I got going pretty well this morning, even though I didn’t really get to bed until after 9:30. It’s pretty chilly this week, especially in the mornings, so I decided to do my Move U exercises first thing since they are an indoor activity. I finished week 4 of Shoulders & Arms level 2. I might start week 5 tomorrow, or I might wait until Thursday when I have exercise release time.
Work was busy. I’m doing a lot of teaching these days, and I’ve got multiple projects that I’m juggling. It’s good, in a way, because it keeps me busy, but also frustrating because I feel like I’m falling behind.
During exercise release/lunch time, I went for a two mile run. I haven’t run this particular route since last year, because it’s a hard route. Straight out and back along the road, which means I’m going all the way down the hill and then I have to run all the way up that hill, with no breaks. I felt pretty good about my time when I finished, and when I compared it to last year’s, I was much faster. Especially on the mile going up the hill. The last time I ran that route was in March of 2024; it took me 14 minutes and 52 seconds to run the first mile, and 17 minutes and 25 seconds to run the second. Today, I ran the first in 13 minutes and 20 seconds, and the second in 15 minutes and 40 seconds. Very pleased with that. I’m going to keep up the running, and I will improve.
After lunch was almost constant meetings. That was mentally draining, but good progress was made on several fronts.
And after work, I got myself outside to mow. My back is still twinging a bit, so I was paying attention to that. It didn’t seem to be negatively impacted by the mowing. I did some rough sections today. The parts that I had hoed on Sunday were easier to push the mower over, but there are so many more spots that I need to attack with the hoe. It’s going to take time to smooth the terrain out, and I’ll just have to make do until I get it done. I’m not going to cut back on my other exercises to do hoeing. I need to prepare my body for backpacking, especially that I’ll be going solo this year for all my trips.
I ended up going into the shower three times today with all my exercising. After that third one, I heated up yesterday’s burger and polished it off. It was excellent as leftovers, though I wish I had left myself a bit more.
I think I’ll go shopping tomorrow morning. I’ll need to get more breakfast sandwiches after tomorrow morning, and I’d rather shop before work than have to cut into my hot springs time after work tomorrow. And if I am going to cut into the hot springs time, it will be to go to the Midvale farmers market, not to a regular ol’ grocery store. They open at 7, so I just need to be on top of things and I can get a quick trip done before it’s time to get ready for work.
I can’t wait to get out into the woods backpacking. I think I’ll feel Ambrose even more strongly that way than I did when car camping. Especially up at our lakes. There are sections of the trail I take up there that are open to motorcycles, but up by the lakes the trail is closed to motors. The only people up there will be those who walked up there, and while we had seen evidence that others had camped up there, we never actually saw anyone else up there when we were. I hope that trend continues for me. I want to spend that time communing with nature and talking with Ambrose’s spirit.