Cool,
I too would love to hike those places you speak of, sounds like cool experience. As a guy who never competed (I never did either, but have lifted weights for many many years) do you ever look at some people in the industry male or female and think "wtf were they thinking?"
No - it is not for me to tell someone what to do like that. If they have a passion for it, by all means. They are not hurting me or my family. I have more of an issue with people smoking and blowing their smoke in my face, then someone dieting, training to look good.
Yes, some hiking trips were very hard (picture a 70 pound backpack heading up into the mountains for 3-4 days) - you don't have a car around or a trailer, but oh so worth it when I was younger. Now, not so in shape at all ...