Challenge - Day 11 (Change it up a bit)

(This was actually Day 10, but for some reason I cannot change the title.)

I put in another long night at work, and instead of leaving at 7:00am, I walked out of there something like 1pm.  When I got home I knocked off my push-ups straight away.  I was tired, but it was pretty warm out and mid-afternoon, so I finished blowing up the recliner water float-y that I had started blowing up a couple weeks ago and never really got around to finishing as I'd use my Stand Up Paddler instead of lounging.  

Now, with this challenge of mine I haven't had any time to do anything else.  Today I said, "Fuck it!", and finished blowing the thing up.  (Yes, I know it is plastic, but it falls in the loophole of no new plastic...I bought it last summer, and have had it sitting on the floor half blown up for awhile.)  

I took it down to the water to lounge around floating for a bit.  La la laaaa..

I've started noticing that my swim shorts are startin' to smell like old stank-ass hockey gear that hasn't been cleaned for a season.  it is nasty, but warmly embracing.  I really do love the gnarly athlete within me where things like this hold a beautific essence in my mind.  Blood, sweat and beat up injury is the place I feel most at home...that and Grateful Dead shows!

(Speaking of Grateful Dead shows...  A real close bro of mine from Dead Tour days, who I haven't seen since then, just had a baby.  I'm so happy about it that I kinda can't believe it.  There has always been something different about people I did Grateful Dead Tour with.  I was living in Toronto, Derek was from outside of Detroit, and we met in Ohio.  We clicked right from the moment we met, and have been lifelong bros ever since.  Shortly after Tour ended when Jerry Garcia died, Derek moved west to just outside of Vail, and within weeks, I headed west to British Columbia.  When he had his baby the other day I had a rush come over me.  I'm just so happy about it.  I fuckin' love that guy!  Grateful Dead...bringing worlds together!)

It was nice to float for a bit, but I was exhausted and needed real siesta time, so I packed 'er in and went up to my place and crawled into bed despite it being mid-afternoon of a beauty day.

LaRae is pretty amazing!  She's always living life right to the max.

I had some thick cobwebs when I woke up, so I spontaneously took my doggie for a hike to the waterfall nearby.  I've had it in my head for a few days since I messaged LaRae about it when she was looking for local hike recommendations.

It was a nice walk.  The water isn't rushing as hard now, so i could walk out onto a nice slab rock right at the base of it.  There was a stiff wet breeze blowing off from the spray.  It was super refreshing.  I enjoyed that for sure. 

I stood there thinkin' about and sendin' out some huggy-smiles across the air to another friend who has been feelin' down lately.  I didn't stay too long though 'cause dusk was waking up for another night and I wanted to get home and do my hills.

when i got back to the bottom after my second hill i noticed my heart and chest doesn't feel the same pain doing the hills, so instead of just walking quickly...my version of quickly...I ran the third and fourth ones tonight.  I felt good, and more reveled in doing it barefoot in the dark...although I always do it barefoot.  

It's nice to feel progressions, even just small victories.  You know how it is when you string together and add up a bunch of small victories, you end up with something special.

The one thing I am looking at in my mind though is that it is 10:00pm as I write this and I have only completed my push-ups and hills so far.  The big hurdle in this moment is the chunk of time on my bike, especially with my legs all chewed up from hike and hills.  Once I get through that the rest is smooth sailing.  I just know it is gonna be a long night though 'cause I need to sit down for awhile though before I crack into any more of this.