July 7th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

Wheww!  That was a killer.  A few weeks ago I took Nolan on another hike at Lake Chabot- there’s a loop that I used to jog with the family dog- a huge Doberman named Tracker.  He was over 100 lbs.  He was my jogging partner and of course I never had to be worried about safety with him by my side.  He loved our jaunts.  As soon as I put on my jogging sneakers he would know what was going on and he’d start barking and running around excitedly.  These were the days of me being 16 years old.  These were the days of weighing 104 lbs. and being extremely muscular and fit.  So the other day when I started out on my hike with Nolan I got to this crossroads where I could turn right and go up this very steep hill that headed in a direction I used to go.  I thought, hey why don’t we just go up the hill for a little bit to get some good sweat time in and then come back down?  Some of my competitiveness (with myself) is coming back because somehow I just kept going up and up and up.  I thought, hey I should try doing that 6 mile loop that I used to do with Tracker.

Things  I forgot:  I was 16 last time I did it.  I was jogging last time I did it.  I weighed a lot less last time I did it.  I didn’t have a 21 lb. baby on my back last time I did it.  It wasn’t really hot outside last time I did it.

Somehow in my mind 6 miles up a lot of steep up and down terrain was shorter than in reality.  I remembered each phase of the loop in my mind and as I hiked them, those phases were wayyy longer than I remembered.

But the cool thing was, in the end, I did it!  It took me 3 hours, and we took a 10 minute water break to make sure Nolan stayed hydrated, but we did it!  That really felt great.

One portion of the steep grade:

Nolan obviously had it really easy as he was sleeping while I sweated and strained up this hill.  The least he could have done was been cheering me on!

June 16th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

Our hike at Lake Chabot.  You know what I just can’t believe?  Every hike I take Nolan on we always see wildlife!  I’ve done a lot of hiking in my life and never have I come across so many animals as I’ve been coming across on these Nolan and Mommy hikes.  Today we saw a turtle sunning himself until we got too close…then he made a quick getaway by rolling (although looked more like falling to me) off the hill he was on back into the cool lake water.  We saw a beautiful yellow bird, a beautiful caterpillar with gorgeous colors,  and of course the geese that are always swimming around looking for handouts…I’ll have to remind Nolan to bring some bread next time.

June 16th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

All three of us were able to take a short hike in Tilden park last Saturday a little before sunset- it was a beautiful view of the bay area.