Paul Salopek: uncertainty

Transcript context

…What do you do for exercise? [laughs] Try to meet deadline, mostly. But when I’m parked in an urban area to do work, which happens regularly — this project is taking more than twice as long as originally envisioned — I try to do what you do. I try to go jogging. I do push-ups and sit-ups in the room that I’m working in. On very rare occasions, I’ve actually gone to a gym. In Bishkek, with a bunch of Russian bodybuilders, I stood out, the skinny American guy of a certain age — to keep in condition, especially for rugged topography. In that case, it was getting over the Pamir Mountains in the Hindu Kush. Mostly, when I’m in motion, the beauty of walking, as you know, is that it keeps you trim. It keeps your cardiovascular system in good nick, keeps you toned, and it’s relatively low-impact, right? You can do a lot of steps. You eventually do, I’m told, wear out cartilage. I don’t know where that’s going to happen, but so far so good. Yes, so far so good. If someone is thinking of doing a version of your project but maybe much smaller — say they want to walk across New Jersey — what is it you would caution them about or tell them? “Well, you may not have thought about this problem, but you need to worry about this.” What would that be?…

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