One of the things I always struggle with after an expedition is the fact that my body is accustomed to a massive caloric intake but my physical output decreases dramatically. While this may be a benefit come dessert time on Thanksgiving, most days, I struggle with trying to decrease from my expedition diet of over 6,000 calories per day to a normal 2,500.

To make matters worse, my travel schedule and constant back pain have put a substantial kink in my work out schedule to the tune of not really doing anything for the past two weeks. Luckily, that all ended yesterday.

I tend to remain in pretty decent physical condition year-round, but travel and life always get in the way. Therefore, I seem to be on a roller coaster of fitness. After a down period, I always dread that first workout. Yesterday was no different. Stiff and tired, I put on my Scarpa running shoes and heading out. UGH. 'This isn't going to end nicely,' I thought to myself.

But if there is one thing I've learned over the years is that one instant isn't always the same as the next and if you can stick with something long enough things usually change. It is so easy to get discouraged at the beginning of something big. Surprisingly enough, I find myself saying 'begin with one step' in all sorts of situations these days.

A very special thanks goes out to Elisabeth Harincar (and Tim and the rest of the folks who helped) who hosted an incredible Cool to be Cold party in at Webexpeditions HQ in Minneapolis. There were friends, members of the Explorers club, journalists, other arctic adventurers as well as lots of fun. The invite said the party would last until 2 in the morning, but as my age increases my desire for a rock and roll lifestyle decreases exponentially.

I also managed to score a nice holiday weekend with my family. It's the first Thanksgiving that I've been with relatives in a while. The last two years I've been in Antarctica eating freeze dried food and Clif bars. Try explaining the meaning of Thanksgiving to a Chinese or Belgian guy freezing his you-know-what-off at 30 below! Still, an expedition team is like a family and we enjoyed our reconstituted mush with smiles and thankfulness.

I was talking to Maria during our drive to Wisconsin about the differences in my life from a few years ago. It's more than a little nice to be on the tail end of a successful trip and I feel waves of relief daily. Three years ago, I was talking about an expedition that no one seemed interested in, had no financial backing, feeling pretty down and pretty much overwhelmed with everything. I almost gave up. Many times.

The last few weeks have been fairly chaotic. I've done a few presentations in Minnesota and Wisconsin which have been really incredible. In Minneapolis last weekend I was inducted into the Midwest Mountaineering Explorer Hall of fame - a big honor as far as I'm concerned. It's an incredible feeling to be viewed in the same light as my own adventure heroes (Will Steger and Ann Bancroft). My frosty mug (face) was positioned next to my old expedition partner Lonnie Dupre, a fact that was not lost on either of us. At the Webexpedition's party that same weekend Lonnie commented off handedly, 'they stuck you next to me.' We both laughed.

My presentation at Midwest went well, but I got a little (read: way too much) choked up at the end. Standing up in front of those people sharing my experiences, the full impact of what I had done finally sunk in. Not from the 'wow look at me I'm amazing perspective', but rather from the 'I can't believe I actually pulled this off' view. So many things could have gone wrong at any step along the way. Pulling off just one of those trips is an amazing feat. I thought about all the people who have helped, the struggles along the way, how I almost gave up at so many times... Why Explore? I asked the audience.

It was a personal relief when I was able to stutter out the last few words of my presentation. I was surprised at my emotions but realized that I is only now that I am beginning to realize the impact of these experiences.

In somewhat related news. I will be giving a free presentation on December 1st at 7pm in Cedarburg, Wisconsin at the Cedarburg High School. If you're in south eastern Wisconsin, I would love to see you there!

Image: Prayer Flags outside of Pheriche.