28: Kissing a Lot

Have you ever told somebody what you want, and you get something close from them, but it's not really what you wanted?

I've been married to the King of Athletics for 16 years, 11 months and 3 days.  Rarely do we miscommunicate on an item so badly as we have the past two months.

While we are on the subject of communicating...

Today, instead of telling him (as I have until I'm blue in the face recently) I showed him precisely what I meant.

I think he gets it now.

And I think he's proud of me, too.

He must love me; look what way he is going.

It's Sunday, and our hike is Thumb Butte. My first major hike is Tuesday (rain or shine I'm going!  Watch out!) and I'm just a bit apprehensive.  Heading up the right trail, I do run out of air quickly, but I'm determined NOT to take a break.  The King tells me that in twenty minutes I'll hit cruise control.  I'm intrigued, because I had noticed that around the twenty minute mark lately my breathing was easier and my pulse had come down.  Sure enough, just shy of the bench we would not sit on, my breathing did let up, and I felt better.

Why men don't like to sit on this is beyond me.

At that point, we headed to the right, up 314. 

At least I wasn't heaving rocks this week.

My "cruise control" lasted the rest of the hike; we quickly conquered this secondary trail.

I rocked some serious braids today.

Last time I was here, I guarantee I wasn't looking up:)

Having done so well, he takes me to lunch, where he explains I'm only eating a half a burger.

Yeah, I was confused, too.

I mean I get the no bun stuff, but half?

He didn't appreciate my gift of croutons, either.

Apparently, to have a beer, only half a burger could be consumed.

Neither of these glasses are mine!

Jim agreed with him, too.

Kinda both...but I'm desperate for a scale!  It's been a week, did I loose weight?

What was truly different about today was the acknowledgement that at 20 minutes into hard cardio, I acclimated.  In addition, instead of stopping, I slowed down.

My reward.  Paleo says it's ok:)

Time to go chop off my gorgeous long nails so I can lift tomorrow (that sounds so odd)!

This is much truer.

And time to sleep.  Exhaustion is real-I worry about this week. And the fact the King wants me to stay at CrossFit....while I continue on the Quest.

And on that bombshell...

20: The D (Detroit, for you Westerners)

It's nearly the end of our Spring Break; I'm pleased to report I've managed to keep on the fitness quest track.

Because where we're going, we don't need roads.

This morning I woke up at 2am, got on Facebook when I couldn't get back to sleep, and argued with one of my very first hiking partners, David, on the merits of hiking in Lenawee County.  

The aforementioned cornfield.

I stand corrected. David pointed out Hidden Lake Gardens as a place to hike, and he is correct.

I have clear memories of "hiking" here in my youth.

 It is lovely.

The problems with it, however, were numerous:

1) A thirty minute drive away

2) Mosquitos and ticks and bugs

3) Crazy attack swans

4) $$

5) Poison ivy

6) Mud

7) No vistas

8) No rock piles

9) Humidity

10) Mosquitos 

But, he is correct, there are no cornfields.

Dave and I completed our geology degrees together; he and Brenda were newly married, and I was engaged to my now late husband, the Knight of Physical Therapy.  Seeing as we were infinitely more mature than our fellow college classmates, we hung out in class and in the numerous geology field trips Rock Haines drug us on.  These trips usually involved hiking; Dave was my companion on the trail.

Old Rag Mountain, Virginia, 1992.  I'm in red, Dave isn't present.  Shall we ask why?

David also is essential in correcting my blog spelling, for which I am grateful.

I did fall back to sleep around 5am, and got up at 8am.  The King helpfully fetched me a coffee, while I finished writing an article.  By 9am, we had hit the jacuzzi-a great relief to my sore lower back.

Today has been a day full of the old tweaked back pain; it's truly the first time it's made a full blown appearance, waking me at 2am and nagging me throughout the day.  This is despite swimming ten laps in the pool, followed by an extended time of treading water before lunch.  Additionally, the King confirmed what I had suspected:  my right side is weaker than my left side.

The head injury has nothing to do with my back, but I find it interest in when symptoms from it crop up unexpectedly.  Doing squats in front of the mirror yesterday I could see the imbalance between my left and right sides; a simple squeeze test confirmed the strength difference.  These are both hopefully nothing more than minor unconveniences  in the Quest, but are worth noting.

Pink by Victoria's Secret, if you must know.

Because pain makes people seriously think about quitting.

Having just spent three days in a swimsuit, I'm disliking the old.

Ack!  Muffin top!

But loving how firm my legs and arms have become.

So quitting is not an option, despite the sore back, and these days of struggle will give way to rewards soon enough.

Looking forward to it.

I just like to watch them fly:)

A shout out to the D-missing my Tigers amidst the Cactus League.