock in the afternoon over here, and I believe it's about |
| 2:18.6 | 10.30 in the morning where you are. Is that right? That's correct. Now that I know it's three Kingsday, |
| 2:24.0 | I might start celebrating over here too. Quite right, too. I've got a six hours head start |
... |
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