Day 1... Off To An Okay Start

This is me two weeks ago at Disney World. I'm the one in the tiara. This is the starting point. I have to admit I'm a little ashamed to post the following starting figures, but it's only fair, so ya'll will be able to see the changes.

But here we go:

Height: 5'7" (I was 5'6" for a very long time and then a couple of years ago the doctor told me I was 5'7"! Go figure!

Starting weight: 212.7 pound (Egads! Still it used to be worse!)

BMI: 33.3 (yes, this puts me into the obese category. That hurts!)

Bust: 45" Thigh: 25.25"
Waist: 39.5" Upper Arm: 16"
Hips: 45"

Today's exercise: Hiking

I woke up this morning, knowing that it was D-day. so I got up and instead of running for bagels, I had oatmeal with sliced strawberries and a little 2% milk. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out so I planned to go hiking after I dropped my boyfriend off at work.

There are tons of places to hike in the Northern New Jersey / New York area. I chose to do one that I had done before, South Mountain Reservation in Millburn, New Jersey. It's a 6 mile moderate loop hike in the Watchung Mountains. This hike has two big pluses. First, it's only about 30 minutes from my house. Second, the most difficult parts of the trail are in the first 3.5 miles, so the last 2.5 miles, feels like a nice stroll in the woods. The one big minus is that the first half mile is ALL up.

Now lest y'all think I'm being too ambitious with a hike like this, I should explain that I'm not a novice hiker. I've been day hiking for several years, just not as often as I would like or would help. One spring and summer a friend and I managed to hike almost every single weekend from April to November, just missing a couple. I got in decent shape, but of course, I was eating crap, so I didn't lose a whole lot of weight.

Anyway, this being the first hike I'm telling you about, I should probably explain a few other things. Now, you know when you see a commercial with that outdoorsy type couple hiking through the woods and she's wearing cute little khaki shorts and cute, clean hiking boots and a tank top, lightly leaping from stone to stone across a stream, with nary a bead of perspiration marring her brow? That is SO not me. I look like I'm heading out to war. I wear a t-shirt, cargo shorts (with a big pocket on the side for a water bottle), a baseball hat to keep the sweat from running into my eyes (because I sweat, a LOT) and keep the creepy crawlies out of my hair, hiking boots that are scuffed and muddy, knee braces on both knees, and a hunter orange backpack, with emergency first aid kit, ponchos, an emergency blanket, bug spray, sun block, and at least 3 liters of water.

The hunter orange backpack was purchased after one hike during October when we discovered we were out in the woods in green shorts and a brown t-shirt on the Opening Day of hunting season. Live and learn people!

I also use a hiking stick. I have terrible knees because of years of being overweight. The hiking stick is a godsend. It has kept me from falling flat on my face when tripping over roots and rocks. It helps me balance on stones and logs when crossing streams or swampy areas. And it gives me that little extra support when scrambling up and down rocks. My friend borrowed one of mine once and the very next week she had her own brand new stick. They are just that helpful.

There are a few hiking terms you may need to know as well.

1. DHP's (Damn Healthy People) These are those people that coming running along the trail right past you in their little running outfits and sneakers. They seem to magically fly over the stones and roots that threaten my knees and ankles with egregious injury with every step I take. And even though that level of fitness is something to aspire to, when you're sweating your way up a 45% incline stopping to catch your breath, sometime you just want to stick your foot out and trip them.
2. Seasonal Wetness When a hike description mentions that you may encounter "seasonal wetness" that could mean anything from a couple of puddles on your path, to big mud pits that threaten to suck down your whole leg if you fall off of the log or stepping stones, some kind soul before you had laid over it, to gushing streams of water crossing the path in front of you. My favorite was the seasonal wetness that washed away the small foot bridge and sinking the boards in the mud so you had to solve the puzzle of where to put your feet to get across.
3. F*ck-it Path When you encounter an obstacle in your path, it could be the aforementioned seasonal wetness, a fallen tree or a boulder and your legs feel like lead already, look to the left or right. Chances are someone has been there before you, looked at the obstacle and said, "F*ck it." And blazed a new trail around the obstacle.
4. Blazes These are the markers that you follow down the trail. They are usually rectangles painted on the trees and boulders, or colored metal discs or rectangles nailed to the tree. The color tells you which trail and the positioning tells you which way to go. Fortunately, trails that are maintained by the New York/New Jersey Trail conference are pretty well blazed and maintained. But still sometimes you really have to look for the next one (trees do fall after all).
5. Unnecessary Ups These are the bane of my existence. An unnecessary up often occurs when you miss a blaze and make a wrong turn, happily thinking that thank goodness it's downhill, only to realize when you get to the bottom that you went the completely wrong way and now you have to climb back up. That climb is an unnecessary up.

This is getting kind of long and I haven't even talked about the actual hike! Well, like I said, it is a 6 mile hike and it starts from a parking lot where you pick up the yellow-blazed Lenape trail. Of course all excited for my hike and thinking I remembered where to go, I headed off through the picnic area and promptly missed the next blaze and ended up in someone's backyard. Ooops.

The first half mile is walking up the mountain. It's not terribly, steep but it is significant and I had to stop often, taking it in small sections of 30 steps at a time. And of course it was here that I ran into the only DHP I encountered, but he was running downhill, so I felt better. I finally reached the top and was greeted with a grand view of the valley below me and the NYC skyline to the East. Up here there are a bunch of Revolutionary War Monuments because George Washington apparently stood here at some point and surveyed the approach of the Redcoats below. I've seen all this before so I soldiered on.

I wish I had pictures to post, but my boyfriend left the camera at his office...

After that the trail gets more rugged, moving up and down and it goes around the mountain. I crossed a couple of cascades that because of rain the night before had a decent amount of water running over them. I kept glancing at my pedometer thinking am I halfway yet? Nope. I was in a more remote section of the park at this point. I didn't encounter anyone for a very long time. It can be a little eerie when you're hiking by yourself.

After almost 3.5 miles I finally hit the landmark of this hike. A decent sized waterfall, complete with a shallow pool and today, two little nymphos, I mean nymphs, in white bikinis taking pictures of each other standing under the cascade, photos which will probably end up on their myspace page. Yeah, that's what I needed to see. I was hot, sweaty, I had ripped my shorts up the side, I was filthy, and not to mention 60 pounds overweight. Well, somebody up there has a sense of humor. Thanks. But I sat down a little ways away and ate my 100 calorie no-sugar added granola bar.

After the falls it was on to the white blazed Rahway trail, which follows along the Rahway River. It's a pretty easy walk after that. I encountered lots of people strolling along the easier and wider bridal trails to got visit the falls. I met one group of women on the actual trail who asked me directions to the falls. One of the women said, "We were just admiring your knee braces." I said, "I learned a long time ago. They're not sexy, but they work!"

The last mile and a half went quickly. I was happy to see the glint off of the cars in the distance. By the time I reached my car, according to my pedometer, I had walked 5.88 miles, taken 13298 steps, 9803 were "aerobic" steps (however, pedometers base on time and steps, they don't take into account inclines), and burned at least 594 calories (again only factors based on walking level), in 3 hours. I was tired.

Whenever I get off a trail the first thing I do is call my boyfriend and tell him that I "didn't get eaten by wolverines." This is a little running joke between us, after he warned me one time not to get eaten by the wolverines. Occasionally when I call after a hike, he'll answer, "Wolverine hotline!".

By the time I got home all I wanted was a shower and a sit down. Why do hot showers feel so much better when you are sweaty? When Scott got home from work, we decided to go out to eat. Ah a test of the diet! We went to a Mexican place, Charritos, I got their grilled chicken fajitas, figuring that was the safest option. And I left the sour cream alone! But not the guacamole. I love guacamole....

I ignored the kitchen after 8 pm. Tried to concentrate on everything but food, before finally going to bed.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful first day. Oh lord, how many more days of this?