We all do it. And, apparently, the average person does it for a total of five years in their lifetime. Some more than others, and I would have to be in the “more” group at the moment. (Hint: It is not rowing)
This post is fully dedicated to all the calories that make this rowing machine run. So, chew on this:
- 300 Clif bars (lots of different flavors)
- 210 dehydrated lunches/dinners
- 98 dehydrated breakfast meals
- 90 Snickers bars
- 80 Bumble bars
- 70 trail mix bags (small)
- 50 Twix, Butterfinger, and Hersheys bars
- 42 dehydrated desserts (cheesecake or chocolate pudding)
- 40 salmon or tuna packs
- 18 bags dried mango (plain and spicy)
- 12 bags of beef or turkey jerky
- 7 bags of dried plantains
- 8 bags almonds
- 12 bags cashews
- 5 bags dried cherries
- 6 bags wasabi peas
- 8 hard bread packs with almond butter
- 12 bags of crackers
- 10 bags dried pears
- 10 bags of mission fig and calamyrna figs
- 8 bags of dried peas
- 7 boxes of biscotti
- 30 sunflower packs (small)
- 200 GU Energy gels
- 100 GU Blocks
- 7 bags dried blueberries
- 40 gummies bags
- 50 fruit leathers
- 6 bags of flattened banana
- 4 bags of mangosteen
- 12 packs of chocolate covered ginger
- 4 bags of tangy almonds
- 3 bags of whey protein
- 2 packs of Fig Newtons
- 6 bags of sesame crepes
- 2 chocolate cookies bags
- Nuun electrolyte replacement tablets
- 1 sprouting kit with lots of seeds!
……………………and more! (Would love to give all the little details, but I have an ocean to row!)
Now that I am nearly halfway across, today I will be going through all this fuel, chucking some overboard (brought 110 days worth), and ensuring the boat is properly balanced. And trying to find my hidden bag of cookies!
By the time this ride is over, I shall reveal the results of my study – can there ever be too much chocolate or never enough?!
{ 40 comments }
Yum, yum
Chocolate covered ginger! I better try some of that. Sounds like accountancy may be a good career for you, or science, where we always track everything! The variety of dried foods and those which travel well is amazing. So glad you have such diversity in that realm. Looks like you are half way there; it’s so amazing! Thank you for your dedication to the cause of safe and abundant water, and thank you for sharing your amazing adventure! Via con Dios!
Lot of food! At least you won’t go hungry! What are the things that you are getting most tired of? Missing fresh fruits and veggies yet?
I say never enough! Thank you for sharing so much! I forward this stuff onto my cooworkers, because they are all so interested.
And Katie, I have your picture on my computer ‘desktop’, the on of you with the hair long that you posted near the beginning. So now I see your beautiful face every day at work. Keep up that journaling.
Have you been able to do any meditation?????
Love, Kelly
While rowing on my Waterrower today I thought of you Katie and composed a little haiku just for you.
My oars dip
I pull the ocean
beneath my boat
yummy… you have some delectable items aboard! figs and biscotti…. and, I can never get enough of chocolate-covered ginger from Sweet Designs in Lakewood. how is the sprouting kit working? you’re doing great, katie… i think that everyone is with you, with every paddle of the oars!
Just give yourself an extra treat each day by eating more of the things you like most. It’s not like your sitting all day. (OK, yes you are):) but you’re working it off. Over a thousand miles already wow, Great job.
I am so glad to hear from you. I know it’s been a long hard row! I think about you each night when I am in my bed falling asleep. I am very glad you are nearly half way through! My answer is, there can never be too much chocolate! There is a new restaurant that opened in downtown Cleveland called the Chocolate Bar. They have lots of chocolate in many forms! Perhaps you can hold a welcome home celebration there….or have a quiet dinner with your family. Yum!
Hello, I am 7 years old and I wanted to ask you have you seen any killer whales or whales yet? And what is the thing that you least like doing on the boat? Do you eat the fish when you catch them or not? I think you are very brave.
From Emily
Hello Katie,
I will reserve a huge box of chocolate for you and they will be waiting for you when you come back home.
Go Katie, Go Noble!!!
Your “quest” was a topic of discussion at the Mentor Rotary yesterday; I know you’ll enjoy speaking before the club again after a hearty lunch at LaMalfa.
Being a Kentucky native, I would have to bring some Woodford Reserve Bourbon along. How can you celebrate that 1/2 point without a shot?
Congratulations on passing through the halfway mark! You seem to be making excellent progress. We really enjoy your accounts of your experiences: things that you see and thoughts you feel. Your food inventory demonstrates the detail of thought and planning you have put into preparation. Do you worry about sharks when you go into the water? Do you have any repellant that you could readily access if needed?
The simple answer to your question is…there can never be too much chocolate. The more chocolate the better the trip vibe. Congratulations on achieving the half way point and good energy to you for the second half.
Paul
Congratulations on hitting the halfway point. Enjoy the balmy weather. We have a snow storm in Mentor tonight, Route 615 Bridge was closed. A lot of blowing and drifting snow. We talk about your row at my real estate office in Mentor. WE are all so proud of you and wish you a great adventure. Keep up the good work, stay safe and we can’t wait to welcome you home.
Never enough chocolate….
I’m right with you! Had a nice big chocolate bar last night, and am looking forward to 4 miles of removing it from my system this morning. According to the curve of the earth, you should be going downhill the rest of the way, so check your brakes, and make sure they haven’t gotten rusty.
Hi Katie,
Hope you’re doing well today (no schools of tuna…lol and your body is feeling OK).
I didn’t see any oatmeal on the list but maybe that’s just included in your dehydrated meals.
I’m tired from swimming at the Y and working out but I can’t imagine how tired you must be every day.
Stay strong.
God Speed,
Alan
Never enough chocolate, that is in the spirit of metaphor, not literally. Katie, from a fellow Buckeye, I have looked forward to how you are doing. You seem to be in good spirits approaching the halfway mark. I am excited for you, too. Your trip has brought a little spice to a barren winter season. Thanks for the enterprise, and I will donate right after I finish my comments. I cannot imagine you throwing any food, dehydrated or not, over board. Some one will have a positive use for it when you arrive. So, I hope you were speaking in jest, and just wishing the boat was lighter. While you are baking in the sun, we are shoveling out from an overnight snowstorm and Washington DC is a whiteout. All the best to you. Keep up the great work!
Ed
KATIE, DURING THE NIGHT YOU PASSED THE HALF-WAY MARK OF YOUR JOURNEY. WE ARE ALL VERY PROUD OF YOUR DETERMINATION AND ACCOMPLISHMENSA AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT, OLD MAN WINTER DUMPED A TON ON SNOW IN CELEBRATION TOO!
DOO and ellen
SNOW
Hurray for 1/2 point!
Please don’t chuck the food overboard!
Please don’t litter say the fishy’s and critters.
Open it, and dump the nutrients maybe, but “pack out your trash.” You are setting an example, please recognize the environment also!
Keep up the good work! Glad you are having fun!
WIs there any type of food that you will want the first day you finish at sea? Keep rowing and we will keep following.
Tom
Katie, you go girl! You are going to put northeast ohio on the map for something good for a change.
good job and godspeed, and Please don’t litter the ocean with waste paper.
No, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
N o t t h e S n i c k e r s ! ! !
The gummies I can condone. But g*d… Please… Don’t jettison the Snickers!
(talking to self) ok, catch your breath, all hope isn’t lost… she wouldn’t, couldn’t, be crazy enough to chuck the Snickers… I mean, maybe if she was sippin’ at the seawater, I suppose; but OMG!
.
Oh Katie, (shakes head in despair) (speaks with a weak voice) not the Snickers :*-(
katie you are such an inspiration to so many of us keep rowing girl.
Hello Katie,
From an earlier post of the hardships of rowing, you mentioned the effect of so much work on your glutes, but please remember that BB is also the initials of Bridget Bardot, another beautiful woman. As to chocolate, Abby Sunderland, a young woman who set out to solo circumnavigate by sailing, had to set into Cabo San Lucas due to power concerns and other problems. My advice to her is repeated (edited) here:
“Chocolate. Take on a pallet of chocolate. I have heard, though not confirmed, that 20 pounds (about nine kilos) of chocolate has as much vitamin A as a shred of carrot, positively making chocolate a health food. Chocolate will get you through times of no homework better than homework will get you through times of no chocolate.
…
“BTW, power failures are overrated. Chocolate will get you through a period of no power failures better than power failures will get you through a period of no chocolate. Take the chocolate–leave the power failures.”
You might guess where I stand on the question of chocolate.
I greatly admire your efforts to call attention to the problems of people having potable water. I tell everyone I meet to check out your blog.
You exhibit the best of humanity, and I thank you for doing so.
Stay strong, stay smart.
Bob
Katie – we know you are busy rowing – but just a quick pic – we need to see your smiling face!
aunt shel
Hi Katie,
I am so proud of you! Half-way that is awesome! Keep going!!
In your honor I started BootCamp training when I am running at 6:00AM my mantra is “if Katie can do it I can do bootcamp…” Thanks for the inspiration.
Gloria Escover
Way to go Katie! You are half way there!
Congratulations Katie!!! Now every pull on the oars brings you closer to the finish rather than further from the start. Doing the math I figure each pull brings you about 19 feet closer to home….1287 miles/35 days/10,000 pulls/day.
We can’t wait to see you, but enjoy every magical moment of your epic journey – and the not so magical ones too. I’m sure there’s plenty of both. Keep it up!
…By my reckoning, Katie’s a Super Heroine!!!
Come on KATIE! You got this girl! STILL GOING STRONG (me I mean… But I’m not sure my heart can stand being anxious for much longer, so…) Come on KATIE! R O W!
aside- Ouch… I almost dislocated my hip bone doing my taxes! What’s that about?
Hey Katie, I don’t see homemade Amish candy on the list or Paydays. I am so proud to know you and your communications are great! Keep up the good work, Carol
Hello Katie!
I know your getting tired of all that good quality music and comedy stuff you been rowing to. So I came up with this real humdinger of a mantra to help ya row better.
Just check out this little ditty:
Row’n Row’n Row’n
Katie’s Goin’ Row’n
Row’n Row’n Row’n
SO MUCH FUN!
Kind of stuck in your head ain’t it?
Oh, you don’t have to thank me…
I mean, what are friends for?
Ok, ok, you can thank me a little; save me a Snickers!
… It’s getting bad Katie… Please Blog again so I can stop :-\
(talking to self)
“Humph, no new Blog yet… I guess I could go get some work done… might be a good thing, getting some work done… make the boss happy… take my mind off row’n for a spell… yeah, I think I’ll go get some work done…”
___ ___ ___
Hey Katie!
I was just checking in… No news is good news, right? You keep rowing… Don’t you worry about us derelict Blog followers… We’re getting on ok… I mean we have lots of stuff to do to keep us occupied… Lots of stuff… … … Yeah… … … Work and stuff… So you keep on rowing, ok? (sighs)
Katie,
AWESOME!!! Congratulations on rowing right by the half way marker! I am so impressed and inspired as are my children (and let me tell you how hard it is to impress a 19 year-old and 14 year-old!) Please know that many thoughts and prayers are with you. BTW….you know when you travel somewhere (usually by car), the ride home seems to go much quicker than the ride there? Well, here’s hoping your ride home from half-way goes much quicker than your ride there!
Andrea
PS Never too much chocolate.
I would like to show my support to you! You are doing great!
How come that women doing long-distance adventures like yours are so positive? I also read the blogs of Jessica Watson and Abby Sunderland (round-the-world solo sailors) and Melanie King and Anne Januszewski, rowing across the Atlantic (together) in the Atlantic Rowing Race. All of you like what you do, also when there are minor troubles or not-so-perfect conditions.
A majority of the men doing such adventures complain about conditions and various hardship, for example wind against them, even if such conditions and problems must be expected during their adventure.
It is fun to read your blog. Toughness is not about talking in a tough way, but being able to handle tough conditions. Meaning you are tougher than most men doing similar things.
Best luck!
Ben Larsson, Sweden
Katie,
Thats why the tuna were banging away at your boat. Chocolate!
Row on,
Tito
Hi Katie,
I just caught your blog on a link from Jon Bowermaster and wanted to wish you good speed in your journey. I followed two rowers in their journey from Japan to SF, CA and when they made the Golden Gate Bridge I was almost as excited as they were. Do you have a target in mind for the finish? I kayak a thousand miles a year but in small trips all over the US and even in Ireland and Iceland so appreciate something so enormous but awe inspiring. Keep up the good work!
J. Scott Evans, PT , Iowa USA
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