Strange things in the woods...

Thursday, March 7, 2013

I was feeling intense pain in the lower abdominal area as I drove home to pick up Dakota so we could go to the park for the Survival Workout.  And I knew what it was…my stupidity from the day before in thinking running 25 minutes when I was already sore could somehow be a good idea.  It hadn’t been.

As I drove to the park considering what I’d leave out of the Survival Workout for that day, the thought of just hiking became more appealing.  By the time I’d opened the door to let Dakota jump over me in her zeal to begin our time at the park, I’d decided on the hike.

And good thing.  I had to jump over a muddy stream at one point, and that simple lunge sent pain radiating from the groin throughout the lower abdominal muscles.  I was pretty sure I hadn’t pulled anything, but I was most definitely too sore for any kind of workout.  We hiked for an hour and were following a deer trail when I saw something unusual buried in some underbrush.  When I picked it up to examine it, I realized I was holding a model helicopter, complete with an engine.  The rugby field was directly across the street from where I stood and it was there I’d often seen people operating their model planes.  This one had gone on a mission and not returned.  As I replaced it in its final resting spot, I heard the soft whine of a battery-powered engine.  At first I thought the helicopter had come to life, but then realized the noise was coming from the tree bordering River Road.  I looked up to see another model dangling and broken about twenty feet off the ground.  I don’t know if it had been flying support for the helicopter, but it was dead, too.  If the tree hadn’t been a sapling, I might have tried to climb it to retrieve the plane.  Some operator/operators were having a very bad day.

We looped back through the woods towards the car on another deer trail when I noticed something moving slowly on the forest floor.  My ever-alert dog was too busy selecting her next stick to tackle to have take notice.  It was an opossum and was moving very slowly and looking quite ratty.  I followed with my phone out to take a picture and it did little to evade…like climbing a tree.  I started to think it was either very old…or very sick…and decided to abort the chase and let it wander off.  By now Dakota had picked up on my hunt, though she kept her distance.

I drove to my sister’s for dinner afterwards and ate poorly.  The pea soup and chicken was okay, but I couldn’t resist the Fritos.  I did pass on the apple pie though, which I consider a major accomplishment.  Tomorrow will be my last day as a bachelor and with John coming over to do some work for the magazine; I think it’ll be spaghetti and smoothies again.

Hike duration:  60 minutes.

Training Heart Rate:  90 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  350.