A long hike...

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Terry’s property backs up to the Monon Rail-to-trail path, which starts in downtown Indianapolis and runs north almost twenty miles.  It is paved and used heavily by hikers, runners, cyclists and rollerbladers.  I walked out onto the path through a gate in her back yard and turned north.  I was walking in my dockers and wondering the wisdom of that move, but didn’t have anything else suitable.  My heel had been feeling better lately and so I was truly curious whether shoes would make a difference.

My plan was to go half an hour and turn around.  When I reached that point, I had other ideas of course.  I made it to the one-hour point and figured I was pushing my luck.  My heel still felt fine, so I turned and headed back. 

I managed around 16,000 steps according to an app on my Iphone and I calculated the distance at a little over 7 miles.  It was the longest hike I’d taken in a very long time and my heel felt fine.  I kept working around the outside of her house doing odd jobs that needed my ‘fix-it’ skills, but never felt any pain.  I have worried about my heel constantly while formulating plans for a long trail hike with a backpack, so this was the most encouraging day I’ve had in over a year. 
Hike duration: Two hours.
Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm.
Calories Burned: 700