For the last 11 months my husband and I have been training for a weekend backpacking trip. It started with me trying to get back into shape and feel better about myself. We walked the steep neighborhood. I did strength training. We dusted-off old gear and purchased some new stuff. We read up on the trail we would be taking.
My husband had backpacked before, but I had not. I relied on him for what to purchase, rent, or do in regards to preparation. This was a journey that was, in reality, 15 years in the dreaming. We had purchased our backpacks from Mystery Ranch in Bozeman Montana in 2008, while on our honeymoon, with the intention of using them frequently over the years. 
As a lot of journeys go, our packs hung patiently waiting through 2 kids, 3 career changes, and 2 houses. Over the last few months, Stuart and I have worked hard, changed our diet, and each respectively lost between 35-45 pounds. We are each down 2-4 clothing sizes. I am still not as strong as I was in my twenties, when I was hiking and rock climbing daily, but I am working on it. I am committed to rebuilding the strength that I know my body possesses. About 2 weeks before our trip, we started doing our hikes with weighted bags, we tried out our backpacks and refitted them to our current bodies that are better than they were, but nowhere near what was fitted in 2008. A heavy loaded hike in our neighborhood gave us confidence in our abilities to continue this journey.
We enlisted friends to help us out with drop-off, and gear meet-ups at the halfway point. My sister-in-law even drove 6 hours to spend the weekend with the kids while we took this journey. The weather started looking questionable a few days beforehand, so we modified the outlook with some contingencies, in case we needed to change time frames so that we did not risk dangerous situations on ridgelines.