The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Welcome to 2010 -- a new year and decade. A new chance to establish personal goals, large and small.
But instead of setting arbitrary objectives in early January that most of us won't achieve, what if the New Year was simply a time to dream big about your life and yourself?
We talked to three Georgians who have completed goals most of us wouldn't dare pursue. Tyler Marlow hiked the 2,176-mile Appalachian Trail. Terri O'Leary has run marathons in all 50 states. Tom Burch has run marathons on all seven continents.
They set out to succeed in the arena of themselves, competing against their own merit, rather than the speed, strength and stamina of others. And they didn't hold themselves to a 365-day deadline.
Tyler Marlow, 19
Tyler Marlow's friends and family didn't take him seriously when he announced his big plan for 2009: to hike the Appalachian Trail.
"They said ‘Sure, you do that,' " he recalls. “I’m always talking about something I plan to do or want to do. I’ve got a lot of big ideas."
Marlow, of Lawrenceville, set out to prove them wrong.
"It's the pinnacle of hiking and something I always had in the back of my mind," he said.
While completing his freshman year at Georgia State University, where he studies anthropology and middle childhood education, Marlow mapped out his course. He estimated the 2,176.3 mile journey from Maine to Georgia would take him roughly five months to complete. His mother, LuAnn, would provide food, mailing him care packages for pickup along the way. Despite the hefty hike ahead of him, the active teen did minimal physical preparation.
He began his trek on June 17 in Monson, Maine, accompanied only by his dog, a Huskie named Icarus.
"I was terrified out of my mind the whole first week. Not of bears or snakes or people in the woods, but that I was alone 2,000 miles away from anyone I knew.”
Marlow met a few friends along the way, people from different walks of life but who had the same goal in mind. He was struck by their stories and what brought them to the trail. Some had lost jobs, others were seeking adventure.
“Everybody came from totally different walks of life, but we all had one thing in common… something ridiculous that we wanted to accomplish,” he said.
Despite those meetings, he walked mostly in solitude with Icarus from June to October, rain or shine, sleeping mostly in shelters along the trail. Three and a half months in, he endured a heartbreaking loss: his beloved pet was accidentally struck by a car in Virginia.
"It was the first time I really considered going home," he said. "But it would've been harder for me to be home. At that point the trail was my home... I had something to do. I had a purpose. I had a goal."
Marlow lovingly cremated Icarus and carried her with him the rest of the way, scattering her remains on Springer Mountain in North Georgia. On Oct. 30, his family and friends met him at the end of the trek. Exhausted and sick from an illness that struck him the last day, he wasn't sure he was ready to go home.
"I was ready to see my family and friends, but I wasn't ready for the trail to be over," he said. "It was incredible realizing that milestone was [reached], but I didn't feel like I was done."
Marlow and other hikers he met on the trail talked about what motivated them to finish the entire journey. In their view, it wasn't just physical strength: the true test was one of mental fortitude.
"There wasn't an ‘I'll go as far as I can,' " he said. "It was always, ‘I'll finish.' "
Now the teen has his sights on another monstrous goal: walking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.
"That's the next trail I want to do, but I'll probably wait until I graduate."
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