How I spent my Tuesday.

This is actually at the Tenafly Nature Center but I wanted
a picture for this post and my iPod is in the car...

You guys...I went hiking.  On my own.  For the first time in like 3+ years.

It. Was. Awesome.

I have a regular route up in the Ramapo Valley County Reservation, which I first used to hike in "hiking boots" from Payless with my CD walkman in my hand- way back in 'naught 2 - my route would take me a full album, plus halfway through again (about an hour and a half, roughly 4 miles).  I hiked because I had gotten laid-off and knew if I sat around the house I'd go crazy/gain 1,000 lbs while moping about being unemployed.

Then I got pregnant and while I didn't stop exercising I did stop hiking; balance and the super-flexibility powers that pregnancy gives you being the biggest reason.  This super-flexibility makes your hips and ankles do funny things on uneven surfaces and lacking much grace, I figured I'd stick to pavement, swimming pools and stationary bikes.  Much safer for all considered...

Then Miss N happend and well - time got away from me.

But not on Tuesday.  On Tuesday I dropped Miss N off at day camp (my salvation from 9-3 from now until August 2nd) and high-tailed it out of town.  The noise from the cicadas was huge and I saw evidence of them everywhere but I didn't see a single live one.  I had anticipated a few (hundred) landing on me as I hiked, but nothing.  Thank goodness, because I was having flashbacks to the Dive-bombing Incident of '88 and was bracing myself to have to abort mission when the ick factor got too high.

The Dive-bombing Incident of '88 is a story for another time, but it involves Japanese beetles and my stint as a lifeguard.  I'm shuddering just thinking about it.

It was great.  The hills were just enough to get the legs hurting and the heart pumping as I remember them.  The route just as solitary in a thoughtful and peaceful way, the grass smelling just as crispy green on that tiny plateau just as the blue route jogs to the right and leaves the silver and I came out just muddy enough to know I worked for it.

Bliss...

I gotta get back up there.

Have any of you tried trail running?  I'm thinking about it but am not sure I'm committed enough to get trail sneakers.  I don't want to run in my regular trainers, because they're new-ish and I love them too much to get them gunky and muddy.  I've nothing against gunk and mud - just don't want to have to wait to road run while they dry out...

Catalog of Injuries.

So after run/walking the Army Ten Miler and the HoBOOken 5K, I spent most of fall and winter down with a back injury.  It took me until March to actually get it looked at.  I have no excuse - just laziness, scheduling an appointment in the window of time Miss N's in her part-time school and days when it felt better so I thought it was fixing itself...it wasn't and one shovel of snow too far, I threw it out.

It turns out I have a slight curve to my spine that was sort of picked up when I was a kid but my mom (according to my dad) went on a kinda "no child of mine has a curved spine" tear and since it was slight, no one followed up.  When I mentioned the spine curve thing to my aunt (mom's sister), she got all indignant as apparently Mom has one too...  My Mom is story for another post...

Fast-forward thirty-odd many years and there it is in my x-rays.  Just a slight curve, but one even I can see.  I asked my chiropractor if this is why I has sciatica while pregnant and if it was why my low back tightens up so badly when I run and I pretty much got a "duh...of course" response.  Huh...well that explains that...

The chiro banned me from running for 2 months and I've just gotten moving again a few weeks ago.  I had a meh showing at a 5K on Memorial Day but am so grateful to have been able to run it, I'm not too bothered.

So this is my round about way of explaining why I haven't been running, why I haven't been posting and why (once again) I've got a new training plan.