My glutes hurt maximus!!

...but I'll spare you any photos of my glutes!!! You'll just have to take my word for it, aren't you relieved?!

Yesterday I decided to challenge myself. After 2 two hour hikes earlier in the week (Tues. & Thurs.) I signed up for a 4-5 hour hike on Saturday with a hike leader who is known to keep a brisk pace. We left at 9am and were back by 2pm and I was never so glad to get into my truck and SIT DOWN!! Wow, what a workout! The trails were frozen slush and I never knew before what part our glutes play in maintaining one's balance while walking/hiking/climbing on ice. We ended up slipping and sliding our way through 19 kilometres!!

We hiked along the Thames River - the temperature hovered around 0c and we encountered some freezing rain for awhile - really lifted our spirits!!

I didn't have a lot of time for photos - occasionally we would stop for 2 minutes to have a drink of water and blow our noses so I snapped what I could during those breaks.

Drink break!

Listening to our leader's instructions...the guy is turning 73 next month and looks about 50! I think I'll keep hiking - maybe I can turn back time!!

 No sunshine unfortunately, it was a pretty dreary day...but the company was good!

This call's for you! (not)

Stopping for lunch - this guy's an experienced hiker - he had a rubber pad in his pack to sit on while he ate.

 Here I am using a handy log to put my stuff on during a break.  You have to be fast - take off backpack, get water - glug glug glug - grab some almonds or a cheese string for protein - munch munch munch; blow nose, snap a photo if there's time, put backpack back on - trudge trudge trudge!

What luxury!! A park bench to sit on while eating a quick lunch -  rice crackers and hummus (gotta have lots of protein), a cheese string and an apple. Still lots of almonds in my pocket if I need them.

Once home I ran a hot bath and had a good soak and at bedtime I popped a couple of Advil. My hip joints were feeling it along with my glutes, other than that I was fine. I even managed to go to Games Night at a nearby school with some of my hiking friends. But by 9:45pm I was ready to crash on the floor so I went home to bed. Today I was a bit achy but not bad. I thought I'd better get out for a walk and loosen up my tight muscles and achy joints (such a gorgeous sunny day today but COLD!) so walked 4 km to Timmy's and back. I'm surprised that I have so little pain - surprised and HAPPY!

I've been keeping track of my mileage in the sidebar - since October I've walked/hiked and biked 711km give or take. I'm pretty proud of that. 

Did you get outside this weekend? What's the weather like where you are?? The East coast is in for a MASSIVE storm!!