Weekly Mileage #80 and Wood Badge #1

80+ degrees in October is just wrong, though it did make for a beautiful hike

Tuesday I rode my bike for 5 miles. I tied my boot to the pedal, and it worked better than I was afraid it would. Even better, as long as I was careful about how and where I was putting pressure on my foot, it didn't hurt.

Thursday the kids and I went for a short hike. I knew I'd be doing some walking over the weekend, and I wanted to get an idea of how it was going to feel. We only did just over a mile, and it didn't feel too bad. It didn't feel great (there was still some pain), but it was definitely an improvement over how it's been feeling. I was pretty slow though. It's awkward to walk fast in a boot that prevents you from bending your ankle.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I attended the first weekend of Wood Badge. Wood Badge is leadership training offered by the Boy Scouts. I've been trying to take it for the last 5 years, and I've finally managed it. The first time I could have taken it, River was born in the weeks between the Wood Badge sessions, so that was a no-go. Two years later (our council only offers it every other year), Ocean was only two months old and still breastfeeding, so another no-go. Last year I was registered and paid and ready to go, and then the council canceled the course two weeks before it was supposed to start because there weren't enough people signed up.

After the course was cancelled last fall, I decided I'd do it in the coming year, and I'd go out of council to do it. I tried to take it in the spring, but ended up waitlisted. I was able to find another course in a different council this fall that worked with our schedule (there were several that didn't work with our schedule) and registered for that one. After I broke my foot I contacted the course director, and he said I could still come- if I needed help getting around, they'd take care of me. It turned out that I was by no means the slowest person, and we have two people that have to get rides everywhere because of their limited mobility.

The first weekend was intense, Friday in particular. I generally don't sleep well and I had to get up super early to get to the camp on time, so I was tired from the get-go. We did a lot of sitting during presentations, but because it was a very long day there was also a lot of walking and a lot of standing. Doing that much in a single day was more than I'd done in the entire preceding month because of my broken foot. The walking would actually be better classified as hiking, since we were camping in the woods. Needless to say, my foot was killing me and I was exhausted. I slept better that night than I have in a long time :)

We slept on cots in canvas tents on platforms, but we ate our meals in the dining hall. I'd communicated with the course director about gluten free options and I was told they'd have gluten free options available, but I brought a bag full of food, just in case. I ended up not eating any of that food though, because the kitchen staff took good care of us. There was 8 gluten free people between participants and staff, so it wasn't like I was the only one. I missed out on a few desserts, but there were gluten free substitutions for everything else, and it's not like I need to be eating desserts. I survived the weekend without getting glutened, so that's definitely a win.

Because I'm stepping up the pace on my sourcing for Amazon, I'm doing more shopping, so my store miles are increasing as well. I'm not completely sure about the miles hiked around camp, but I'll try to be more accurate during the next weekend.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 2 miles store walking
Tuesday- 5 miles on the bike
           2 miles store walking
Wednesday- 1 mile store walking
Thursday- 1.07 mile hike
Friday- 3 miles hiked around camp
Saturday- 2 miles hiked around camp
Sunday- 3 miles hiked around camp  
total- 19.07 miles

22 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

294.94 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
562.08 miles total