The changes that I decided to undertake are mostly of the physical and soul searching type. On the physical part is that I want to get fit again. I have truly enjoyed my life as the fat guy these last few years, mostly because of all the delicious food that gave me my great figure. But like all things in life it must come to an end. I want to regain my old fit body from when I was in high school and NAVY years. So in order to do this I have decided to give P90X a full hearted try. It needs to be confessed that my wife and I tried P90X once before and we were fully committed for about a month. In that month we had outstanding results, but we were not able to follow through with the program because life got in the way. To many commitments and not enough time kind of thing.
I am currently on day four of the P90X program and I have already lost 5 pounds since I started. My starting weight was of 280.5 lbs and my current weight loss goal is 200 lbs. That was my original weight when I was a teenager playing baseball and football.
But I actually have something that I did not have two years ago when I first attempted the program. And that something is in the form of what will I do with my newly sculpted figure once I attain it. The answer to that question is that I want to go back to one of my all time favorite pastimes; hiking. I have been hiking all my life and first memory of doing so was hiking on my parents 9 acre property in Puerto Rico where I grew up. One of my fondest memories is hiking along all the trails that been carved through El Yunque , which is the ONLY rainforest that US has in its possession, and probably the most beautiful place that I have ever visited in my life.
Hiking has been a great source for inspiration and a soul searching tool over years. Every time that I have made a major decision in my life, or needed to think through a very dificult problem I would go hiking in order to find it. I really don't know what it is about hiking, but it helps clear my head of all the baggage that life throws at you and presents you with answers that seem to be so simple, but were being so difficult to attain.
This may sound like a bunch of jiberrish to some of you reading this, but to me it is the greatest feeling in the world when you set out with a heavy heart or mind into nature, and battle your inner demons or whatever problems you brought with you. And then being there in nature, where it is just you, and you have to struggle, fight through the pain, and keep moving toward the top of the mountain. The air is getting thinner, your muscles are aching, your pack is getting heavier, your breathing more labored, but youkeep pushing along. And then you are finally rewarded with reaching the top. What an amazing sight! You look back at the path you have just taken and you feel proud of yourself, because you have just conquered this mountain.
And guess what? You are no longer bothered, weighted down, or troubled from any of the baggage that you brought with you to the mountain. They all fell of your shoulders as you continued your journey up that mountain. And now all those problems seem so small after conquering a mountain, and you are ready to head down the mountain to face reality full of confidence and belief in yourself. To me that is what hiking does for me.
Yesterday, Tuesday January 31, 2012, I did my first hike in many years. After browsing the internet, going through forums, and using the all powerful Google search engine I decided to hike Big Schloss in the George Washington Forest in northwestern Virginia and eastern West Virginia. While I was looking for information on Big Schloss I ran accross a blog from a couple that have been hiking all over the state of Virginia and have keeping record of their adventures for the world to see. I think now on I will be using their blog as a reference for all my future hiking endeavours.
The Hike
I got to the Wolf Gap Campgrounds around 9:30 AM and after I got all my things together I decided to start my climb up the mountain.
I took my first stop of the trip to take pictures of all the signs that had reference to the park and the trail that I was going to be hiking up on. Was following the orange blaze for the Mill Mountain trail for the first bit of the trail. About 0.5 up the trail I took my first set of pictures of the view.
At 0.7 on the trail I came up the second view for another set of pictures.
Around 1.5 into the trail I finally came up to the white blaze trail for the Big Schloss trail.
When I was getting close to the 2.2 mile mark I got to the bridge that would allow me to cross into the Big Schloss peak.
And once I got to the peak the time was 11:25 AM. Just in time for lunch, teriyaki beef jerky. I took a picture while I was at the top. Not a great picture and as you can see that is as far as my fear of heights would allow me to get to the edge. I did not want my vertigo to start acting up when I was trying to catch my breath and get a little energy back from my lunch.
It did not take long at all to get back to my car. At around 12:50 PM I reached my car and proceeded to drive home. Not a bad first hike, and believe me I felt great!
No comments:
Post a Comment