Running in a Horse Pasture
For the next few days I'm staying in Indiana with my mom while my dad takes a very much deserved vacation. Mom has MS and relies on Dad as her caregiver. He seldom takes a break, so when he does, I come over to help out. Help involves lifting Mom from the couch to her wheelchair to the commode back to her wheelchair and back to the couch. The lifting can be difficult. Thankfully my beautiful daughter is here this go round to help me out. With both of us lifting, we get the job done faster, with less stress on my back and legs. And actually, I'm kinda diggin the squats I'm doing each time we go through the process. It's going to be a lower body workout several times a day for the whole week.
I am also thankful for the biking I've been doing for the last four months. The strength in my legs, bum and back help tremendously. Last summer I was hurting doing this kind of lifting, but this time I'm there with the muscle, baby. A pretty good feeling.
Yesterday I ran in the horse pature out back. I thought a cross country type run would be a good change from the usual. Actually I just didn't want to die running along the road out here. Being a back road that leads to town, it gets a lot of traffic. And I'm beginning to wonder if a lot of the people driving this road can even read. The speed limit is 40, but most go much faster. I decided that since I like living I'd just do a cross country run, so keeping watch for horse crap, I managed to get about a mile and a half in before I called it quits. The uneven ground was challenging, causing me to fatigue a lot quicker than usual.
This morning I mapped out a bike ride. All went well until I reached the road I was to turn onto. Gravel. Not packed down, hard gravel. Very loose, just-graded gravel. I decided to go ahead, and for about three miles the jarring vibrated through my body. When I finally reached the blacktop I needed to turn onto, my hands felt like they had been holding onto a jackhammer for some time.
So between the horse pature run and the gravel road ride this morning, my body has been through new workout experiences. The change up is good--gives me something different to have to figure out. These might not be the best workouts, but they certainly make me appreciate the level, clear sidewalks I get to run back home, along with the smooth, little-traffic roads around a beautiful lake I get to ride my bike on.
I am also thankful for the biking I've been doing for the last four months. The strength in my legs, bum and back help tremendously. Last summer I was hurting doing this kind of lifting, but this time I'm there with the muscle, baby. A pretty good feeling.
Yesterday I ran in the horse pature out back. I thought a cross country type run would be a good change from the usual. Actually I just didn't want to die running along the road out here. Being a back road that leads to town, it gets a lot of traffic. And I'm beginning to wonder if a lot of the people driving this road can even read. The speed limit is 40, but most go much faster. I decided that since I like living I'd just do a cross country run, so keeping watch for horse crap, I managed to get about a mile and a half in before I called it quits. The uneven ground was challenging, causing me to fatigue a lot quicker than usual.
This morning I mapped out a bike ride. All went well until I reached the road I was to turn onto. Gravel. Not packed down, hard gravel. Very loose, just-graded gravel. I decided to go ahead, and for about three miles the jarring vibrated through my body. When I finally reached the blacktop I needed to turn onto, my hands felt like they had been holding onto a jackhammer for some time.
So between the horse pature run and the gravel road ride this morning, my body has been through new workout experiences. The change up is good--gives me something different to have to figure out. These might not be the best workouts, but they certainly make me appreciate the level, clear sidewalks I get to run back home, along with the smooth, little-traffic roads around a beautiful lake I get to ride my bike on.
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