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| A girl's gotta eat....and drink. |
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Stay tuned....if you want!
Following a recent breakup, and the subsequent loss of a partner-in-crime and fellow hiker, I decided that cheap therapy would be to go back to creative writing and my blog. (My blog title does refer to life AND love, after all.) So much has changed and happened since I last posted in March 2014, and I'm looking forward to reconnecting, and hearing from all of you in the hiking and trail running community!
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| Running Zealand Trail - photo credit Lauren Ripa |
Saturday, March 22, 2014
The road to recovery
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Thursday, March 20, 2014
Forgive me, Father....it's been way too long since my last post.
The winter has been rough. December saw me down for the entire month with a back issue, which only recently got resolved! I'm hoping to start getting back out there in April. My microspikes haven't been used at all this year! It looks like I'll be starting over from scratch, but hopefully I'll be stronger this time out.
Before I got hurt in November, I did a small hike up Mt. Major in the Lakes Region. It was a little icy, and a friend let me borrow her spikes. We probably could have done it without them, but they were helpful.
Before I got hurt in November, I did a small hike up Mt. Major in the Lakes Region. It was a little icy, and a friend let me borrow her spikes. We probably could have done it without them, but they were helpful.
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| Me pretending there was a fire, dang it was windy and chilly up top! |
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| The top - directly to the right of this is the view over the lake, so gorgeous! |
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| Almost there |
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| Proof, otherwise known as a geodetic marker |
Friday, October 25, 2013
Why I hike
When I started getting serious this spring about hiking, and had a few practice ones under my belt, a friend asked me, "Have you always hiked? When did you become so extreme about it? I couldn't do these hikes, you're crazy." (Okay, so not just one friend, that's kind of a summary of what a few people said to me.)
First of all, I have always loved to be outdoors. When I was little, my parents couldn't keep shoes on me and I was more likely to be found in a tree or on a horse or riding my bike or...well, you get the picture. I grew up in northern New Hampshire (Colebrook girl til I die, we're a special breed) on a 600+ acre farm. To say that the fields and woods were my playground is completely accurate. I was a very lucky girl.
Secondly, it isn't extreme to want to hike or be outdoors at the end of the day, or when you're feeling landlocked. (Thank you, Mari, for that visual) I spend about eight plus hours a day indoors during the school year, more if I'm working a server shift at night. So, once the weather starts to turn mild, I'm gone baby, gone.
Lastly, the hikes I'm doing are ones that many people can manage. My most extreme was the one I haven't written about yet, a two-day traverse in the Presidentials. (I really don't want to do Webster-Cliff Trail EVER again) All the others? Not necessarily a piece of cake, but definitely do-able. Man, the views are worth every penny. You get to test your body and your mind - your brain will try to talk you out of what your body is totally capable of doing. You meet fabulous people like http://henhikes.blogspot.com/ and http://lookwhatididadventures.blogspot.com/. (They inspire me, even when we aren't hiking.) And honestly, you open yourself up to the "I can, and I did" mentality more than anything else. Plus? You get to be OUTSIDE!
So, yeah, that's why I hike.
First of all, I have always loved to be outdoors. When I was little, my parents couldn't keep shoes on me and I was more likely to be found in a tree or on a horse or riding my bike or...well, you get the picture. I grew up in northern New Hampshire (Colebrook girl til I die, we're a special breed) on a 600+ acre farm. To say that the fields and woods were my playground is completely accurate. I was a very lucky girl.
Secondly, it isn't extreme to want to hike or be outdoors at the end of the day, or when you're feeling landlocked. (Thank you, Mari, for that visual) I spend about eight plus hours a day indoors during the school year, more if I'm working a server shift at night. So, once the weather starts to turn mild, I'm gone baby, gone.
Lastly, the hikes I'm doing are ones that many people can manage. My most extreme was the one I haven't written about yet, a two-day traverse in the Presidentials. (I really don't want to do Webster-Cliff Trail EVER again) All the others? Not necessarily a piece of cake, but definitely do-able. Man, the views are worth every penny. You get to test your body and your mind - your brain will try to talk you out of what your body is totally capable of doing. You meet fabulous people like http://henhikes.blogspot.com/ and http://lookwhatididadventures.blogspot.com/. (They inspire me, even when we aren't hiking.) And honestly, you open yourself up to the "I can, and I did" mentality more than anything else. Plus? You get to be OUTSIDE!
So, yeah, that's why I hike.
I'm not ready for winter
Last night as I was walking the dog, I started thinking about this winter hiking thing. We've been fortunate to not have a lot of rain and low temperatures in October, and the recent snow-spitting, cold days have kind of put me in a funk.
So, I went to our local "sporting goods" shop (www.lahouts.com) and checked out gear for snow and ice. I have snowshoes in my trunk - still there from last year when they NEVER got used - but if I'm going to commit to hiking in the winter, something tells me I may need more rugged equipment. The salespeople there are always helpful, which was good because I know nothing about that sort of thing. After talking to the guy for 15 minutes, and looking at my options, I'm thinking I'll go with Kahtoola's MICROspikes. (www.kahtoola.com). YakTrax aren't sturdy enough, and the other option, name of which escapes me, looked more helpful if I was going up into the alpine zone....which I don't believe I'm ready for.
On a totally (kinda) unrelated note, did you know they made running snowshoes? Don't know about you, but I think I'll stick to just trying to walk uphill in the dang things. They are pretty cool looking though.
So, I went to our local "sporting goods" shop (www.lahouts.com) and checked out gear for snow and ice. I have snowshoes in my trunk - still there from last year when they NEVER got used - but if I'm going to commit to hiking in the winter, something tells me I may need more rugged equipment. The salespeople there are always helpful, which was good because I know nothing about that sort of thing. After talking to the guy for 15 minutes, and looking at my options, I'm thinking I'll go with Kahtoola's MICROspikes. (www.kahtoola.com). YakTrax aren't sturdy enough, and the other option, name of which escapes me, looked more helpful if I was going up into the alpine zone....which I don't believe I'm ready for.
On a totally (kinda) unrelated note, did you know they made running snowshoes? Don't know about you, but I think I'll stick to just trying to walk uphill in the dang things. They are pretty cool looking though.
Now, I just have to investigate something to hike in. Thinking that my trail hikers aren't going to cut it!
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Skip to my Lou
A side note here: when I first started this blog, I was given the advice to keep everything in neat tidy order. Yeah, well that's just not me. So hold on to your hats, it's time for a little Skip to my Lou,my darling. :)
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