Our lives are one ever lasting journey through the world on
earth to eternity in heaven. The journey is full of ups and downs, struggles
and joys, happiness and sadness, friends and foes, sickness and health, and so
much more. As I stop to again journal my health journey, I reflect on some of
these recent journeys and their impacts.
On June 30/July 1, I participated in a sleep study as not
being able to sleep through the night and being tired during the day was really
wearing on me. The results of the study showed that I had slight to moderate
sleep apnea. One of the biggest things the doctor said would help would be
losing 30 lbs and also getting a sleep machine at least for a small period of
time. It may not be something necessary forever. I still question a lot of that
as I have had trouble sleeping for years even close to 50 lbs lighter. Since I
am traveling a lot in the coming month, we are waiting for the machine until
after my travels.
On July 14, I visited the family physician for a checkup and
follow-up from my April appointment. Then he confirmed that I had mono at the
beginning of this year/potentially the end of last year. This makes so much
more sense of why I was so overly exhausted, unmotivated, and in ways paralyzed
the first half of the year. Apparently by April when I saw the doctor, I was
actually on the upswing and recovering from the mono. Not only had I just
recently had mono. Apparently, I have also had mono at some point in time
earlier. This is the first awareness of ever having mono.
Leading into these realizations, I had already begun to seek
direction to get in shape because if not, I would not survive my upcoming trips
to Guatemala and Europe. My mom and the other 50/60 year old ladies were going
to be getting around Europe better than I. Therefore, I was slowly working on
changing my mindset and trying to motivate myself to get in shape.
The question is how to get exercise. The heel spur on my
foot and the heat was not going to motivate me to go running. I really despise
gyms for cardio exercises. What I really enjoy is hiking, but it is not the
smartest option by oneself. Then came 4th of July weekend, it was a
cool 4th of July weekend and beautiful weather for hiking. Had it
not been for needing to pack, I probably would have gone out earlier in the
weekend, but I had a goal of packing for Guatemala so I could go to Lexington
the following weekend. On Friday, I told myself if I get everything done I
would go hiking on Sunday afternoon after church though still contemplating the
whole fact of doing it alone. By Sunday, this was no longer an issue.
God works in funny ways. He first blessed me with friends to
hang out with on the 4th of July and enjoy fireworks and bonfire
reminding me of 4th of July 15 years ago in Australia. But when I
came home late that night/early the next morning, I, as so many do, got on
Facebook to see the latest posts from friends and family. One of the posts
referred to a marathon hike but not any marathon hike. The title included “YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK!”
and lots of encouraging words from TS, the event organizer. Really wanting to
do more hiking, needing motivation, and folks to safely hike with, I said why
not commit myself to the hike. By the way, there are intervals to the hike so
one does not have to complete the whole 26+ miles to participate. If I can
finish half+, I will feel accomplished.
In joining the event, TS continued his
encouragement and invited folks to start out with a slower, more casual hike
with the Louisville Hiking Meetup group on Sunday afternoon. I had looked at
the group in the past but was unsure of joining. I did not want to slow down
the group and was unsure of how folks would respond to someone slowing them
down. Some of the language on the site was fairly strict about making sure you
attend hikes that you are prepared. In knowing that TS was going to be there
and his encouragement/willingness to help folks, I decided to take the plunge
and instead of hiking by myself join in with the group. Wow, I am out of shape
even for a slow slightly strenuous hike. I have hiked the Lake trail at
Jefferson Memorial forest half a dozen times and never felt so out of shape,
but it got me out there. I met knew people and went out again on Monday. There were
two groups meeting that night. TS encouraged me to join with the 2nd
group as the first group definitely was out of my league. I had planned to just
hike what I could while the fast group was out doing their thing. At least that
way, I was not totally alone in the forest, but I decided to check out the
other group.
The Monday night Slow Pace JMF 4.5 mile
hike group has been great. That first night, my legs were still tense from the
day before, and I was struggling big times on the hills. Shamefully, I did give
in and let CH carry my backpack. The backpack, I have always worn hiking with a
lot more in it that I had that first night. The group was very encouraging,
checked back, and waited on me. We actually ended up cutting it short this
first night for multiple reasons, which was perfectly fine with me because I was
exhausted. I have participated 2 other times since then and do see some
improvements. This past Monday was a lot cooler so it was a bit difficult to
really notice the progress, but part of the progress also comes from carrying almost
10 lbs less.
This weekend was an official training hike for the marathon
hike on September 27, 2014. There were multiple legs to the day. I chose to
meet at Scotts Gap, where TS again encouragingly was willing to stick out and
help anyone who needed to hike a bit slower with support and encouragement. The
trail starts right out with a nice long hill that I started out way too fast
and was quickly out of breath. Hills are killers, up takes my breath away and
steep down kills my right knee. I am a pure mess. But TS came up along behind
me and stayed with me to the end of the trail before heading off to catch up
with the rest of the group. Without that motivation, I would still be stuck on
that trail. It was full of ups and downs and hard to gain much speed to make up
for the slower up hills. We did accomplish it (around 3.3 miles) in about 1.5
hrs give or take, neither great nor bad.
When the invite came out for Saturday, I decided to hike
Scotts Gap depending on that trail either hike it again (no way) or hike the
Mitchell Hill Lake trail. There was enough time to do another about 3 mile hike
while they hiked the final 6.7 miles back to the Welcome Center. There was no
way that I was doing Scotts Gap again and really wasn’t sure about the Lake
trail. But after a peanut butter & jelly, PowerAde, and some rest, I felt
that I could at least do the trail from the Welcome Center to the Lake trail
and back. That is about 2.2 miles with the Lake trail another mile around with
a nice hill in the back half going counter-clockwise. So I drove to the Welcome
Center and took off. I ended up doing the full 3.2 miles around the lake and
back to the Welcome Center. I returned just in time to meet up with everyone
else from the longer hike. I was beaten, worn out, and didn’t really have the
energy to stand more less stretch. I did try to stretch some knowing that if
not, I would regret it the next day. Then a few of us headed to Penn Station
for some lunch/dinner. Overall, it was a good day and I felt accomplished
having hiked about 6.5 miles again. Amazingly, today I am not too sore or
tired, and my new shoes did alright. My 10+ year old boots started falling
apart on Monday night :(. Thankfully, I had already checked out shoes and
bought some low top hiking boots before my trip to Guatemala.
That was a summary of my recent workouts and hiking, but as
I started this, God works in amazing ways. As I may still be sitting
contemplating getting out and hiking and trying to lose weight had God not
connected TS and I through autocross at the beginning of the year. Not only
does TS autocross, he is my main competition and really forcing me to work on
improving my autocross skills, and now his motivation and skills are helping me
get back in shape and do one of my favorite things, hike and be in nature.
It has been just shy of a year since you heard from me last
and let’s just say life has been full of craziness and business as you can tell
from this post. I do look forward to sharing more about some of the exciting
things that have happened, but for now, I hope you will once again walk with
me. I look to hopefully not only get in better shape, lose weight, but find a
lifestyle change that will not fall apart when other life factors happen and
work hard to derail on the efforts previously put in place. Hoping some new
accountability and encouragement from new and old friends will help me carry
forward.
Thanks for anyone who is still out here patiently waiting
for new updates!
Here is a synopsis of the first 3 weeks. Tomorrow ends the 4th
week since I started tracking my weight and hiking again.
La Semana Tres: Monday,
July 28, 2014 -- 217.4
La Semana Cero: Monday, July 7, 2014 -- 226.8
Most likely the heaviest ever
36.4 lbs from Dec 2012
46.8 lbs from Aug 2009
---------Previous Health Ups & Downs---------
Sunday, September 1, 2013 -- 209.6
Tuesday, July 9, 2013 -- 206.8
Monday, December 3, 2012 -- 190.4
Monday, April 23, 2012 -- 211.4
Monday, August 10, 2009 -- 180
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