...at heart (photo to the right is not me... sadly).Some of you know that I'm planning a trip to Yosemite next June. I plan on hiking 26.2 miles in one week. Ironically, this is the exact millage of a marathon! This is no joke. Here are the hikes on my list for my Yosemite week:
Half Dome: 14.2 miles round trip
Upper Yosemite Falls: 7.6 miles round trip
Taft Point: 2.2 miles round trip
Sentinel Dome: 2.2 miles round trip
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Total: 26.2 miles.
Crazy. But anyway, I digress. The point is, this is a LOT of millage to hike in a week. While a marathon is run all in one day, half of my hiking will be UPHILL!
My dad, who is going with me to Yosemite, purchased a gym membership and some new work-out clothes and shoes in order to get in shape for this event. I too knew that I needed to take some measures to get in shape--I've known too many people that have climbed Half Dome (let alone all the other hikes I'm going to be doing) out of shape and just about died.
Two days ago I went on a walk--a good start for my seriously allergic-to-exercise lifestyle. I walked maybe a mile and felt great.
Today I got on a bike (borrowed from a friend) and rode 7.2 miles. It was wonderful! Needless to say I was exhausted after only about 300 yards, but I kept going. Anyone that says riding a bike isn't exercise should try getting on one again. My legs are spent, but it was an awesome ride. The wind was in my face, it wasn't too hot (94 degrees, hey that's not hot in Vegas), and I had my head phones on playing James Blunt.I rode to Round Table Pizza where I had a lunch buffet and read my book, relaxing for about an hour (okay stop laughing at me and telling me that eating a pizza buffet negated my bike ride!)
I can't remember the last time I felt that good and relaxed. It was an overall enjoyable enough experience to do it again. I'm going to start riding my bike to work as well. Hopefully it'll be enough to get me ready for my marathon hike in 9 months.
Wish me luck!
Note: The guy in the picture above isn't me. Unless, of course, you really thought it was, in which case it is... of course.
3 comments:
I would never tease someone about having a pizza after working out. I used to go to 24 Hour Fitness with friends, and afterward, we would all get a pizza.
The way I see it is, if you're going to have pizza (or something similar) anyway, then the exercise does not negate it.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. I was going to go anyway so the bike ride was still more than it could have been. :)
sounds like fun, last year in August, I went with my dad, Mary & Gerald and his dad to Mt. Whitney and did a 40 mile backpack over 7 days. I lost a little weight.
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