I’ve been a goal setter as long as I can remember, and I truly believe in the power of written goals. Many times through the years I’d written down goals, and, without even consciously working on them, in time they were reached.
Recently, I dug out a goal list from 2010. Out of the 137 goals I’d written down, I (or John and I) had completed half of them. Three of the goals are visiting states we haven’t been to yet, which will happen in the spring of 2024. Most every other goal is something I/we no longer desire to do, so, in essence, this goal list is complete.
We swapped out one last goal for another one last week. I had a goal of running a marathon, but, because of back issues, I’ve had to hang up my running shoes. So, instead of running 26.2 miles, John and I decided to hike 21+ miles around Geneva Lake in southern Wisconsin.
The two of us arrived at a hotel in the Lake Geneva area on Monday, August 21, 2023. We had an amazing pizza dinner at Mama Cimino’s (highly recommend), and addictive popcorn for dessert — Ralph’s Caramel Gold (cheese popcorn coated in homemade caramel) — from Constant Cravings in Lake Geneva, then hit the hay.
After a decent night’s sleep and the standard free motel breakfast, we set out from the Lake Geneva Library at 8:00 the next morning. John and I were armed with walking sticks, and he carried a backpack with four 16-ounce bottles of Kangen water, granola bars, string cheese, a nut mixture, and a box of Mike & Ike fruit candy. Note to anyone considering this walk, swap out the nuts for more Kangen water (KangenWisconsin.com), and don’t bring anything (i.e. candy) that turns sticky in tropical heat.
The path around Geneva Lake, which winds through the yards of all the residents living on the lake, was spectacular. A number of the homes are literally mansions, many dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, and were built by wealthy families — a good deal from the Chicago area — with familiar names like Sears, Wrigley, and Schwinn.
This wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. The path varied from concrete, to gravel, pavers, woodchips, and dirt, and was not necessarily level, as it tilted toward the lake, and there was a good deal of hiking uphill and downhill. Thank goodness for the walking sticks, or I’d never have made it all the way around the lake, and we’d have had to resort to using the Uber app on John’s phone to get us back to our vehicle.
About a quarter of the way in, my hips started to hurt. The further I went along, the more areas of my body started complaining, from my lower back to my knees, calves, and upper arms (from holding the walking sticks). Three-quarters of the way around, I was getting exhausted and we’d run out of water. We refilled at a county park, but the tap water I consumed gave me a gut ache.
It was a gorgeous summer day with the temperature hitting 86 degrees. We were fortunate to have a fair amount of shady areas to walk through. Regardless, by the time I was done, I looked like I’d just gotten out of a sauna. Every piece of clothing I wore was wringing wet.
We started out at a decent 3 mph pace but were down to 2 mph by the end. The last 3 or 4 miles seemed to take forever. We could see the city of Lake Geneva in the distance, but it never seemed to get any closer.
Finally, some nine hours after we’d started our trek, we made our way into the city. I was never so happy to see a public library in my life! I collapsed onto a bench while John went the extra couple blocks to get the car. All together, we walked about 26 miles that day. So, in essence, I did complete that marathon.
The nice thing about crossing something off your goal list is that you don’t have to do it again. As beautiful as the day was, and as gorgeous as the scenery was, the walk was grueling, to put it lightly. That being said, we continually expressed our gratitude for the opportunity for this experience as we went, and we tried to take in everything around us, from the wildlife to the stunning flowers to the serene lake. John knew that I was hurting, and he was so encouraging. He kept telling me what a great job I was doing.
What an awesome feeling it was to complete this. For the rest of our lives, John and I will be able to say that we walked around the entire Geneva Lake. That, in and of itself, made the whole adventure worthwhile.