FR181 Walk

I woke up at 8:15am, getting almost 4 hours more sleep than the night before! Before eating, I did over an hour of resistance work, both upper and lower body, foot and balance work, stretches and kegels. I cooked a gruel/dessert from cooked teff and raisins soaked in orange juice, with spices like cinnamon, adding a little almond butter. It's delicious - especially with some peanut butter! I made a kitchen sink smoothie for breakfast/lunch.

I didn't head out to MPL and BESC until after 1pm. I had a disk with my foot x-rays on it and the disk wouldn't work on our Mac so I took it to BESC's computer room where I was able to view my right foot and ankle x-rays. I didn't know how to interpret them - MANNM will mail me the report next week - but thought that my foot bones looked beautiful - slender and graceful.

I found spouse a bunch of Monitoring Times in the library lobby from 2006, 2007, and even through April of 2008! I also found him 2 Physics textbooks in case he teaches at UNM-LA. Earlier this week, I found two more Calculus books which I'm saving for now.

I didn't start walking on FR181 until after 2:45pm. I could see the snow covered backside of Pajarito Mountain and thought of all the people who would be up there playing in the snow and how happy they would be!

My walk was very good. I tried out a new pair of exercise shoes that I had in the closet - not trail running shoes or hiking shoes but ordinary New Balance road running shoes. My left leg mostly behaved but I did notice that I seemed to be weak going up slight hills. I don't know whether to attribute that to being hungry or to perhaps having some kind of deficiency. At any rate, I think I may experiment and take some iron pills. At least now I can blame the flautus on the iron pills! I'm also going to experiment by adding 3 more Vitamin D capsules a week. I read in the People's Pharmacy email newsletter that a lady was having lots of joint pains and they disappeared when she began taking Vitamin D, 1600 IU a day. I'll try taking 10,000 IU's a week and see what happens.

Oh, last night I tried to watch the Storm Over Everest show but it apparently didn't tape as there was just black and white static for 2 hours. Oh well!! Maybe another time.

I took a slight detour off FR181 going out to the overlook from Red Tail Hawk Point or whatever it's called. I always forget and take the first distinct left turn after Water Canyon but that road quickly dead ends in a quagmire of fallen dead trees. I have to try to remember next time to take the second distinct left turn. The deadfall is easier to get around on that road.

Anyhow, the view at the end is spectacular. You don't want to slip because it's a long way down. You're looking down into where Water Canyon diverges into Vault Canyon. I could hear the water racing out of Vault Canyon. I also walked to where I could see the Vault Canyon Overlook platform. It is so worthwhile to take the detour to the Water Canyon Overlook. I'd like to go there for a picnic one day but none of my family would want to fight the deadfall for the payoff at the end. I ended up walking 5.11 miles per my GPS. I saw a vehicle parked at the Water Canyon dip. I took a few photos of clematis on the way home. I saw lots of red columbine and valerian growing on the hill above Water Canyon before you get into the dip. Lots of elk and deer tracks crossed the road. I didn't get done until 5pm and when I came back home, spouse had just gotten home. It's so pretty in the mountains in the late afternoon.