Day 8: And the Magic Number is...

4.3

4.3 is the number of pounds I've lost over the last week. It's a respectable number to be sure, after all, slow and steady wins the race. Anyone who has ever spent any time dieting knows how easy it is to obsess about that number on the scale. Of course you hear people all the time say, "Don't worry about the number on the scale, concentrate on how your clothes fit." So I will say that I was pleased today, when I finally moved down to that last notch on my belt.

So the first week is down, now I just have to keep my head down, keep eating healthy, exercise and try not to obsess about that damn number.

I have to apologize about no blog yesterday. The day completely got away from me. I didn't even get any specific exercise any, unless you count dragging the laundry to the laundromat. I'll tell you more about the day and dealing with my family at another point, because I want to tell you about my hike today. It's one of my absolute favorites.

Today's exercise: hiking

A 6.6 mile "lollipop" hike in the Black River County Park out in Chester, NJ. (click for the description I followed).

A lollipop hike is a hike where the beginning and end of the hike follow the same trail, but somewhere down the line you make a turn that takes you in a big loop before bringing you back to the spot where you turned off.

There are several reasons why I like this hike. It starts and ends with a relatively level and easy 1.2 mile stroll through the woods. It has a decent amount of ups and downs to really get your heart going. It has a great variety in the places it takes you, creeks, rolling meadows, a pine forest and a rocky river gorge. And most importantly it's quite beautiful.

It was really hot today, in the upper 90's so I wanted to get a nice early start. But I ended up sleeping until 8, so I was already and hour behind. Then of course I started off on the wrong foot by driving off in the wrong direction, whoops! And it takes a little over an hour to get out to the park. Another one of the pluses of this hike is that there are bathrooms by the parking lot. Never underestimate the value of an actual bathroom at the beginning and end of your hike. Because of the heat, I put three 1.5 liter bottles of water (one frozen to keep the others cool) in my pack and left a 4th in the car. I hit the bathroom and then headed out. The trail starts out behind an old historic mill and then follows a along a creek, crossing several foot bridges.

This was nice way to start. The path was wide open and I started to relax as I walked along at a pretty good clip. I was starting to glisten a bit as I moved, but nothing too bad yet. We've gotten a lot of rain lately and there was a big storm last night so there lots of "seasonal wetness" to be found. The foliage was very green and lush. I was the only person on the trail. Of course one of the bigger problems with hiking solo is that you get the face fulls of cobwebs and such that the insects like to string across your path.

I don't mind hiking by myself, but there are very set rules I use when I do. I print out at least 2 copies of the hike I'm doing and leave the hike on my screen at home. One copy I carry with me of course and the other goes into a ziploc bag with my last name, date and start time and gets left under my windshield wiper (this was a tip I picked up from a boy scout troop I ran into on a hike while I was looking for a place to pee. Guess that boulder wasn't as screened as I thought!) I always carry at least two 1.5 liter bottles of water, more if it's hot. I never wear headphones on the trail because I need to hear what's going on around me, (you've got to be able to hear a bear crashing through the woods, or the rattle of the rattlesnake you almost stepped on!) And I always make sure my cell phone is fully charged.

The hike passes a lovely little pond, but on a hot day like today you don't stop near standing water. Because if you do, you get surrounded by lots of little flying things. And the bugs were out in force today, I had to reapply the bug spray 3 times to keep them away from me. By the time I hit my first real up, I was pretty warm already and by the time I got to the top I was drenched. The first half of this hike is not all that different from any other hike. But once I hit the red trail, I got to one of my favorite parts.

The pine forest. This part of the trail is wonderful. The trail is covered in a thick layer of pine needles so it feels like you are walking on a very soft carpet. And the smell... it's just amazing. It's what every car freshner aspires to and never can achieve.

Today the pine forest had a few surprises for me however. This trail is a less used trail and obviously not many people had been down it recently so many parts of the the path were overgrown and I had to do a bit of bushwhacking. Then I came to a real obstacle. Two trees about 6 inches in diameter each had fallen across the path about waist high, too low to go under. It was so over grown on either side that there was no way to blaze a f*ck-it path, so I had to go over. When I put my left leg up and over the trees to straddle them, I ended up almost getting intimate with the remains of a broken branch. (If the tree had any sense of decency it would have bought me dinner first!). I felt a stabbing pain on my inner thigh and heard my shorts rip as the branch went right through. This is the second hike in a row that I've ripped my shorts. Thank goodness both pairs were already too big. After adjusting my position, I got my other leg over, thanked the trees for a good time and headed off down the trail.

After some more climbs and descents I ended up at my other favorite part of this trail. The Black River Gorge. The trail runs along the side of the river often becoming very narrow and fit for not much more than a billy goat, but the water rushing by on your left is so lovely and soothing, it's worth it. By this time I was soaking wet. I mean completely soaked through. My tank top was totally wet, there was a small area around the bottom hem that was still dry. My shorts were soaked. My hat was soaked. I wasn't glistening, I wasn't perspiring, I was full on sweating, it was literally pouring off of me. But I knew at this point I only had about two miles left so I pushed on. There was a lot more up as I climbed out of the gorge. Then headed back to the path I came in on.

When I got back to the mill, there were two older couples who had just finished a tour of the mill. One of the men, just stared at me as I came walking by, you would think the man had never seen a sweat drenched woman wearing a sopping wet tank top, ripped shorts and knee braces, arrive out of the woods before! Sheesh!

By the time I reached my car, I had drank over 3 liters of water and my trusty pedometer read:

Miles: 6.60
Steps: 15506
Aerobic steps: 13139 for 142 minutes
Calories burned: 699

But what floored me was the time, just a tad over 3 hours! I don't know how I maintained that pace! I felt like I was moving a lot slower. But hey I'll take it. I was tired, my right knee was a bit achy, but I felt really good. My lungs felt really open.

I stopped at a favorite farm market on my way home and picked up some freshly picked strawberries and asparagus. And this is just the beginning of the summer produce season, I can't wait for the rest to come in.

All in all it was a good day and a nice hike. Not a single DHP sighting (the wusses!) I only ran into three other people on the trails all day. This won't be the last 90+ degree day I hike this summer, so I guess I better get used to it.

Happy trails!