So…with this posting I’ll have exceeded the posts I wrote in 2017. I feel good about that because the catharsis associated with the writing…and the things I’m doing that make me want to write…tell me I’m back on track for who I want to be. I’m eating sensibly again. I’m exercising and looking forward to it. I’ve set goals and I’m working towards achieving them. I think I’ve got better balance as a human being or I couldn’t be writing and feeling these things. I intend to stay on track.
My sister asked me to stop over so she could make me a birthday dinner and so I headed for Mentor from the farm. My neighbor agreed to let Dakota out and feed her, though I did have some guilt about not taking her on our after-work hike. For me, I stopped in the North Chagrin Reservation and put in the steps I would need to get to 20,000 for the day.
As I walked though, I considered why I was doing it. It was overcast and cold and there was no one else hiking. It was a day to just say ‘what the hell’ or do something inside where the conditions would be more favorable. And yet I was walking in the woods, listening for the sounds that made it special and looking around with each step hoping to site something living and scampering. One black squirrel, perched on a nearby downed, rotting tree watched me closely. And so I stopped and returned the stare…and it was then that I concluded there was just something in my DNA that made the woods special and the reason I’ve roamed them freely since I was seven years old and growing up in Connecticut surrounded by them.
There is peace and solace in these woods and I go and walk them to feel it. I can’t say that I’m conscious of it every time and all the time, but it is there for me and draws me back. It’s definitely one of the reasons I brought my children and friends to the Adirondacks. I think they’ll suddenly ‘feel’ it and want it all the time, too. Some have. More will in the future because I’ll continue to do that.
The forecast is semi-promising for the weekend and I’m hoping for a couple of good rides. Adirondacks are four weeks away and I want to be bounding effortlessly up some peak or over some challenging trail. Solace awaits…
Hike: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 70 - 80 bpm.
Calories Burned: 275
Bonus: 21,000 steps.
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