Birthday weekend

March is one of those months that gets a bit crazy around our house, and it extends into April. Track and Field season starts, we have a son joining golf, the high school band takes its annual out-of-state trip, and some of the kids need to be reminded to keep their grades up.  Of course, with better weather, the youngest kids want to play outside, meaning they end up bringing big messes into the house.  Our minds turn to summer, since our eldest child graduates from High School this year.  She's involved in our town's Ambassador program (most people think of it as a "royalty" program, but our town has moved away from those titles), and that requires our participation in various events, like pulling the float on St. Patrick's Day in a neighboring community.  All the extra running around really adds stress to my life [Note: while composing this message, Mrs. F called and told me our three year old decided to clean her laptop by spraying window cleaner all over the keyboard--more stress!], and I often deal with stress by eating, particularly carb-heavy foods.

Oh, and I failed to mention that the latter part of March and first week of April bring three birthdays to our household, including my own.  That made eating healthy a bit tougher.  For my birthday meal, however, I celebrated a minor victory: baked salmon, wild rice, green beans, and a garden salad.  No cake for dessert--just a single scoop of Breyer's vanilla ice cream with a maraschino cherry!

So, on to this weekend.  The forecast called for a beautiful, 70-degree day on Saturday.  We slept in a bit on Saturday, and decided to go hiking later in the day.  We chose to drive to Minneopa State Park near Mankato, Minnesota.  With the wee little ones with, I could not hike as far as I wanted to hike, but I did get a good burn chasing after them, helping them climb, and navigating the massive steps on each side of a sandstone bowl where the Minneopa Falls lie. Of course, it never got near 70 F, so I'm sure I burned a few more calories just staying warm.  ;-)

Yesterday, I knew I needed to burn a few more calories.  I didn't want to limit myself to the next day of C25K and my pushups, though, so I decided to load up a backpack and take a hike.  It was no daypack I filled.  I took a large, internal frame backpacking pack, loaded in snacks, water, and a medical kit ("Be Prepared"), and then I added one very large retaining wall block.  When I got back from my little trek, I refilled the water bottles and weighed the pack: it rang in at just over 45 lbs.!

I set out from home and headed toward a town 10 miles away.  Since we have family activities on Sunday evening, however, and since I knew my wife needed to run into town yet that afternoon, I had her pick me up on her way, but not before completing six miles with that pack on.  It's been a long time since I've carried a pack that distance.  The first five miles were no problem.  That final mile, however, had my feet starting to ache.  I think I would have ended up with extremely sore and/or blistered feet had I pushed to finish all 10 miles yesterday.  Still, it was a great afternoon, and a marvelous hike.

Now, unlike last week, I'm looking forward to my weigh-in tomorrow.