I’d received a call from Kathy earlier that day asking if I’d like to do a hike following sanding. Well…I never say no to a chance to work out though if she hadn’t made the suggestion I’d have likely gone home and iced my heel. “I’m still sore from those steps I did yesterday though,” she confided.
She had gone to the Rocky River Reservation and walked up the 132 steps behind the nature center ten times. Easy math. She’d done 1,320 steps and was puzzled about the soreness.
“Speaking purely as an Exercise Physiologist, I’d say hmmm…wonder what could have caused that?” I said.
I went back to sanding and received a text suggesting maybe we wouldn’t hike, but rather meet at her place in Peninsula and walk into town for a bite to eat. ‘It’s only four miles,’ she texted.
Okay, I was a little confused. Was she four miles from town which would make it an 8-mile walk (which I’d call a hike) or only two miles away? If it were me, I’d have said ‘four miles’ thinking nothing of misleading someone into doing more. I figured she was doing the same.
When I arrived at her place, she walked out to greet me and hobbled painfully down the three stairs from her door. After showing me around, we walked through the little development to the Towpath that passed a hundred yards from her drive.
“So it’s eight miles round trip and we’re taking an eight mile hike,” I stated.
“Well…not really. We’re going four miles there and stopping to have something to eat, so it’s a four mile walk. I mean it’s flat all the way there so it’s only a walk,” she concluded.
“And we’re calling ‘Uber’ or taking the train back so we won’t be walking the return four miles?”
“Um…no…so…um, that’s another four-mile walk.”
“Which, if my math is correct, is eight miles?” I queried.
She wouldn’t concede the point and insisted it was simply two, four-mile ‘walks’. I watched her step gingerly and painfully up the railroad tie steps from the trail to the road in Peninsula where we were stopping to eat four miles later. I was given a choice of the two eateries and picked ‘Fishers’ over ‘The Winking Lizard’ because I’d never been there before. At least I’d thought I’d had a choice when she asked me. “Oh…guess I won’t be able to work on my ‘beer list’ at the ‘Winking Lizard’ then,” she said. Apparently, they have a list of 100 beers and keep track of the ones you’ve had over some period of time and once you’ve completed the whole list, they reward you with a thirty-day stay in a facility to dry you out...something like that.
“We can go there! I don’t care,” I said once realizing I picked wrong…as men often do.
“No,” she sighed, “it’s okay.”
We sat outside and as the waitress approached slowly with menus, I knew she had ‘the question’ on her mind.
I’ve recently started a beard and the resemblance to Terry O’Quinn of ‘Lost’ fame has increased geometrically. “Has anyone ever told you…” she began when Kathy interrupted her. She’s heard this before.
“It’s him! Isn’t this exciting?!” she said.
Surprised how easily she slipped into the lie, I naturally played along holding both hands out, palms down and motioning to ‘keep it quiet’.
“I don’t want a lot of fuss,” I said.
“Oh…my…God! It is you! Isn’t it?” she said, not entirely sure the hero of TV was sitting at her table in lowly Peninsula.
“Jack, Katie and Hurley (three other characters from ‘Lost’) also like it here. It’s kind of our place when we’re in town,” I said smoothly, continuing the lie with Kathy smiling and chuckling and enjoying every minute.
Finally she asked me for my I.D. She had consulted with others and they were pretty certain I was the TV character. “Don’t you think he’d have a fake I.D. to cover himself to remain incognito?” Kathy explained. She was good at this.
I did manage to come clean before the meal was over, but could feel the stares of other patrons and staff. We walked back with Kathy again stiff from the steps and having sat for an hour. “We need to hurry. It’s going to be dark before we get back,” she insisted as she picked up the pace and continued wincing.
I noticed some hot spots, places where blisters were beginning to form, on my feet by the time we reached her place. I’d been hiking in hiking shoes, but hadn’t them on for this long a walk in some time. It was a good warning for the Adirondacks where I would be headed with John Thursday night.
So…I’m staying in shape though my climbing could be compromised. I feel good about the consistency of the Survival Workout. I’ve reached the point in age where it’s easy to let the muscle tone go forever and I’m determined that won’t be happening anytime soon. I’m still in the eighties for push-ups, though I’ve got to get that over 100 again to be happy. The coming week will include lots of floor finishing at Savannah’s place, which could make workouts a challenge, but I like a good one.
Hike Duration: Two hours
Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm.
Calories burned: 600.
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