OK, I'll admit it. I could stand to lose a few pound. And going to the gym is a chore rather than a pleasure for me. I'm always searching for motivation. So I decided to give up on the gym and run across Middle-earth. Well, I'll still be on the treadmill, but I'll be tracking my progress across Middle-earth, starting at Bag End and hopefully one day reaching Mount Doom. I started with three miles yesterday. That puts me over the Hill and across the Water, through Hobbiton and a ways down the Bywater Road. Given that Bilbo ran this stretch as he hurried to catch up with the dwarves..well, all I can say is that Prof. Tolkien must have exaggerated how out-of-shape Bilbo was. Or maybe the Shire is less hot and humid than my gym.
I'll give updates at major landmarks. But right now, Buckland is looking very far away.
Well, it took Frodo and Sam about thirty seconds of screen time to do it in the films, and it took the hobbits about three chapters to do it in the books, but I have finally left the Shire. Granted, I'm only running three miles at a time, and I don't run every day. Looks like the next milestone is Bree, which is about fifty miles up the Great East Road. See you at the sign of the Prancing Pony!
