[I] decided to cut back on the distance a smidge this week in an attempt to recover from lots of miles over the past few weeks.
I said that in Tuesday’s post, and I meant it. Well, at least at the time, and I kept to it for the first three days of the week when I did sub-6 mile hikes and was more than OK with aiming for a 25-mile week.
I was up at 5:40 AM, got Lola fed, had some coffee, read the footy news, dumped out, and then had my aging, flaccid white-man ass on the trails by 6:50 AM. There was much rejoicing.
When I pulled into the lot, there was an unfamiliar Ford Transit in the lot, and as much as I tend to imagine people living in the park, this woman was TOTALLY living in the park—at least for the night. As indicated by her van filled with racks of clothing, various water jugs, and bedding. Oh well, like James Hetfield once crooned, “Where I lay my head is home.” She was packing up as I set off down the trail and gone when I finished. Safe travels, Parking Lot Sleeping Lady.
Wednesday brought a perfect summer morning, and I was on the trails at 6:45 with the goal of getting at least 5 miles in and then getting home for breakfast, lawn mowing, and grocery-getting.
Last weekend was full of well-deserved slack, and I was happy to do next to nothing but watch some pretty horrible international football on the TV whilst drinking beer and fighting off the want to remove myself even further from the Great American Shit Show and the cult of racist, red-hat-wearing fuck faces who are in NO way making this country great again.
I digress.
Today’s lumber was all about hitting my 30-mile goal for the week, and spoiler alert—I did.
I only needed 4.5 miles, so it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I’m glad I got it done. Sure, I COULD somewhat easily hike 30 miles a week if I went by the 7-day week, and at times, I’ve been forced to. However, I’ve realized lately, or maybe knew all along, that doing it in 5 days is not only harder (in a good way) but also gives me some structure to my life as if I had an actual career outside the home, like the bad ol’ days instead of being a dumbass who specializes in cooking, cleaning, lawn mowing, and failure (ha!).
With nearly 20 miles in my legs, I was not feeling all that energetic at the start of today’s lumber, but some early critter encounters gave me a lift, and I ended up getting another 7-mile loop in, and now sit at 26.50 miles on the week, and will no doubt hit my 30-mile goal on Friday morning.
As last evening went on, it became increasingly apparent, that what I thought was some sort of poison on my shins was, in fact, poison on my shins.
The woods were a welcome 30˚ warmer today than yesterday, which made things much more comfortable. I also felt pretty good, considering that I did 7 miles yesterday. So why not do it again?
I’m really digging the new course that I’ve been doing and happy with the mix that it offers. All but one trail would also make a great mountain bike loop, but that’s for another day.
I was pretty beat after yesterday’s 7-mile lumber but was eager to get back out to try to reach my unofficial 30-mile weekly summer goal today.
I hadn’t even walked 20 yards and I had already seen a rabbit, a deer, and a gray catbird high in a tree as the sun was rising. The catbird shot isn’t my normal kind of shot, but it ended up being one of my favorites of the week. I guess there’s something to say about pushing yourself out of your creative comfort zone.
Tuesday was one of those days that I woke up at 5:30 AM and pretty much went non-stop until around 1:30 PM.
First, I was in the woods for a 5.59-mile lumber with my camera. A lumber that yielded next to nothing in the way of photos, but it was still nice to get out in the woods.
After the hike, I made breakfast, ate, cleaned up the dishes, and then rinsed my hulking bodice off with a quick shower before heading for the week’s groceries, lawn mowing, trimming, cleaning up, lunch, shower #2, etc.