Feeling Fit

I'm feeling all fit and healthy right now, after starting the morning with a yoga class. I've done yoga with exercise videos or books before, but hadn't taken a real class. Unfortunately, it can be hard to make myself get around to doing the videos or workouts in a book, so since my church has a class on Monday mornings, I thought I'd give that a shot. And I really liked it. One thing the class forces me to do is slow down and remember to keep breathing. I have a bad habit of holding my breath, when yoga is supposed to be all about the breathing. I think this will be a good way to start my weeks.

And I kind of needed the stretch after my Saturday fun. I did a hike with the church's women's hiking group, and boy, this bunch was hardcore. When I go walking or hiking with friends, I'm usually the one out ahead who has to think to slow down for others. About half of this group left me in the dust. I started out keeping up with the leaders, but when I paused for a drink of water, I fell to about the middle of the group. They don't bother to pause to rest or drink water. They have those long tubes on their water bottles coming around to their backpack straps so they just lean over for a sip rather than having to get a bottle out of the side pocket of their packs. Once I fell back, I remembered that the main reason I hike is to just enjoy being outdoors, and you can't see the scenery when you're zipping past at supersonic speeds. I ended up with what was essentially a solo hike with backup. I was walking on my own so I could look around and think, but there were people nearby who'd notice if I didn't show up at the end. We ended up doing a little more than nine miles in less than four hours of walking (with a stop for lunch before we turned back).

I was very glad I decided to get new hiking boots because my old ones would have been killing me. They have rather stiff soles, and I found boots with the more flexible soles like on my walking shoes. That meant I didn't get blisters. I was really stiff, sore and tired at the end of the hike and spent the rest of the day on the sofa watching figure skating, but I was more mobile than I expected yesterday, just a little stiff. I liked the trail and will have to go back there some other time. I mentioned my experience to a couple of the women in choir, and they'd either expected or experienced the same thing, so we may start a rival hiking group for people who aren't trying to set a land speed record. The core of this group are the kind of people who consider "fitness" a hobby and who came to this hike after a bootcamp workout. They set timers and were trying to beat their last time. When I hike, I may walk briskly, but when I reach an interesting spot, I may stop for a drink or snack or to look around. If I keep track of time, it's more about "I hiked four hours" instead of "I  managed to do that trail faster than the last time."

Now I have a day ahead of me without anything major on the to-do list, which means I need to get back into writing, if I can figure out what's going on in this book. It's being very elusive.

Then tonight I have a Mary Poppins rehearsal so the invisible backup chorus can practice with the actual cast. I'm bringing my knitting because I imagine there will be a lot of down time.