Category: Fitness

This Pilgrim has no idea how it can be nice all week, right up to the day we’re scheduled to walk and then, it’s cool to cold, overcast and windy…one could call that January, I call it bad luck.

Arbor Hills was a surprise to me because the map shows paved trails that are not very long, what it does not show are all of the natural trails that meander all over the preserve.

We got in almost 7 miles on a lot of uneven terrain which was a nice change after the paved trails at the Trinity Forest. The preserve had a lot of water, fortunately not in the form of mud. A nice creek and several ponds, all of this in the middle of Plano. It was a huge treat.

I think that everyone will feel it tomorrow, not so much because of the walk but the uneven trails working different muscles.

It seems like everyone is close to having their gear stowed away, Renee I think has found the proper placement for her chest strap and Leighton may go with a bit larger pack, his is pretty full now. As for me, the new boots seem to be working out great, no problems at all which is a huge relief.

Ann told us today that Robyn may join her for the first 4 days of the Camino, don’t know if she’s doing her any favors by having her do the first 4 days over the mountains but I guess there’s method to her madness. It should be a real treat for them both. Unfortunately, we’ll miss her as we will be further down the Camino.

Afterwards, we all had lunch and our discussions covered the complete spectrum of topics. While we all share some general beliefs, we also individually have our differences which I always thought that’s the way it should be. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s difficult to have open and honest discussions about most topics and certainly about politics, religion, etc. I look forward to more of those types of discussions during our journey. For the record, in about 75 minutes, we solved most of the problems plaguing the world today. Just saying.

As we get closer, more walks with more intensity and I can’t wait.

Today, I’m sad to announce the demise of a good friend, my Vasque boots. Sometime around 10:00 AM, he began to struggle and he, as well as his twin were pronounced dead shortly after noon on January 21, 2017 over a beer at the Katy Trail Ice House. They will be missed.

Yes my sturdy old boots blew a tread today while walking on the Trinity Forest Trail system. Everything started out great, Leighton and Renee wanted to do a walk today so I joined in. Unlike last week, the weather was dry and much warmer but it started a little overcast but still a great day for a trek.

As we did on our previous visit, we started on the Longacre Trail because it’s the longest but this time, instead of turning around, we continued on the Joppa Preserve Trail all the way to the river.

The only way to get to the AT&T Trail was to walk down Loop 12, across the river to catch the trail there. After joining the trail, we walked another 3+ miles back to the original trailhead which turned out to be about 9 miles.

All of us were in packs, I had very close to my Camino weight in mine plus, 1.5L of water or another 3.3 lbs. My pack was probably close to 18 lbs.

Unlike last week, no pain in my Gluteus Midius, I think the exercises helped that out and I will for sure continue to do them.

My old friend hardly let out a peep as he struggled to complete the trip. Occasionally, there was a clicking or slapping noise…I’d hoped it was a rock stuck in a tread but alas, no, it was the dying gasp of my years old Vasque boot.

I’m distraught enough that there will be no public celebration of his life. Instead, I will remember him as I struggle to find a worthy replacement at REI tomorrow. Time waits for no boot! The Camino is rapidly approaching and I have to find and break in a new pair of boots. I know he would understand.

Actually, I’m very happy this happened now, with plenty of time to break in a new pair. Can’t hardly imagine what it would have been like finding and then enduring the break in of a new pair in Spain, ouch!

Test and inspect your equipment!

For a day that started out cold and dreary, todays walk at the Lake Lewisville Educational Learning Area (LLELA) was great. Yes it was a little cold and yes it was a little (lot) muddy and yes my Gluteus Medius are screaming (more on that later). Even with all of that I, and we I believe, enjoyed the day.

The LLELA is on the Trinity River just below the Lake Lewisville Dam and I would bet that most people in the area have no idea that it’s there. You have the Trinity river continuing it’s journey south towards the Gulf and the wetlands around it support all types of wildlife. We saw heron’s, red tail hawks, cardinals and many other birds. Deer tracks were everywhere and because dogs are not allowed, I expect the prints I saw were probably coyote.

As we entered the our first trail, the Bittern Marsh Trail, there were a couple dozen fisherman and one came out with a nice striped bass. Some were using fly rods, not sure if there were trout stocked there or not.

Physically, I felt pretty good, lugging an extra couple pounds of mud around on my boots was not much fun. I noticed that now, carrying my regular pack (16 lbs) that my gait changed a bit and, as I mentioned earlier, my gluteus medius muscle became sore quickly and I had to just walk through it, Ann noticed it too. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Either way, it’s back on the treadmill tomorrow, sore or not. Won’t have the luxury of not walking on when we get to the Camino.

Rick could not make this walk, we all missed him and I think he would have really enjoyed the day. We look forward to his joining us when he can.

Ann has requested 5 weeks off, she’s waiting to hear if she can get it or not. It would be great to have her along from SJPP all the way through to Santiago de Compostela but, wherever she can join up if not is great too.

Well, I’m done now. I think I hear the call of Ibuprofen. Next up, Arbor Hills Nature Preserve.

The Pilgrims were greeted by a beautiful morning to walk, clear and low 60’s, we commented that this may be similar to what we’ll experience in Spain. The group started off on the Cat Tail Pond trail and after the pond, we joined the Fossil Valley trail. We shared the trails with many other hikers as well an an organized trail run. I was very pleased to see how clean the entire trail was.

Over the course of the entire hike, as we descended into the canyons, you could feel it becoming cooler as we entered micro-climates that held the cool air and were quite shaded.

As the Fossil Valley trail ended, we rejoined the Cat Tail Pond trail for a short distance where we detoured onto the Cedar Brake trail which is the longest single trail in the preserve. This trail had much more elevation change and it was very steep in some places. Using trekking poles in these areas really paid off, on the flats…they’re just dead weight.

The Cedar Brake trail once again merged with the Cat Tail Pond trail and we were back at our starting point.

All in all, everyone held up well, we did comment that tomorrow will be interesting. I intend to be in the gym to walk the soreness off. Rick and Ann said their goodbyes but L, R and I took one more short trail, the Possumhaw trail, about .6 miles.

The area is beautiful and we’ll probably return to do it again. Next month is the Great Trinity River Forrest trail which should be very different. There are probably people in N Dallas that don’t even know this park exists or that there is this much open space in Dallas County. Very beautiful, it reminds me of stomping all over Whitney with my brother when we were kids.

Trail markers say we did about 4.2 miles plus then the additional .6 on the Possumhaw trail. Interestingly, Ann’s app was a little more accurate than my Fitbit. Almost 12,000 steps on this hike.

Cedar Ridge Preserve

Los Perigrinos took off this morning for another great walk around Town Lake, this time the east part from I-35 to the Dam. 4.58 miles in about 1.5 hours, we took a more pictures this time. Our 2 days totaled just about 10 miles.