Long After Afterthoughts

 Quite a few people have asked me how my body held up to the year-plus of intense hiking. I may be ready to give a decent answer to that question. I'll give you the bottom line first. I held up pretty well, but I am 75 not 25, so I didn't get off scot-free. (And I have to tell you that expression comes from Scandinavian languages where scat is a tax, so scat (scot) free is to not have to pay a tax.) It has been embarrassing to admit most of this, but I also don't like that people think I'm Superwoman. So here's to honesty.

For one thing, there is the weight issue. I was at a weight I can tolerate when I started, about 118. By the time I got to Maine Junction, half the hike, I was down to 107.

I felt great. I looked great. But several of my friends had complete hissy fits and said I was much too thin. So I tried to eat more. Of course I succeeded. I like food. Besides, do you know how little an old, small female can eat? Not much, the answer is not much.

At home, I gain weight if I eat more than 1400 calories a day. Small, old people also don't burn as many calories. Only 60 per mile of walking. Seriously?! I wanted it to be a hundred, but no... So at 15 miles a day, that lets me add 900 calories. Now we are up to 2300 calories allowed. That's only one dessert more than what the goverment says is a normal diet. *groan*

When I took the break from January-March 2023, I was a complete wreck. I could hardly move. Everything ached and I was as stiff as a board. My balance wasn't great, for me. In March, I finally got back up to walking more than two miles at a time, and in April, I went back to the trail, averaging about 10 miles a day. Apparently my metabolism didn't think it had been boosted, because it must have slowed right back down. I gained weight like crazy, topping out at 132. I am not proud of this.

After I finished the hike in June, I knew I had to work on the stiffness. I've done exercises off and on in my life to tone particular things, but I've never had to do them just to function. This was a real kick in the chops, and a wake-up call. I started trying to eat less. I succeeded at eating less, but the body was not giving up any pounds. Uh-uh.

In September, Marie and I hiked, keeping daily mileages between 7-10 miles. I also hiked every day at the Celebration, as some of you who were there know. The body was OK, but not great. I hoped this wasn't going to be the best I could come back to.

And then... something happened on the way home from Vermont. Three days in the car and/or sleeping in several beds that were too soft sent my back into total hysterics. Sciatica, generalized aching. And I was still pretty stiff. The exercises were helping. In June, I could not even touch my toes- a first in my entire life. By September, I could touch the toes again, but it hurt.

So I decided to ramp up the exercising. By then I was back to a reasonable energy level, instead of totally beat. I kept telling people that I was still in recovery, but hoped I could get even closer to what I consider normal.

I was very careful on the January trip. The longest drive was 6 hours, and if the bed offered was soft, I slept on the floor. I walked some at least every couple of days. It worked! No hot back issues.

Here's what I think was going on. Walking is great exercise, but doing nothing but that for a year probably resulted in serious muscle imbalances. This creates huge problems when some groups of muscles are strong and others are weak.

My core was weak, my hips were tight, tight, tight. My hamstrings were like piano wires. So, I collected a bunch of exercises to work on all those problems, and I rotate through them so that I don't have to do the same ones every single day (boring).

My balance is better. My back is better, although still twingy. My core feels strong again. I'm up to 20 pushups, 1 min 20 sec of planking, and all the other stretchy things, which mostly feel good to do.

The weight? Sigh. Losing is really hard for me. It seems like I'm eating practically nothing. I'm only down to 128. I'd really like to get back to 118.

I know that at 75, I'm not going to do the Allegheny 100 (a personal mileage challenge), or the Michigan Triple Crown (60 miles in 3 days). But I hope to be able to keep hiking with roughly 10-mile days. I'm back up to 7.6 as my longest day since September without much pain. I think I'll get there.

My knees, particularly the left one that wasn't great when I left home, will never be quite as good, but I can tolerate them.

How's the flexibility? Hands flat on the floor! How's the balance? You know the joke, right? I can put on my underwear without falling over!

In other news, I edited, wrote 1094 words, and got some groceries. I'll be without a car all week while mine is being fixed, so I needed some things.

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