Wreckage makes everything better!

We had a super strong set of monsoon rainstorms, necessitating a change of hiking destination this morning at 4:50am.  

5am, Arizona.  No daylight savings time.

Originally, we were hiking Williamson Valley trailhead, but the mud there cakes on your shoes until you resemble an Eskimo wearing snowshoes.  We switched to Constellation, which has much sandier soil.

Of course, Chris cracked himself up by posting this before we started.  This is the easiest of the hikes we do.

The overnight rain meant we had lots of water, and a surprising number of downed dead trees.

I was tired, so I made a rock recliner.

My rock recliner view.

Chris took over the lead again, and once again I found myself 40 paces behind.  This, combined with little sleep and no food, made me whiny.  After all, I do have s broken hand...

And the he found it.

A piece of the 59 year old airplane wreckage.

Then I found more pieces.

My generous trove, right before I threw it in the pile.

A Constellation aircraft had crashed here 59 years before; the rain had brought pieces to the surface.  As plane fanatics, we were both pretty geeked about our finds.  As per tradition, we tossed them in the designated pile of wreckage, delighted we had added to the stash.

That set the tone for the day, and I smiled through the rest of it, with the exception of a moment of silence at 4:42pm.

Rest in peace, guys.

My day finished up with friends, and all is right with the world.

Hail!

Double Dipping

"Let's hike at 6am" he said.  "It'll be great," he said.

It was cold.

Like want to go back to the car and find a sweatshirt cold.

Like the dead tree was shivering cold.

Of course the answer to that is hiking faster, right?

Or how about sitting in the sun? 😁

I'm hiking with The Wild Hussey, who has decided to start a Fitness Quest of his own, and will be blogging his story here.  This is our third hike together, but his first official Quest hike; we are back at Constellation trail, whose trailhead is the parking lot of my new job.  I'm scouting out lunch locations while Chris plots our course.  We're going the opposite way, and it's seems harder.

We debated if this was even a trail.  It was.

It did warm up, and I worried about our timing.  You see, I had CrossFit Prescott at 8am.

Oh, I know it's nuts-and hours later I'm STILL REGRETING IT. (Sorry, Troy!)  let's just say I learned the hard way that a hike is too much of a warm-up.

Getting rocks out of my shoe (proof Chris was along.  Who'd think The Wild Hussey would be camera shy?)

The hike complete, I drive over to meet Lad.

Yes, my 14 year old son greets me this way.

The Professor teaching the basics.

Dang kid picked up form fast.  I was jealous.

My workout?  I did modified ring pulls and kettle bell squats with planks again, and barbell squats.  

It was hard.

Like lay on the ground after planking and not wanting to get up hard.

Then there was the mini ab set with the Roman  chair and abmat.

Hmmmm

I finished exhausted, sick to my stomach and fading fast.

At least he could pick me up if I collapsed, right?

Getting in the car, I start digging around for some sort of "fueling."  Jerky, nuts, something....

Carrot cake.

We were delighted!!!!!

I shoveled in four forkfuls, and handed Lad the rest.  Chris had posted about making carrot cake last night with his son, and I had begged him to bring me a piece to sweeten the 6am start time.  Now, it had saved my life.

Perhaps hiking with The Wild Hussey won't be that bad after all.

Top Gun Day 2015

I am beside myself.  Top Gun Day?  How had I not heard of this before?

My excuse monster!

I was so excited, I changed my clothes and earrings.

The F-4U Corsair earrings are the finishing touch, don't you think?

As a happy coincidence, I had already planned to hike Constellation trail with Chris.  It being named after a plane just rocked.

I even found aviators.

We live here!!

The entire day (which started off painfully, I woke up with an eye ulcer) has taken on a joyous tone.

How could it not?

Hiking with Chris was fun-I made him do all the typical spot photography.  You know, for comparison purposes.

I cannot believe I've been at this three full months now.

Of course, when I get home, I find this picture, too:

Because whatever are friends for, right?

So we have a great time hiking, and as we come to trail's end we meet a man wearing nothing but shorts, heading out on the trail.

Only in Arizona are they this hardcore.

Yep.  Arizona.

 Did I mention it's Top Gun Day?!

Little date tonight-it's all about the nuclear bombing of Japan in WWII.  As Lad and I are scholars of WWII, we were greatly looking forward to it.

But first, let me take a selfie.

Indian food!!!  Loving Taj Mahal.

Thankfully, the lecture took on revisionist history with verified facts, and my son didn't mind my sweatshirt.  In fact, we spent most of the evening talking about F-14 Tomcats and gleefully told everyone who's listen it was Top Gun Day.

All day, my eye has felt like it's had a needle sticking out of it (eye ulcer's suck.). My hand is extra ouchie, the pinched nerve is tweaking.  Yet my attention wasn't on me, and how I felt.  My attention was on others, and on the silliest of things.  Not only did it make the day bearable, it made it most enjoyable.

The amazing things you learn on a quest.

35: Dreams of Ghosts & Missing Rings

My dreams were many last night; my sore shoulder resulted in a fitful night.

Amazing the muscle under this skin can cause so many issues.

You'll note the sunburn; it was partly cloudy when we left on our hike.

Constellation Trail.

After yesterday's dismal blog, you'll be happy to note the return of photos, the fact that not only am I hiking, but the King of Athletics joined me.

 No rocks were harmed by me throwing them while on this hike.

It was the King's first time on these trails, which are the foundational trails for The Hiking Viking.  It was good for me to check my fitness level on them, and I was happy to be able to chat during the majority of the hike, and to wear my minimus shoes.

At the Canyon, I ditched my boots while at Plateau Point.

The big disappointment, however, was this:

Check out my calves.  Ignore the saggy denim shorts.

Like, seriously??

I have GOT to learn how to pose better (and get new shorts.). Freaking embarrassing.

Check out those calves, though:)

So the King decides to show off, and descends down a fifty foot ledge Becky & I had earlier deemed impossible.

It doesn't look hard here, unfortunately.

We finished up in record time; I suggested another set of trails nearby.  The King suggested lunch, and I reluctantly agreed.  Food simply isn't as exciting as another trail!

The wisteria behind the restaurant was gorgeous however.

Lunch was good, but I lost my appetite when Louisville lost their bid for the Final Four.

Not that I care about Louisville in the slightest.  Ugh.  BTW-choose a freaking color to be.  Either be white or be green.  This "Go White! Go Green!" sounds like an environmentalist arguing with an angel.

Unexpectedly, my workout business for the week needed to reschedule.  This leaves me trying to figure out what to do-another week at CrossFit?  Mountain biking?  Swimming?

On things for certain-I'm jot giving up on these new found guns for nothing.

11: Breakthrough?

I need to wash my shoes.

I love my minimus shoes.

And get new socks instead of stealing the King of Athletic's.  I'm writing this while waiting for my bacon crusted Little Ceasars pizza to be done.

It was not my idea to go here.

My kids asked me to pick it up after seeing it on TV repeatedly the last few weeks.  So of course, send their mother after her Buti yoga class to pick one up.

Yoga.  Who knew?  I love it-both the classic slow and the fast-paced Buti.  I cannot wait to try the many variations, and savor I have a full year to explore more of this discipline.

Lance asked to see how they fit:)

Which is good, because my yoga pants are looking better than last week.

Buti Yoga

I cannot say enough what a huge difference tonight was compared to Tuesday.  Tuesday, it was no good.  It didn't look good.  Wednesday morning I was going to skip my hike.  I had my reality check when I met Andrew & Patrick, and found freedom on #33 from the air monster for the first time.  

Today was a day of discovery.

I discovered I liked Buti yoga, and could do moves I could not do earlier in the week.  I discovered I was stronger physically than I had thought.  I discovered Maverick doesn't show up at Buti yoga, either.

I discovered that I had broken through a moment of weakness, and had emerged on the other side.

Hole in the Wall, Constellation Trail

For our hike, Becky and I were back at Constellation after one of us had an eyelash extension mishap, and our start time got pushed back.  We hiked the middle sections, and despite a few cool rock formations, we agreed this hike ranked as easy.  Neither of us got winded, and I could feel the difference in my breathing.  While still too early to claim victory over the air monster, it was looking good that I had defeated the horrible breathlessness that had halted so many fitness quests of the past.

We live here!!!

 This hike was brought to you by the letter E - for easy.

So imagine my chagrin to receive the following message after I posted that on my Facebook:

Yes, it's Ian, who cancelled yesterday's hike.  The one who normally has to deal with me dealing with the air monster.  The one who is usually 40 paces ahead because I cannot keep up.  I told Becky about his snarky remark; she told me we're hiking the toughest hike we can find tomorrow so we can totally shame him in the near future.

Becks looks harmless...

You do not want to mess with this woman.

Soooooo....now I get to hike extra hard tomorrow so Becky can show up Ian.  

Great.

The hike on #261 is to the TOP...

Granite Mtn #261 is in my near future.  At least I know I should be able breathe.  Pizza's ready-time to get home to the kids.

See-my thighs need a lot of work.

5: The Angry Meltdown

Technically, it was my second meltdown two Fridays in a row.

I say I have brain damage from my closed head injury in December.  The King of Athletics of the Central Highlands (aka hot husband Tom) says I'm insane.

He'll also tell you that in the past 17 years, he's only seen anger from me like the past two Friday's maybe a dozen times.  So two in a week's time - I must be certifiably nuts.

I'm nuts?  Who is doing nutty things with 125lb dumbbells?

Or brain damaged.

I do notice a difference in the way I process things, and that somethings still don't function as they used to.  I say I have a "Soundtrack Mind" - there are always several different tracks playing at any given time, plus what is going on around me.  Lately, I can't seem to block out the surface noise around me like I used to - and a conversation in a crowded room has become difficult.  I have always felt closest to God while experiencing nature - so perhaps that is why hikes have appealed to me so; I am hoping for a healing neurologically, and perhaps spiritually as well.  My breakdown on Friday certainly revealed more than I bargained for.

While I didn't go to boot camp until 8am, I was still tired from an exhausting week.  Even though I had only hiked 11 miles and had 4 hours of boot camp under my belt, I was feeling it in little ways neurologically - and that surprised me.  My response time was off, I was switching up words.  I even found Vikings Thursday night to be uninspiring, except for King Ecbert speaking Old English.

Because Old English is freakin' hot.

"Ic willa neom beon forlor."

That, and I want to dress like Lagertha.  Since I'm 1/4 Danish, it must come righteously, eh?

I admit it; I'm obsessed with these earrings.

So Friday morning, my head is full of the fact that I need pictures for my column, as I have been remiss in taking them earlier in the week.  Everyone is open to the idea, and I get a few general shots.

I made sure everyone looked good in this one.

Today is circuit training, and it's all about the Crazy 8's.  I immediately perk up at the mention of my favorite number.  Having been born on August 8th, and then having your baby sister born 8 years, 8 days, 8 hours and 48 minutes later is pretty wicked, and 8 thus becomes your most favorite number for life.  I'm not quite convinced that my late husband wasn't somehow cursed because we failed to marry on a day with an 8 in it (5/15/93 had the 5's, but it wasn't an 8.  I wonder if we had married a week earlier on May 8th if we couldn't have avoided his death.  I married the King of Athletics on 4/18/98, thus assuring his survival.)

Unfortunately, despite my husband's recent assertions that I was crazy, and the prominence of the number 8, Crazy 8's was circuit training with 8 reps per set. I enjoyed a few of the stations, revealing in my stronger muscles, and hated others as they exposed how very weak I was.  On my fourth circuit I struggled to hold a plank position on two medicine balls for more than 10 seconds, in my mind I tried to will myself beyond what my body said it was capable of.  Inside, I could hear my mind getting forceful - telling myself that I could do this - when the little voice that is truly me said - "I hate this.  I hate pushing through.  I hate not having what I want when I want it.  I hate going without, and I hate the pain of trying."  I crumpled to my knees, in tears.

At least I still had all my limbs.

My friend Kristen, seeing my distress, came rushing over.  Sgt. Steve made sure I wasn't hurt physically, and tactfully let my friend handle my mini meltdown.  Fitness is the state of being healthy - both physically and mentally.  It seems some of the physical had brought out an emotional area of distress.  Kristen and I walked a lap, and I talked out what I knew was truly bothering me.

My hatred of exercise was a symptom of more than just my lifelong breathlessness - it was tied into the fact that I gave up when I said I no longer wanted to do something.  It was tied to regrets of letting go too soon, and not pushing through ideas and projects to the end, often in the face of opposition.  Sgt. Steve came over, and I briefed him lightly on my tears.  He assured me I should just walk laps (we were 4 minutes from finishing!  I had almost made it!) and that I had made incredible strides through the week.  Kristen promised me a slap whenever I needed one, and I headed out the door for the last time, and on to another hike.

This, my friends, is a Lockheed Constellation aircraft.

Kinda ugly for a big bird, isn't she?

This is my favorite airplane of all time:

The Flying Fortress.

I mention this because being a plane nut is a nuttiness I'll gladly ascribe to.  So imagine when I discover that the Constellation trail is named after a plane that crashed there 56 years ago!!!!  I was so geeked I had to go seek it out immediately, and Friday's hike was to that very spot.

For the first time, Becky & Dotty both joined me.

Dotty, in the classic "we live here!" photo.

Becky showing off the rocks.

I found myself trailing behind my friends, unable to keep up but happy to meander a bit behind.  My thoughts were on nobility, sacrifice and ultimately, making money.

Sorry about the booty shot, Becks.

40 paces behind was my standard for the week.

We started to talk about offering tours among the rocks, and starting a business this summer.  It made sense that in sharing something we loved, we could naturally charge others to go with us.  I expanded the idea further, thinking of the Prescott eNews, why not take politicians on hikes?  In my experience, people talked a lot about themselves, and shared more freely on the trail.  Trail interviews could be highly informative, and entertaining to boot.

Why yes, that is an Extreme Flagstaff black t-shirt I am wearing.

The hike was over too soon, and we promised to hike together the following Thursday.  Having hiking partners has made all the difference in my Fitness Quest, and wouldn't be possible without them.

I got home early, and enjoyed yet another shower of bliss.  Sitting down to write; I reflected on the past two and a half weeks.  The Fitness Quest was more than I bargained for, but the possibilities were endless.  I still wasn't engaged, but I knew that it could be a real game changer, in more ways than one.  Join me on my journey to fitness - to be healthy both physically and emotionally.  I guarantee it will be one fantastic ride.