I have a friend that did this about a year ago. She used a fitness program that was recommended to her by the group she hiked with... it included things like swimming and hiking and using stair climbers etc. She survived lol. Also, I believe the worst part for her was the malaria "pills". I think they made her sick, so prepare for that.

I wish I was going with. I've really been looking into Kilimanjaro. That would be awesome.

I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2008. We went with International Mountain Guides, a local company here in Washington, and went up the Machame route. 5 days up, 2 days down. I would highly recommend IMG. We were lucky enough to climb with Phil Ershler and his team of three local guides. Actually, even if you've chosen another outfitter, the IMG site has a lot of great info on Kilimanjaro, (http://www.mountainguides.com/kilimanjaro-faq.shtml).

Training:
I hiked at least twice a week, then did conditioning/strength/aerobic videos twice a week, and then yoga/pilates once or twice a week. (For people from here, my standard training hike was Mt. Si. At least until the snow melted on the higher peaks.)

Also, we tried to get elevation whenever possible. In the summer, we went to Yosemite and stayed up at Tioga Pass, then went south to Bishop and climbed White Mountain (http://www.summitpost.org/white-mountain-peak/150221) and then on to Lone Pine and Mount Whitney. We did Whitney in one long day. We hiked Third Burroughs at Rainier later in the summer.

Although the altitude conditioning fades quickly, you do get a sense of how your body reacts to altitude.The long hard hikes helped a lot with the mental preparation too.

Drugs: We used malarone for malaria, and tolerated it well. We also brought tylenol 3 for headaches, Cipro (ciprofloxacin) for gastro. problems, Diamox (Acetazolamide) for altitude, and Ambien for sleep problems. We didn't use any of those unless the symptoms didn't respond to milder medicines. I personally used 1/2 the recommended dose of Diamox once I got above 12,000 feet.

Anything else? I can go on and on about Kili.

Oh - and if you have a safari option after the hike, take it! You've already paid for the airfare to Tanzania, and seeing "zoo" animals in the wild is amazing!

I keep thinking of more things - bring snacks you like. It's hard to keep your appetite when you get high, and you're burning lots of calories. And bring hard candy to keep your mouth moist. It's dry after the first day.

In our group, everyone who made the first day made the summit. Two of our friends had heard that it was a "walk-up", and didn't do a lot of training. They had to turn around and be led down the mountain after the first day. It was sad, but they ended up going to Zanzibar and relaxing and bathing in rose-petal baths while we were wiping ourselves down with handiwipes in our tents, so it wasn't all bad for them.

Finally, it's a beautiful mountain! Enjoy your trip, and feel free to ask me any questions.

(I changed my profile pic to one of me on the Barranco Wall.)

How did it go? Looks like you headed out there just before we did - My husband and I climbed starting Sept 23rd!

Amazing We climbed for Ovarian Cancer Canada with a group of 15 - Including 6 survivors! It made it an emotional and powerful journey and I'm SO happy we took part!