Come Walk With Me

The only consistent exercise that I have gotten throughout this experience has been walking. I average 3.5 miles a day and my route is generally the same, give or take.

I walk in my local park and the scenery changes with the seasons. Right now, it looks like this:

The path I take winds around this small pond to an area where furry critters make their home in a dam of some sort. For the record, the critters are not beavers. I prefer to believe that they are otters but must grudgingly admit that they are probably muskrats. I know, ewww. But, the scenery is pretty.

This is also the first area where I am dive-bombed by mud swallows who are protective of their nest. I have yet to see the nest; mud swallows are mean mutha-fuckers and they will cutchoo.

Anyway, assuming I emerge from this area with my head intact, I start up the first of two hills.

It might not look like much but it is more than adequate to get my heart pumping, my thighs and hamstrings screaming and my nose running (always in this area, must be something I'm allergic to there). Once I climb the hill, the ground levels out for a brief time before leading up to the second hill...

Which used to make me want to puke. You know, before I got tough. Then, since what goes up must come down; I make the decent.

But, not before checking out the view...

Once I get to the bottom of the hill, I follow the trail around the park, where I am able to see both hills that I have just climbed..

They seem larger when I am climbing them. The rest of the walk around the park takes me into a nicely shaded area...

Before depositing me back at the small pond where I started.

This is also the second location in which mud swallows attempt to decapitate me.

And that's it. Thanks for taking a walk with me.