It’s been a nugget hair under 5 months since I traded my increasingly little used soiled chamois and/or The Bed of Torment for a pair of hiking shoes. In that time, I have grown to appreciate hiking (also known as walking if you’re not in the woods) in a way I never did before, and I now find myself in the woods hiking 4 to 5 miles a day, 6 to 7 days a week, with a modest goal of 25 miles per week minimum. Except for snow week curveballs like last week.
Last week almost broke me mentally and physically when a snowstorm forced me to trade hikers for snowshoes. Don’t get me wrong, I dig snowshoeing, and it’s a great way to get outside and enjoy winter, but after weeks of pounding out miles at a pace that often stops just short of turning into a jog, I found myself stomping through the deep snow, struggling to complete a 20-minute mile! It was a real mental kick in the junk and required me to lower my weekly goal from 25 to 20 miles and reframe my mission. This is easier said than done since I have no idea what my mission is!
Lose a few pounds, get my cholesterol back to normal, blow the stink off me, stay active outdoors, take some photos, avoid The Bed of Torment, and do my best to keep the Black Dog at bay. All of these things could be the mission, and if daily hikes can help with any of those things, all the better, but I can’t say that any ONE thing is the goal, nor do I have any long-term goals other than increasing distances and new locations as spring springs.
And unlike my days being a mountain bike-obsessed blogging idiot, I have no planned events, trips, or vacations solely centered around hiking, and I have ZERO interest in promoting the activity of daily woodsy lumbering. It’s just walking, most healthy folks can do it, and unlike mountain biking, a cheap pair of hiking shoes can be “good enough.” I wouldn’t recommend it, but while a shit pair of shoes might hurt your feet and cause you to buy a better pair, mountain biking with a cheap ass bike can be catastrophic.
It’s been a violent couple of days in the woods.
***
Of course, there are many similarities between mountain biking and hiking; one of them is pushing myself to get outside even when my mind or body says no. For the past few years, I lost sight of the fact that I actually enjoy pushing myself physically and mentally and, dare I say, at times, punishing myself. For I believe that whether recognized or not, under the hood of most endurance athletes, even old ones with minor goals like me, is a mind ripe with self-loathing, looking to deal out punishment the only way it knows how; pushing through shit weather, physical pains, and near mental breakdowns looking for a rush of endorphins to act as comfort until the next ride, hike, ski, or paddle.
With all that shit out of the way, today I headed out for my hike and was hopeful that the snow would be firm enough to allow for hiking in regular hikers and ice grips. But, um, no. The melting snow was soft like mashed potatoes, and traction, even with spikes, was horrible.
I hadn’t even gone a mile and wanted to turn around, but I had a goal today: to hit the 500-mile mark of the 2022 Not Dead Yet Comeback Special/2023 Soil The Woods Tour, and all I needed was 1.05 miles! Since you would have to be a moron to get all dressed and drive to a trailhead only to walk a mile, I pushed through, slipped, and slid for a shortened 3 miles to get my total miles since September 19th, 2022, to 502.32 miles.
I drove home with sore feet, Stiff Richards blasting on the hi-fi, and a mini hit of endorphins coursing through my veins, happy that, despite the meager miles of the day’s hike, I didn’t abort and hit the 500-miles in 5-months goal that I didn’t know I set for myself almost 2 weeks early.
Time to apply some more Callus Blaster to my feet and order a new pair of shoes as I prepare for the next 497.68 miles and increased challenges in the months ahead.
Later.
THE SOILED SOUNDS TRACKS OF THE POST
I have some great memories associated with The Stone Roses, including the song Fools Gold, especially the 12″ version!
The Stone Roses could have been the biggest band in the world, but legal battles with record companies derailed them, and their second album, A Second Coming, was lackluster compared to their debut.