Aargh! I did the first 5 miles of C2C on Saturday, but for the first time, I was carrying a pack. For any of you that have not met me in person, I normally have a couple of liters of water in a hip pack, and that's it. Well, I decided to stash extra Gatorade along the trail at various points, so I bought two cases of Gatorade, and packed my backpack with 30 two-quart bottles. Total was just over 60 lbs. "I can make it, it'll be a little slower, that's all." Or so I thought. I was wrong.
[i][b]It is a thousand times harder with a big heavy pack on.[/b][/i] It's tricky handling the steep stair like sections that start out, my legs and my glutes were burning the whole time, my balance was bad and I kept staggering into thorn bushes (my shoulders look like a mountain lion attacked me) and it was such slow going that I was really hard pressed to cover 1 mile per hour. To sum up: I got my butt kicked.
I just don't know how you backpackers do it. But my hat's off to you, you are tough people, and you're way ahead of me.
z