Back in late March or maybe it was April a bunch of us went to Hawk Mountain. We climbed to the North Lookout and back on the main trail. We decided that coming back in the fall would be great! Only two of the four who hiked that day could make it today. Life has a way of doing that.
Today we took the River of Rocks Trail to the top. Combined with a return to the visitor center via the North Lookout Trail it's a 5 mile loop. The River of Rocks Trail lives up to its name. Not hard to do given it's found in "Rocksylvania".
The signs claim the River of Rocks trail is a moderate hike to the top. Moderate is relative though. Compared to the Skyline trail which is nothing short of death defying, the River of Rocks trail IS moderate. For us, it was a pretty good workout and as we neared the top one member of our group swore that there better be some hawks up there for all the work we put in getting there. Being the organizer of this trip I did not want her to be disappointed and was determined to lasso one if I had to. Fortunately I did not have to. Although we really couldn't tell one bird from another (except for the Turkey Vultures) there was a man at the top of the calling out the birds as he saw them through a gigantic camera lens.
If we had not seen any hawks, it still would have been tough to be disappointed because the view was fantastic.
After a rest at the top to enjoy the view and the birds and a snack, we began the trek back down to the visitor center.
On the way down, a man on the way up called out to Julius.
And the countdown began. Tick Tock Tick Tock. ...........and Julius won! He recognized his friend Bryce before Bryce introduced himself. Maybe you had to be there or maybe you have to be easily entertained as I am but I thought it was amusing.
Today was a gorgeous day to be on the mountain with friends.
I treated myself to a community pool membership. It's at the local middle school so it's only open when school is open but it's a good deal so you take what you are given. Open/lap swims are 7-9 Monday - Friday evenings. There are morning and weekend hours too but I think I will likely go mostly in evenings.
I've been twice now. The first night there were two of us and tonight only 4 - so we each had our own lane. Eventually, I imagine, there will be a need to share lanes. The thought of that intimidates me. I'm a good swimmer but not a fast one. I worry about annoying someone faster. For now, though I can try to get into a routine of going and build some confidence to feel that I belong there.
The pool is just over a mile from my house.Ideally, I'd like to walk there, swim and walk back. Tonight I just didn't have the energy so I drove. Work has been stressful lately (and will be for awhile) so I'm happy that I even went at all.
I'm swimming 500 meters total for now and I'll build on that through the season. My muscles seem to handle that distance just fine. But I'm having to get reacquainted with the breathing aspects of swimming. It'a amazing how we take breathing for granted until we have to pay attention to it!!
Here is the post I wrote in my head while on the yellow trail at Ridley Creek State Park this morning.
Here we go again! Restart number 6352. Ok maybe a slight exaggeration. It's only 6349. But really whose counting besides me, right? Over the span of my August vacation time I decided that when Labor Day got here I'd try to get back to running.....again!
But this time I would go slow. Build a nice solid base. Hence the title in case you are not paying attention. I would start, I thought, by getting back to "just a mile" runs during the week and a little longer on one of the weekend days. So, on Tues, Wed and Thurs this week I ran just 1 mile around my neighborhood. So far so good. I read several somewheres that a weekly long run should be 35% of your total weekly mileage. So factoring in a "just a mile for tomorrow" I backwards mathed myself into a 2.1 mile run for today.
Today, I went to the yellow trail at RCSP for a change of scenery and because my fitness bucket list includes a trail race. Today I ran by feel but starting next week I will go back to using my heart rate monitor to keep me in a base building zone. I like the concept of heart rate training because it's more or less the same as keep smiling keep moving. If one must walk to stay in the zone so be it. One is still moving. The smiling part is hard though when the walking happens two feet into the run. And given my low level of aerobic fitness I'm sure that is exactly what will happen. :(
Hiking, boot camp and sporadic strength training on my own keep my body ready to go but my heart needs way more work. It let me know this when it went flip-pity flop less than a half mile in. :( :( Flip-pity flop is for the Amtrak Board not for running.
I wasn't going to make this effort public because I have failed so many times in the last three years it's embarrassing. But accountability is important so by sharing I'm hoping one of these times it will stick.
I need new running shoes. I've been alternating between two pair of older ones which are ok for biking or boot camp but not for running. There is a blister trying to form on my right foot. I generally get the blisters and hip flexor pain when my shoes are done. The hot spot made it difficult to do some movements at boot camp this week because I ran before class. The hot spot also caused me to change up my footfall during my trail adventure this morning trying to avoid the sensation and this happened.....
*sigh* I'm an idiot. It's not horrible. I can put weight on it but it's not happy flexing to the right. I'm investing some time in RICE therapy to hopefully speed up the healing process.
Maybe the running gods are telling me to give it up? (Sticks fingers in her ears) I'm just not ready to listen yet.
Today's hike featured an out and back on the Gravity Trail starting and ending at The Pagoda in Reading, PA. Last April I hiked Mt. Penn to the Pagoda and then followed the Ferndale Trail The Ferndale Trail travels with the Gravity Trail for a part of it's trip in a 'northerly' direction.
The Gravity Trail follows in the 'rail' steps of the Gravity Railroad which ran an 8.5 mile round trip of the mountain. You can read more about the Gravity Railroad and its history here. The railroad took passengers through picnic grounds, near hotels, vineyards and more.
When I first picked this as my hike destination I had plans to hike 'south' toward the city then turnaround and go 'north' as far as Antietem Lake and back. The weather however changed that. In fact, the weather almost kept me home. The forecasts were calling for thunderstorms of varying descriptions all week; from scattered, to isolated to just plain storms.The only constant was 'some may be severe'. Given the high humidity today and the call for cooler weather tomorrow, severe was easy to believe. However, the arrival time of the storms kept getting moved later so I decided to go for it. Still the soupiness of the day - it was 99% humidity I'm sure - did cause me to cut the hike in half. I was drenched inside of 10 minutes and if I had any inclination to keep going when I approached the return spur to my car, the bugs encouraged me to stop. Despite all that I had a great time.
There is a lot of history still along this trail.
This building is now the East End Athletic Club built around the remains of the Mineral Springs Hotel.
I didn't hike as far as planned today. It seemed like a long way to drive (1 hour and 15 minutes give or take) for a 4-5 mile hike but it was totally worth it. Plus I like to drive so that wasn't a chore. As it was, I missed a turn on the way up to the Pagoda (the street sign was missing) and ended up at Antietem Lake, where the Gravity Trail should come out according to the maps. I'm pretty sure I found the parking area marked on the trail map but I could not see the trail markers. However, I was driving windy roads trying to avoid an accident. If I parked I probably could find it. I'm thinking that may be the place to start to do the second half of the hike I didn't do today. :)
The US is experiencing a political debate unlike any other that I can recall clearly in my lifetime. I have vague recollections of a LOT of Nixon-Humphrey-Wallace nastiness in 1968. I was 8 then and I'm not sure if my memories are true or not. Our country was in similar turmoil back then....... but I don't have time to corroborate my memories right now and it's not the point I wanted to work on.
Back to the present day --- I find the social media and news media chatter upsetting. It used to be that negative campaigning was limited to the politicians themselves. The mud slinging, the name calling, the loud talking over each other was limited to the candidates. Today, it seems we have all been drawn into it. Maybe i'm more sensitive than most. I do have a low tolerance for conflict and loud noises. But I think it's more than that and it's scary. Come November, no matter who is elected, we all have to continue living, working and caring for each other. If we don't ..... like I said it's scary.
I think it would be helpful if we could stop and THINK before we post. Social media has made it far too easy to post and share without pause. It's created a frenzy of frantic discord.
T is for true. This one is challenging because much of the talk is opinions or interpretations of what's going on. And in the eye or mind of the speaker it IS true. I'm not suggesting that just because everyone doesn't agree - it's false. Nor am I suggesting that we all must fact check before we post. What I am suggesting is taking an extra pause before posting or sharing--- "is this really what I want to say or is it being said or shared in response to an emotional reaction I had?".
H is for helpful. Not everything must be said. Again, the question we could ask ourselves is "am I reacting or am I truly (there's that truth concept again) trying to further a valuable exchange."
I is for inspiring. Merriam Webster defines this as "causing people to want to do or create something or to lead better lives". This is a challenging one as well. There are many who when the say "vote for __________ or else" or "if you don't vote for ___________ you are no better than ____________" could say they are trying to inspire others to change the world by voting a certain way. And I'm not in any position to say the speakers are wrong.
I'd like to challenge folks to adopt the "Yes, and" strategy used often in improvisational entertainment. The "yes" portion allows for acceptance/respect that the other person has an opinion; the "and" statement adds new information to the conversation. I don't have to agree with you to have a "Yes, and.." conversation with you. "Yes....and" also forces us to stop and think before we speak or post.
I'm not completely naive. I get that the 'yes...and' conversation can be easily abused if someone really wanted to. Being a generally positive person though I do believe most of us, would find the strategy useful.
N is for necessary. I don't have much to say here. I think the H and the N go together.
K is for kind. When all is said and done (while it is being said and done in this case) is there a way to say what we need to say in a way that is kind. "Can I say what needs saying without shaming, slamming or ridiculing others?" I think if we manage T,H,I and N the K comes naturally.
In my opinion, if we are not careful in how we share our words - especially if our words are meant to bring about a certain action - we run the risk of causing the opposite of what we intended.
Keep smiling keep moving (and consider more *T*H*I*N*K*ing)
-Paula
Today we took the River of Rocks Trail to the top. Combined with a return to the visitor center via the North Lookout Trail it's a 5 mile loop. The River of Rocks Trail lives up to its name. Not hard to do given it's found in "Rocksylvania".
