I subbed for the BESC hiking leader who was out of town. She had mentioned that someone had called to inquire for an elderly man who wanted to come on the hikes. The elderly man turned out to be an intellectually disabled man who was maybe in his 40's - not elderly at all. Not knowing any more details ahead of time made for some awkward moments when I, at first, thought the man that brought him to the senior center intended to drop him off for me to watch which was a big responsibility but it turned out that man was his caretaker. Once I understood this, no problema! It all worked out as they are both excellent hikers. The caretaker explained that the man's father wants his son to get some exercise; they will hike with the group again next week. They are more than welcome on the Friday hikes.
I drove myself up to the trailhead. We all parked on FR181 and walked across NM4 to the Apache Springs trailhead. We were a group of 6, including me. At the start, I must have made one woman nervous that I planned to take them on a death march because when I told them the trail went all the way to Bandelier headquarters, this woman, relatively young and in good shape, piped up that they usually only walk an hour. Although she later admitted that they actually walk two hours, I, wanting to be fully compliant, told the group to let me know when to turn around but inwardly felt frustrated by how this group always sets a time limit. They did go as far as the overlook above Apache Springs. We turned around because no one expressed desire to go on. My GPS said we did 2.4 miles round trip.
Right before the overlook, the intellectually disabled man's caretaker called out to me. We were going down a slight hill. We all stopped and turned around and then saw the 84 year old woman, her arm in a cast (she fell and broke it while riding her bicycle!), slowly making her way down hill. I felt so embarrassed to have left her trailing behind, however briefly, and was grateful that someone alerted me. Overall, she did very well on the hike.
Now, I better appreciate how hard the hiking leader's job is and how smoothly she does it! That still doesn't make me appreciate this group with their urge to get back early. The group and I are not a good fit.
I got them back at 10 am. After they all drove away, I finished my daily 4 miles by walking a little past where Water Canyon crosses FR181. I was having pain in the ball of my right foot and right buttock on the way back. I'm not happy about this!! I don't like anything that threatens my ability to walk everyday!!
The podiatrist today said I have second toe tendinitis. He added some padding to my insole to take weight off the tendon. I'll try it out on a tame walk tomorrow but I suspect the extra padding is just going to cause pain in another part of my foot. I'm going to carry an extra, unpadded insole just in case!
Why do my feet have to be so delicate?? My second toe is longer than the first and takes a beating when I walk. I have osteoporosis as well. There must be a type of shoe I can wear that would protect my feet. I told spouse if I ever have to stop walking the woods, I'd like to move to the ocean.
Daughter and grandson bought over Papa Murphy pizza tonight. I made a salad. Spouse bought Haågen Dazs ice cream - Rocky Road and Dulce de Leche. My supper was salad with butter beans, peanut butter sandwich (with Bubbies horseradish, tomatoes and onions), nectarine, grapes and spicy pumpkin seeds.
Afterward, daughter and husband took grandson to MPL to see Lego models at the county fair exhibits. Grandson may enter a model next year.