Perspectives

I did exercise in the past few days:  I typed for the first time in three weeks!

I also hiked.  This shot was accidental (which is probably why it looks good.)

We did the polka dot trail on the Willow Lake side of the Dells, out to Red Bridge and back.

Breathtaking, isn't it?  You'll never guess who took this picture (not me!)

On the hike, consistently Chris and I took pictures steps apart.  Consistently, his were better than mine.

I'm on top...

He's on top...

I'm back on top...

It's more than just the filter...

The difference is perspective.  I thoroughly acknowledge I have poor perspective in framing a shot, despite thirty years of trying.  Chris, on the other hand, has a natural eye (and maybe some training when he was in the Navy, hmmm?) for photographic perspective; it clearly shows.

Is exercise really about perspective?

Do I hate it because I have no natural aptitude for it?

Oh, I'm back to loathing.

Hiking, that's not exercise (although the BUCKETS of sweat I produced yesterday morning may suggest otherwise).  With my hand still not healed and being nowhere near able to load (no worries, Dr Eric, I'm being fairly good still) I'm still not doing traditional exercise, even though I could.

I hate it, you see.

My perspective is totally skewed back to its negative original.

This, despite no visit from the air monster.

It was too early for him to show up...

And rather surprisingly, my excuse monster stayed home, too.

He left his tshirt with me, though:)

Natural perspective.

Something that is not apparent in my photography or my attitude towards exercise.

My current fitness routine.

I was deep in thought here...

Perspective. Can it be changed?  Or is it something we are stuck with?

I'm of the perspective we can win the National Championship...always am until the season starts!!  

Maybe I'll never like exercise...but can I at least change my perspective?  A fine question.  I'd rather not have to, unless it's fun.  Hiking is fun.  The rest?  I guess I still need to find out.

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.

40 paces ahead...

If I had wanted to be, I could have been 40 paces ahead on today's hike.

Gleefully sitting on the bench off the wimpy side trail of Thumb Butte, 2/3rds of the way up.

I hiked in a dress today, because it's a sporty dress.

I also had to work prior to the hike, and it was better than going to those appointments in hiking clothes, right?

Swinging my legs, not out of breath, waiting for Chris to catch his breath.

So it's 15 weeks today since I first hiked Thumb Butte and started my Quest.  For the first time, today I was the fitter hiking partner, totally understanding the horrors of a Thumb Butte climb.

It was sooooo pretty today!

Pretty terrifying, isn't it?

The rock stackers had been there before us.

I'm not unsympathetic to the breathlessness of a first Butte hike, but it was difficult not to smile.  I had conquered this Butte already, and now it was another's turn.

Is the Quest better as a partnership?

Is sharing the rigors of a fitness quest make one more likely to show up?

Since breaking my hand, my fear has been losing what I had earned through sweat.  Now I wonder if my quest is more about relationships than anything else.  

Just what do I hope to find?

Not smurfs.

Already found Bronies.

And that local radio hosts are a hoot.

And that I shoot better with my left vs my right.

Today, I got to be the leader, instead of trailing 40 paces behind.  Perhaps the best thing to come out of the Quest thus far is the growing number of people contacting me, and letting me know they started their own quest.

Just keep moving.

My journey has been up and down (literally) but the one thing that has sustained it is accountability.  Meeting someone to hike, or writing about a local business-I was part of a partnership.  Working (or hiking) with a common goal.

Instead of Just Do It, it's Win/Win.  Exercise is easier with two.  Whether that be a hiking partner for that trail, or a center full of people-it's just better when people are looking for you to show up.

Fitness Quest-keeping it real.

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.