Over the Hill

Aimee came into my office this morning and told me that yesterday, after feeling cooped up in her condo, with a crabby husband suffering from back spasms, she just had to go out and WALK.  She brought along a mileage app to track her progress, and ended up walking 6.2 miles, including one of the steepest, longest hills in Austin. She wondered if the bottoms of my feet ever got sore (no) or the backs of my thighs (yes) during those kinds of walks, and whether the pain lasted through the next day (rarely).

But it got me to thinking of how much I miss my hills.  My dang left knee has been dogging me again, and as much as I love my newfound, exactly five-mile route....I miss those hills.  I'm getting that old feeling that I got a few months back.  That "things are getting soft" feeling.  It's amazing, really.  Before I ever started this thing, it would have been an absolutely stellar day for me to walk five miles, an hour and a half; the endorphins probably would have been zinging through me for 48 hours.  Now, walking five miles on a flat surface is just treading water.

So, knee pain be damned, I strapped on the brace, grabbed Banks, took a few Aleves and headed for the hills.  I didn't want to overdo it, but I chose two of the steeper hills near Stacy Park, walked up them carefully, and didn't seem to do any damage.  And yes, just that much extra exertion made a difference.  I felt the old sense of accomplishment and purpose that only comes from enduring some amount of discomfort and working through it. 

I don't think I need to remark any more on whether Banks goes the distance or not.  It's fall now, and he WILL be going the distance from now on.

It's a good thing I scaled a couple of hills today, because I had way too much pizza and a couple of glasses of wine for dinner. Lynn and my neighbor John came over to watch the debate; John and I joked that getting drunk would be the only way to watch it, but no one did that. Besides, I've got an early morning trip to Houston tomorrow and need to get my game on.  I've got the rental car in the driveway, a CD book waiting for me on the front seat, and my coffee travel mug on the counter.  I'm in heaven.