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NATURE LOVER AMY LAM spent 127 gruelling days completing the 3,500km-long Appalachian Trail back in 2005 without real physical training. She is seen here at the finish point at Mount Katahdin. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMY LAM
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WHEN Amy Lam suddenly told her family she was going to hike the United States' 3,500km Appalachian Trail, they said she was crazy.
The nature lover had never tackled anything more gruelling than a full-day hike, and now she was aiming to complete the world's longest marked foot trail - the equivalent of walking around Singapore more than 350 times over 127 days.
'My brother asked me if I was nuts; my family was worried,' said the grandmother of three of her 2005 adventure.
But Ms Lam, then 55, was determined: 'I was coming to that age where if I had not done it then, I would never have been able to and I wanted to see if I was physically and mentally capable of it.'
Five million steps, one fall, two worn-out pairs of shoes and two blisters later, she emerged victorious - 15kg lighter and with a proud record to her name.
More than 9,000 people have hiked the entire track but trail authorities say she is the first Singaporean to complete the trip.
This month, urged by her family, Ms Lam, now 58, put her account and pictures of the trip into a book and is giving talks to groups that include nature lovers and hikers. She also has her own blog.
She first heard about the 70-year-old Appalachian Trail while living in Florida in the late 1980s but shelved ideas of hiking it because her two daughters were still young. It was after her first granddaughter was born in 2000 that the notion resurfaced.
She had just moved back to Singapore to document her family tree and 'was losing it in this concrete jungle...and wanted to be at one with nature again'. She had spent a lot of time walking when living in Norway between 1975 and 1985.
The Appalachian Trail idea resurfaced and she researched the trip before doing a four-day preparatory hike.
She had no real physical training. Her main form of exercise was, and still is, pre-sunrise walks in East Coast Park, near her home in Marine Crescent, and living healthily, she added.
But before setting out, she was dragged into the clinic of her cardiologist-brother Leslie Lam to check that her ticker could take the trip.
And rather than going solo, she hiked with three others with a van meeting them at trail-heads with gear, food and water. This allowed them to walk without their packs. But some areas were inaccessible to cars, so she still had 13 days with a full load.
After cropping her hair, she set off on April 30, 2005, starting in Georgia's Springer Mountain before winding her way through six national parks, eight national forests and touching on 14 states.
Needless to say, there were days when she wanted to give up, and some terrifying encounters with rattlesnakes and even bears.
'Some days I asked myself if I was crazy...But you try not to think about it, and use the time you have to reflect on life,' said Ms Lam.
But complete itshe did, experiencing a feeling she describes as 'beyond words'.
Ms Lam said she has always gone out on a limb in living her life.
She left Singapore at 15 for a boarding school in Ireland, where four of her six siblings were living. She studied music and taught there for 20 years before moving to Norway with her husband.
After her 1985 divorce, she decided that the US was the next stop for her and her daughters.
She joined an events and travel firm and learnt the ropes from scratch. Once back here, she took an advertising job and then one with the netball association - again, with no background in either.
'I had never played netball in my life...but your whole life has to be a learning experience,' she said with a laugh.
Next up is a world trip to catch up with family and friends 'before it is too late'.
And after that?
'I don't know yet. I'll cross that bridge when I come too it,'' she said.
arti@sph.com.sg
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