Week 329 Update

I have made another update on my dental story in the Seventh Installment of The Tooth Fairy's Evil Twin. I hope one day these updates will no longer be needed. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. This week was a walking one for me. I didn’t set any records for distance, but I definitely got some good miles in.

On Saturday, Dotti, LeRoy, and I went to Costco. We all had a Very Berry Sundae, and then they set off to shop, and I set off on a walk. We were not sure, until we checked it against the odometer when LeRoy was driving us home, but the back route to Costco is almost exactly 10.0 miles. I walked precisely 5 of those miles before LeRoy pulled the car up beside me and honked the horn to get my attention. I hopped in the car and my walking adventure was done for the day. It wasn’t too warm, and the walk felt good. No aches or pains, and all was well.

I have found a problem area I think, and we may end up having to avoid having Saltine crackers in the house. I will take a whole 40 cracker bag and eat it all in one sitting. Some days, like on Saturday, I will eat two of them. The problem is that 40 crackers are 9.5 points. That adds up in a hurry. At least it isn’t sweet, and is easier on my remaining teeth, but still…

Sunday we stopped at LeRoy’s favorite restaurant: Red Robin. We joked about his “sister” on the wall—a picture of a girl that looks enough like I did in my younger days to raise eyebrows. It was LeRoy’s idea that he now has a “sister.” I always get an elbow in the ribs from Dotti, but I’m innocent, I swear. ☺ I was able to eat a bowl of chili and some fries with little difficulty, and very much enjoyed the meal.

Monday we sadly had to say goodbye to LeRoy, as he headed back up to Spokane. And we had a big hike planned for Tuesday to get ready for.

Tuesday we got up early and headed out for our hike. You can read all about it on the Coon Family Hiking page by clicking HERE.

We were very tired when we got back. I had eaten 2 cheese sticks (3.0 points) and 2 Snacksters bars (4.0 points) on the trail. Since I normally eat around 10 points for lunch, this was a little light. But I made up for it at dinner and by snacking, bringing my total points for the day up to 43.0. I was exhausted and knew I would have no trouble falling asleep.

I was worried that I might wake up with leg cramps during the night. When I was jogging regularly every now and then I would jump up out of bed in agony, as one of my calf muscles went into lockdown, full-tilt-boogie-contractions. I would be dancing around the floor, trying to keep quiet so I wouldn’t wake Dotti up. My calves had been hurting on the hike, especially towards the end. Normally, I don’t start hurting until after an exercise session. When I am hurting during it, I know that I am overdoing it. So, with that in mind, I was ready for a midnight dance around the bed should it come. Fortunately, it didn’t. ☺

I took Ibuprofen before we went on the hike, right in the middle of the hike, and again in the evening. I was expecting a huge jump on the scale. I was not disappointed, but I was surprised that it was a delayed reaction. Wednesday I actually dropped a pound from 201.5 to 200.5. But Thursday the hammer fell, as the reading elevated all the way up to203.0. And the Ibuprofen continued for a couple of days too. Friday the scale was up again to 203.5. But, I didn’t take any of the nasty little water retention pills, and this morning the scale fell partway back, reaching 202.0.

Wednesday, Dotti was sending some verbal barbs my way for my part in getting her on the hike. I kept reminding her that it was her idea originally, but that didn’t make any headway against the pain she was feeling. Thursday we both felt worse than we had on Wednesday, but that wasn’t surprising. Neither was the continuation of the verbal barbs. ☺ Dotti was smiling at least a bit when she was cursing me, but I could tell that she was hurting pretty badly.

Friday metaphorically speaking, the sun broke out from behind the clouds. We still had some soreness, but it was far less than it had been even on Wednesday. We agreed that we each felt better right at that moment than we had a week earlier, even before doing any of this heavy walking. In fact, we felt so good that we took a walk to Borders Books. Taking our normal short route, it is 1.1 miles from home to our favorite bookstore, and this is what we did. While there, we found some books that we felt would help us with some software projects we have going on. After purchasing them, we put them in the backpack I was wearing and we set off for home.

By the time we got home, I could tell that I was carrying a bit of a load. It wasn’t too bad but I was wondering how much the backpack weighed. I stepped on the scale with the backpack on, and then took it off and stepped up on the scale again. The difference was exactly 25.0 pounds. I felt really good after the walk and so the weight didn’t hurt a bit. And this morning I am feeling even better than I did yesterday. And Dotti hasn’t been complaining about any pain today either. The mend is on.

Most of all, I hope that we can continue this higher level of exercise. It will be very good for our cardiovascular systems and for our muscles and joints as well. I think the hiking we did in 2003 was very healthy for us and we need to get back to doing that.

I am not eating a tremendous amount of food, relative to my normal consumption. My points-per-day average for this week is lower than last week’s. I have increased my sodium intake with the Saltines, increased my water retention from the muscle usage, and from the Ibuprofen. I look at myself today: