Stronger

Last Thursday I took the day off from work. We had planned on doing a family excursion to a nearby park, but my stepson ending up staying at his mom's house. Instead, I convinced my husband to do a hike with me.

Thursday's hike was at Cedars of Lebanon State Park. We started out around 9am, all gung-ho for the 5-mile trail. It turned out to be a cooler day, with a high of 85 or so. The trail was supposed to be easy, and for the most part, it was. But there were bits of trail that were overgrown. I wished I would've had a machete to chop my way through. The last mile of the trail was also severly rocky, which in my opinion changes it from an "easy" to "easy-medium" trail.



But we finished it. 5 miles in about 3 hours (add a 1/2 hour for breaks). I know that seems slow, but for my fat & short butt, that's pretty good.

What's even better is how I felt when it was done compared to last year's hikes. Tired, but not exhausted. My knees and legs weren't sore & shaky. The only thing that hurt was the bottom of my feet, which was due to the ragtag sneakers I was wearing. I was sweating a bit, but it wasn't pouring off of me.


After Thursday's hike, I had to break down & buy new shoes. The white ones are my work/everyday shoes, the gray ones are specifically for workouts & hikes.

Even after only 3 1/2 weeks of exercising, it's amazing how much stronger I am. I'm a little more confident on the trail when stepping over limbs & onto rocky parts. I can go a lot longer without having to stop to rest. My legs don't feel like they're going to give out on me. And I wasn't as sore the next day as I thought I would be.

The stronger feeling is a good feeling. It drives me to want to feel even stronger, to get even less tired during those hikes, to finish in less time, to work on longer & more difficult hikes.

Monday, I took advantage of an extra holiday and went back with the hubby to Cedars of Lebanon. This time we did a 2-mile and a .5 mile trail. The temps were a lot higher, and after a tough weekend of hiking and swimming, we called 2.5 miles good enough for the day. But I know I could've done more.



Sadly, the hikes may have to be put on hold until Sept. or Oct., due to the insane temperatures & humidity we're dealing with in TN. Or if we do them, they will be more along the lines of 2 to 2.5-mile trails.

But I think I'm OK with that. If I'm feeling strong now, wait until September.