Miles to go before I sleep

My final act of productivity for this evening is to try updating my blog before I fall asleep.  After the weekend I’ve had, this will be a tight squeeze!

                I’ve gone full swing into resuming many of my activities, and just like before I had gotten injured, I’m documenting all of my activity and constantly trying to outdo myself.  Sure, things are a little different now.  I’m tracking mileage walked rather than mileage ran, and minutes on the bike rather than miles on the bike.  But I’ve also added another column to my tracker for strength training, part of my goal to be a more diverse athlete.

                It’s been great getting back to the gym, but even better has been spending time outside.  Almost every day I have been walking 2+ miles a day on my lunch break, and for the last two weekends in a row I have met my running club for their Sunday morning runs.  (I walked).  That puts my weekly walking mileage at:

Week ending 12/31/11: 16.25 miles

Week ending 1/7/12: 13.25 miles

Not bad considering just weeks ago I was on crutches!  Yesterday I finally felt it was time to incorporate my horse into my walking routine, so I brushed him up, loaded my pockets with cookies, and took him for a walk.  He had a few exciting spaz moves but then settled down into a nice controllable walk.  Rocco became my favorite walking partner, and seemed to enjoy it when I took him out again today.



Will walk for cookies



Rocco’s weekend mileage tally: 3 miles

In other news, I am helping to organize a relay race and had to go measure part of the course.  Honestly, I could have done this a number of ways. 1: have someone else do it. 2: use my car to clock the road portions. 3:  Insist on doing it all myself with a mountain bike.  Naturally I chose option 3.  So yesterday I packed up my mountain bike and headed to the forest.  I felt a little out of practice loading up the bike, and for good reason.  Not only had it been months since I had traveled with the bike, it had been months since I had ridden a bike that was A. not stationary, B. uphill, or C. on gravel.  After a mile my quads were burning.  After two miles my heart was pounding out of my chest, and shortly after that my lungs were on fire.  I stopped after 2.5 miles to catch my breath and seriously contemplated turning back.  But, how would I know how long the course was if I turned back?  Stubbornly I pressed on, and was glad I did because otherwise I never would have seen this goat!



Even the goats were out walking on such a beautiful day



Or these friends!

After my 8 mile debut on the mountain bike, I was spent.  I was so exhausted I almost couldn’t walk myself into bed, and this morning my body protested waking up.  Determined to keep the momentum going though, I headed out this morning to meet up with the running club.  While they all ran, I did a nice 2.5 mile walk around the neighborhood.  When I got home I felt guilty that I walked and Rocco didn’t, so I took him out for another 1.5 mile walk.  Then of course Toby the dog was jealous, so I had to take him for a 1 mile walk. 



Two words: Walk. Me. (Woof)



When I got home from that walk, my mother was jealous that I took Rocco and Toby for walks without her, so then I had to go for another 1 mile walk with her.

Today’s mileage: 6 miles, over 4 separate walks

Now after my “high mileage” weekend, I’m struggling to keep my eyes open long enough to finish this post.  (Confession: I zoned out a couple times).  My legs are tired and sore, but my hip is holding up very well!  I’m feeling very confident that I will be out running, collecting miles, and trotting down the trails in no time.  Robert Frost said it best:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.