State of the Union

In light of the president having the State of the Union speech tonight, I thought I'd have my own State of the Union speech, but shorter and without the BS and applause from those in attendance.

The state of the union is all about sore feet.  The reason for the sore feet is all about the hikes.  The way the system works here at the BLR, is that the mornings are filled with a hike through the hills, and then group classes in the afternoon.  I will talk about the group classes later, but today's post will be about the hikes.

We leave the resort at 8am to hike for between 2 - 2.5 hours.  Then we come back in time for a group exercise class before lunch.  The main purpose of the hikes are to keep moving for the entire time.  The terrain varies from hike to hike, but they are up hill and down hill the whole time.

For me, the hardest part is the uneven terrain.  I can walk on a flat surface for a long time and it is no problem, but hiking on the uneven terrain is completely different and very tiring by the end of the hike.  Everyone is tried to be with a group of similar ability, so the entire group can keep close together - in theory.  In practice, everyone goes at their own pace and at the end of the hike, those at the front of the group will hike more distance than those at the back of the pack.

We have three hiking guides with us and they are pretty cool people.  One in the front leads the hike, one in the back, the one in the middle.  Today's hike was brutal on my feet.  Even thought I still took the precautions to prevent blisters, my feet started to really hurt less than halfway through the hike.  I didn't feel any new blisters, but just had lots of redness in the front half of my feet.  I had to keep the purpose of the hike in mind and go at my own pace.  One of the stay-over guests gave some good advice the first day, and he said to keep moving.  Try to take a few steps, and once you're through those steps, take a few more.

This advice helped me to make it through the rest of the hike without stopping.  By the way, a stay-over guest is any guest that is staying for multiple weeks.  At dinner on Sunday, all of the stay-over guests give a little advice to the first timers.

One of the great things about the hikes are the hydration backpacks that we wear.  It is a backpack that holds 2 liters of water and has a hose that comes out of it where you drink from.  The model backpack that I have has a place to hold other things, like a sweat rag, iPhone, asthma inhaler, first aid kit, etc.

I know that I promised more pictures, and to be honest, today my only goal on the hike was to complete it without stopping.  I only took three pictures at the beginning of the hike, so you can see the hills where we get to hike.  I don't think any of the trails are visible in the pictures.

Towards the end of the hike, one of the guides indicated the problem might be my shoes.  Anything is a possibility, but these are hiking shoes.  One would think that shoes classified as hiking shoes would be great on hikes.  Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to use my sneakers instead and see if things get better.

Also, one last note on this morning's hike.  At the end, one of the guides indicated this morning's hike was the toughest one she has been on.  If this is true, then it is all downhill from here - no pun intended.

The main accomplishment for the day is obvious - making it through the hike.  Right now my body is not as tired and sore as yesterday and the Neosporin ointment I applied on my feet earlier today is working.

Closing thought for the day:  I've heard a quote many times that says something like life is not about the destination, but about the journey.  This is true in the morning hikes and I will keep this in mind because if I can get my feet situation resolved, then the hikes will be more enjoyable, which means that I'll be able to really enjoy the journey, as well as burn a lot of calories.