Whew!

Hey all!!

Sorry no updates in a while but training is in full swing and work has been picking back up...here's a recap of my progress the last 3 weeks -

Saturday, Feb 28th

I'm supposed to go to Lake Tawakoni and hike with the TNT team but it's just too cold, too windy and too far for me to drive. Instead, I'll go to Cedar Hill State park tomorrow...

Sunday, March 1st

Hiked the Short Loop on the DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bike Association) trails with my dog Axel. One turn around the trail is a moderate hike with some not to big hills - a good novice trail. I felt guilty about missing Saturday's hike though so I decided to do two laps around that short loop to make up for my laziness. .

My oh my...what a hike...you may not think that 5 miles is too long to walk but I gotta tell you that a 5 mile hike is a trial. By the time I finished the first lap, my feet felt like they had concrete blocks attached to them...my ankles, calves, glutes and hams were screaming bloody murder. The second lap was a gut check though...the whole time I was saying to myself, "bail Don bail...step away from the hiking trail". ;-)

But I couldn't do it...I just kept telling myself to go for the top of the next hill, the next curve...and I made it...I did take one break at about mile 3. Axel and I had water and a snack on the beach just off the western part of the Short Loop.

I felt good though when I got back to the house and didn't have too much soreness the next day.

Sunday, March 7 -

Got my mini stair stepper this week...how quickly I forgot that I hated stairs so much!!

Did the hike with the team at Erwin Park in McKinney yesterday. Nice little trail. Since I hadn't hiked with the team in a while I found they've formed into 3 groups - 'Fast', 'Mid' and 'Slow' - so to figure out where I belonged I went with the 'slow' group.

This group has Francis Hauss, our team's Hero who is a survivor of AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia).

And she is a Hero, no doubt about it.

I learned that she was diagnosed a couple of years ago before Christmas and hospitalized right after that and her son has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's.

She recently hiked Yeosomite and is tackling Grand Canyon this year. She also reminded me of something that I'd forgotten from when dad was going through his chemo...when someone goes through chemotherapy it kills brain cells that can't be re-generated ever again.

I wonder if there is any research out there that is investigating another approach to medicines that don't do this kind of collateral damage to the body? Surely there has to be. Leave a comment if you know of something like that.

Anyway, listening to her story and riding her wave of optimism and enthusiasm made the 3 hour hike breeze by. After we all met up at the pavilion we figured out that our group had taken the back end of the trail that was supposed to be the 'bonus' part of the hike for those who wanted to stretch out their time on the trail...oh well...there's a reason for everything that happens in life and we have to just trust that and keep looking forward.

Thanks Francis for sharing your story and all of that enthusiasm and optimism...

I also hiked today with my lovely wife at what I'm now claiming my "home trails" at Cedar Hill State Park. We did the Short Loop once and took both dogs. Which will be the last time we take both dogs... =8-o

We walked counter clockwise on the loop and unfortunately dumped and/or stopped a couple of riders...Oops...Sorry all you gals and guys!!! My bad!!

There was one rider that wrecked out when he looked up and was surprised to see Axel trotting along in the middle of the trail...
...so he hits the brakes and goes right over the handle bars and face plants right in front of me...
...which of course gets Axel all excited, so he starts barking 'cause this has to be a new game...
...which gets Dot (who I've got on leash) excited and she starts trying to pull towards Axel and the bike rider 'cause Axel is all excited at this new game and she wants in on it...
...which is when I realize that not only is Dot tangled up in the leash string but I'm tangled up in the leash as well...(oh boy)...
...and the bike rider is getting up (thank goodness he's all right, he's laughing...whew!) and trying to pick his bike up as well as trying to make friends with Axel...
...and I'm trying to hold Dot back so I don't get tripped and perform my own graceful 'JackAss" worthy version of a pedestrian/canine face plant in front of the bike rider...(wonder what kind of story he's gonna tell?)
...all the while trying to tell Axel to hush, Dot to quit pulling, "Laura, I need some help", "Sir are you all right", "Axel HUSH!", "Are you sure you're all right?", "Dot quit pulling"...
...and, well, you get the picture...

I don't think you could have seen a better show in Las Vegas...

Sunday, March 15th -

We had a choice this weekend to hike Saturday and/or Sunday at the Dogwood Canyon hike/bike trails @Lake Ray Roberts. This looks like a really cool trail with several different options to choose from, the longest being close to 9 miles.

A lot of TNT members were working Saturday's St. Paddy's Day parade on Greenville Ave. so the Sunday hike could accommodate them while those who didn't do the St. Paddy's Day parade could hike on Saturday.

On Friday, DORBA (runs the hiking and biking trails at the lake) notified Joe that the trails would be closed on Saturday due to all of the rain.

And because of the rain this week, I decided to take a break from training and spend some time shopping for day packs online and at REI and Mountain Sports in Arlington.

Training starts back up in earnest next week.

Talk to y'all then!!

DQ