By: Revanche

Back, older and wiser

September 23, 2008

Or at least, a little bit wiser. I got back home last night from a long weekend and boy, am I in pain.

Saturday was a day o’ adventuring. First up was the Embarcadero Farmer’s Market where I was treated to a ridiculous amount of … treats! A cone of salami, shockingly expensive but oh-so-good aged Irish Gouda, a huge round of whole wheat and walnut bread from Acme Bread company. Throw in a couple pieces of fruit, and our hikers’ lunch was complete.

I’d so been looking forward to getting out and about that, unfortunately, I never questioned our destination or trail. We invited a rather veteran hiker to lead the way, and many belated regrets ensued. The terrain was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m sure the unfamiliar scent in the air was freshness. At some point, I felt like a Hobbit, packing my way through nature and conquering vast mountains. It really was fun, as long as I didn’t think about the pain. We hiked from Stimson Beach all the way into the Ranger’s Station — which was originally sold as a 6-mile loop, tops — only to find that we had another 3 miles to go before we were back to the car. The worst was that the first 6 miles was continuously uphill, and when the ranger told us it’d take another 1.5 hours, I had a horrifying vision of having to go another 3 miles upcountry. “Our parents were right, you CAN go uphill both ways!!” It was funny for about a minute.

Your resident deskbound homebody was absolutely dying at that point, but refused to show weakness, so trotted off after the others with a stiff upper lip and wobbly knees. Nary a word of complaint passed through my lips, but I sure wish that I’d asked for more than the 2 one-minute breaks that we took, because, oy vay, I was utterly destroyed by the end of that trek.

In retrospect, that was utterly foolish pride. Who cares if my two fellow hikers didn’t want to turn back? I could have taken the car keys and waited for them at the car! Yes, I would have looked like a wussy in my mind, but they knew I’d not hiked in years. *sigh* So very foolish. Luckily for me, 12 Motrins and 4 Tylenols later, I was able to hobble along to a late brunch the next day, and then turn in for a looooong nap before my birthday dinner, thus avoiding the ruination of an entire weekend.

I’m still regretting the (length of the) hike a little. I’d taken Monday off, and it was a relatively quiet day. We visited a friend’s new stable, and I was offered the chance to ride any of their horses …. but had to decline because I could still hardly walk normally. It was heartrending, I miss horseback riding so much, but I’m realizing that perhaps part of being an adult is making fewer foolish decisions, or trying to avoid compounding previous poor decisions. (*cough* bailout! *cough*) Can you imagine adding saddle soreness to the cripple’s hobble I’m sporting now? *eyeroll* That’d be dignified. Instead of riding, we went ’round to pet all the horses, and discovered which of them were “lickers.” At least three of them had developed the hilarious habit of licking visitors’ hands like dogs.

It was a perfectly lovely, refreshing weekend, and while I’ll be sore for another week, and be even longer recovering mentally from the brutality of that hike, I’m proud that I made it through.

Now, for a good long week of work!

I need another day off ….. 🙂

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