Weekly Mileage

the whitish part is the shallower, frozen end of the reservoir

Last week I had to push to get outside. I'm still under the weather (there's some never-ending crud going around, and I've still got it), but the end of the year is rapidly approaching and we were short two hikes that we missed because of being sick. I figured if we did two hikes last week and two hikes this coming week, we'd only have to do one hike the last week of the year to hit 52 hikes before New Year's eve.

It wouldn't have been too difficult to get outside while still sick (I've done it many times before), except we've had colder temps lately. I like cold weather, but when I'm not feeling well it's hard to be enthusiastic and motivated to spend time in the cold.

Despite that, we did manage two hikes last week. They weren't long hikes, and we weren't in the best moods (the kiddos are fighting some crud as well, though not as bad as mine), but we got outside and got moving.

our hike started on an exercise trail before moving to a dirt trail through the woods

the boys had fun climbing on all the exercise setups

Thursday we did just over a mile before history club. Since history club was outside, it was good to warm up before we spent a couple hours sitting and standing around (ok, there was some walking, but it's always 10 degrees colder under the picnic shelter where we meet, so it's easy to get chilled).

a tiny amount of icy snow in the fork of a tree

Friday we went hiking while it was snowing! It was hard, icy snow that didn't accumulate because there was so little of it, but it was still snow. We also checked out the reservoir to see how much of it was frozen. It's been interesting to see the changes that occur throughout the year as we've returned to the nature preserve over and over.

trying to catch snowflakes

Saturday morning I really had to talk myself into getting up and going for a run. It was 22* outside and I'm still fighting the crud. If it had just been me, I would totally have rolled over and gone back to sleep. Luckily, I was meeting my friend C, so that accountability got me out of bed and moving. Running partner for the win! C is fighting some crud as well, so we walked more than we usually do, but we both agreed it was good to get out and exercise again finally.

if you look closely, there's water beyond the white line of ice in the forefront

We did a good hill workout on a hill I'd forgotten was there. I ran in that particular neighborhood when we moved here almost 8 years ago, but I haven't run that road since then and I'd forgotten how long and steep the main hill on that particular road is. We ran down the hill and part way up the other side of the hill, then walked the rest of the way to the top. At that point we turned around and repeated the process. Even though we didn't run all the uphills, we could still feel the burn even while walking.

River wanted to take some pictures too!

Weekly Mileage
Thurs- 1.25 miles hiked
Fri- 1.13 miles hiked
Sat- 2.99 miles run and walked
   total miles- 5.37

48th and 49th hikes towards #52hikechallenge
509.52 miles towards #365milechallenge (17.87 of that on the bike)