turning point (I hope)

I think I finally decided to get on the ball.  No more desserts.  Cutting way back on the eating (this morning I must have had 50 slices of bacon and at least 150 tater tots…it was awesome).  Going to exercise regularly.  [At least I hope I can stay true to all of those]

For my exercise I think I am going to try to go on a hike at least 5 days a week and really get after it.  No more stopping for pictures or to catch my breath.  I had even considered trying to run one of the hikes.  I figure I will have to concentrate on my footing so much that I might be able to forget the fact that I’m actually running (because I really HATE running).  That and I will absolutely have to slow down in certain places so I could rest then.  Just some thoughts.  I don’t know how realistic that is.  I will ease into it, running on some parts and increasing it continuously. 

With that in mind, I decided to establish a baseline today.  I walked pretty darn fast the entire time and made it around the entire loop in about 50 minutes.  Now that I think about it, I was really booking it, I might have stacked the deck against myself.  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it that fast again.  The loop is ~3 miles total, which isn’t that long, but it is up and down and again with the loose rocks.  I did stop a few times to knock the rocks out of my shoes, but that was it.

Speaking of shoes, I wore a pair of low-top hiking shoes instead of the boots I usually wear and that might have been a mistake.  I was trying to see if it’d be realistic to wear my running shoes and I just don’t know if it is.  My ankles were killing and were constantly in threat of twisting off.  I don’t really think I can run in my boots, so I don’t know what I’m going to do.  I know that people trail run (in fact I’ve seen people run this trail) but I don’t know what kind of shoe they wear and I’m pretty sure I don’t have a sufficient pair.  On the subject of issues I will have to work out if I’m going to make this work is another item of apparel.  My jeans nearly rubbed my legs raw.  Definite rash going on now…again.  I was not warned about the excessive chaffing caused by Antarctica.  Either way, the exercising is a work in progress.

Here’s a random picture for you.  I guess some people have a lot of time around here and there are some really talented people.  This is a metal Orca on the side of the road.  It is made of chains and scrap metals and it is pretty awesome.