DOING IT!

Went OUTDOORS yesterday. All day. My friend Claudia (the psychologist) and I started out by taking the dogs on a hike on the mountain next to my house - a bit icy in spots, but it was like a football obstacle course - just the right amount of challenge, great views, perfect exercise. During the hike, we could both tell there was something on each of our minds.   I HATE talking to her about things that make me anxious - after all, who wants to keep working on our free time, right?   But it turned out, that she had a day like mine (worse actually) on Friday.  Darn anxiety.   But it felt good for both of us to to talk to someone about it - by the time the hike was over, we were both a little more relaxed, smiling.... 1 1/2 hours later, 1,653 calories burned.... Then she and I dropped the dogs off at the house, grabbed our cross country skis and headed up to the ski trail where the local ski club was putting together a picnic-like event. We started off taking a small hill so that I could push aside my usual nervousness right away, and at the top of the hill, while she adjusted her gear, we got to talking about our fitness for the summer... I gained weight since Thanksgiving. 15 POUNDS. I know, I know, I lost it and self medicated. Claudia's such a sweetheart - said she couldn't tell (ok, granted that my ski jacket hides the belly that now looks like I'm pregnant). She made jokes about immaculate conception, lol, and then we got to talking about goals for this year. She wants to do lots of long distance mountain bike rides with me this summer before she moves away in July. Rides that are going to require endurance and strength! Part of the reason for the exercise yesterday was to give myself a boost toward getting rid of this weight. I want to lose AT LEAST 40 pounds by summer. WANT. I've been a bit frustrated with the DOING. But as we talked, it was like I just got smacked on the head... 40 pounds is the same weight as the monster bag of dog food I lifted the other day. The bag I could barely hoist into the shopping cart! And yet THAT's what I'm carrying around every time I MOVE. What a wake up call! That really motivated me to get moving... get DOING!  We went out to the intersection where we had a choice of going the easy but longer route or the shorter STEEP route. Claudia looked at me with a grin.... yep, STEEP. I started out great, ended up hugging a tree, lol. But I didn't fall! From there we kicked and glided our way down to the next intersection.  At the intersection, I just stopped.   I took some deep breaths with a smile, looked at Claudia and said "I'm just breathing in some PEACE".   She smiled and said "me too".   There we also ran into a ski club member who said "15 minutes to snacks!" And after we talked, Claudia and I headed up to D Loop. You know who it goes.... "let's head up this way for 15 minutes" and "Ok"... and 15 minutes goes by and it became "do we really want all those calories?" "Na... let's keep going" and those 15 minutes became 1/2 hour, then 1 hour.... then 2 hours... Hills became steeper... add in a few curves to them... and I stayed upright! Thank God for my daily aerobics and lower body weight training because those lunges came in REALLY handy! 2 hours 45 minutes after we first started skiing, we'd skied close to 10 miles. I felt like I could barely move on that last mile, lol. And 3,091 MORE calories burned. Oooo YEAH! The ski club was just leaving (already in their cars) by the time we got there... so we decided to head over to the coffee shop after grabbing our crafts (Claudia crochets, I quilt). MONSTER cinnamon roll later (yep, I know... it would have been better if I didn't but felt I earned it especially since I also forgot to each lunch!), we talked and stitched until the sun set, went home exhausted but smiling. And even though I ache just a little bit today... it was AWESOME! My achy hip (I've been having trouble with it this year) DIDN'T hurt this morning!!!!  Though to be honest, the thighs ache like crazy today, lol. MAN, that felt good and I feel like I can COPE with ANYTHING today!  Up next this afternoon... hiking a volcano! Now I bet not many people can say that for activity today! :) Donna