Mt. Major and Straightback

I finally made it to Mt. Straightback! Today the plan was to go to Kittery and hike Mt. Major for my first hike of the season. I woke up at like 9, and seriously considered not doing either, but then I was like "then you have to do parkour," which for some reason I didn't really feel like doing. So, I got off my lazy butt and went. I started at Kittery where I didn't find a single thing that sparked joy, and after two hours of shopping I thought about just heading home. But, thankfully I didn't, because it was so nice out there hiking!

I got to Mt. Major around 1:45, which I knew was fine because the sun goes down at like 7:30, and Major only takes a couple of hours to hike. I started going and felt really good, maybe because I slept until 9? Anyhow, it didn't seem like a difficult hike at all, and I got to the top in about 45 minutes. At the top I sat and admired the view, and ate a banana, which was unfortunately all I had packed to eat. Sitting up top, I was feeling really good and decided that today could be the day to hike Straighback finally, and so I headed off.

The walk from Major to the turn for Straightback was the best part - it was pretty ridgeline like, and slabby. The weather was perfect, still no bugs, and just a really nice walk. I didn't have any problems finding the turns, and got to Straighback in good time. As I sat down to admire the view, I also realized that I was hungry. Fortunately I had a peanut butter in my backpack which was delicious, and a rather disgusting looking power bar, which was not delicious. I ate a few bites and then put it back in my backpack to throw away later. I was still feeling pretty good at Straighback, so I decided to hike back up Major, admire the view for a few more minutes, and then go back down the blue trail (which is really the best.) 

For some reason, I decided to go down the orange trail - I think it was because that was what alltrails thought I was going to hike, and so I did. It's been a while since I did that trail and I forgot how steep it was - My knees were killing me! I did something to my hiking poles last summer and I can't get them to open, so I was poleless. I'm going to have to figure out if I can fix them, or I will have to get knew ones, I was really wishing for some hiking poles.

Anyhow, it's fortunately not too long a hike, and I was back at my car before I knew it. I was so hungry, though, I stopped at this pizza place and when they didn't sell slices I bought a calzone and ate the entire thing driving back. It was so good. And, I regretted eating it after, but only a little. Once again, Mt. Major is a success, a good choice for a first hike of the season - really glad I got off my butt and went.

Swim to the Point!

Since we've been able to stay in the water for longer folks have been swimming over to "The Point," an outcrop that's always looked way too far for me to swim to. But, today I swam to it! It wasn't fast and my breathing isn't getting any better with the crawl, but I did it without it being too hard. I was super excited about it - definitely will work on improving speed and breathing skills, but happy with the length.

Last time I was swimming I got a mouth full of water and had to hang on one of the other swimmers "swim buddy" float for a couple minutes. I decided that if I really want to do open water swimming I should get one of my own. It's basically a small, brightly colored inflatable bag that's just big enough that you could hold onto it and float if you got a leg cramp or a mouth full of water. It clips around the waste and come with you in the water. It's small enough that there really isn't much drag. I don't think I would have gone so far without it, because we same right through the lake, but with it I was fine (and I didn't need it at all.)

We had a little party on the beach with food and an egg game. I made a strawberry rhubarb pie from my first rhubarb from the garden and it was really delicious! The crust was full of butter, so of course it was good :) There were also other delicious treats, and I ate way too much, definitely undid the good of swimming. I'm looking forward to improving over the summer!

 

Updates on swim and parkour

It's been a while since I've blogged about my exercise activities. I'm still doing parkour and swimming, still loving both. My parkour balancing is getting much better - a couple weeks ago we were walking on the handicapped ramp hand rails at the high school and I made it about 2/3 of the way up the path. Probably about 20 feet, which isn't that far, but it was for me and I felt good about it! It was a big confidence booster, and I'm working on longer, higher routes on bars. I also got up for the second time on the column that I feel off of - it felt way easier the second time. I was going to try it yesterday, but there were a bunch of kids around and I felt nervous. Another day.

I'm loving the open water swimming - who knew it was so fun?! The water is much warmer now, it's up to like 60 degrees. Still cold, but I've stayed in for a half hour a couple times. Some of the folks swim in the race, the memphremagog winter festival, which is in northern Vermont in February. It's a swim race, and they cut a 25 meter by two lane hole in the ice and have a three day event. And so of course I had to sign up for it next year, because I'm crazy like that. It just sounded so fun - the water is like 30 degrees, so it's freezing up as you are getting in, and they have to keep scooping ice off the top. Each athlete gets their own escort to take you to the water, a stripper to help you disrobe and get dressed again, and a hooker who walks next to you as you are swimming with a long hook, and fishes you out if you look like you're going to drown. What could go wrong? 

Now, of course, I'm working on my swimming. I looked back in my blog and I took swim lessons in 2018, but never really got the breathing thing going. I've been staying in the water and getting better at things for a couple weeks now. I started doing the breast stroke for a swim, going first to this tree, and then past the tree to the next one, etc. Now I can swim for about 20 minutes - with my crawl being maybe 5 minutes of it. I've gotten to a point where I can do about 15 strokes, all breathing on the left, before I have to stop. It's a work in progress, but one I hope to get better at. It's still cold putting my face in the water, but I've been doing it. My goal is to be able to swim 25 meters, of course, for the festival, but then to swim more so it's good exercise. It's so much more fun in open water than in the pool! I can see myself continuing with this for a while.