Summertime weather (high heat and humidity) flared up on us once again, but I was committed to trying my luck in horse camp anyway…
Saturday morning I had to race up into town to serve as my son‘s “emotional support mom” while he fretted, awaiting his girlfriend as she worked her way through her nursing exam. I went ahead and weighed in at Peran’s supplement store for their latest challenge (even though it’s generally counterproductive for ME to participate in such endeavors). 192 lbs, pretty sobering! No doubt in my mind that stress contributes to weight gain - even though **I** haven’t been particularly conscientious (Tex-Mex, cheese and chocolate are my vices), I know Peran has been buckling down, yet the 15 lbs he’s regained stays stubbornly stuck around his midsection. No doubt he will smoke me in this challenge (I’m a week late signing in anyway, it was really just a a way to pass the time).
Victoria emerged shortly before noon; I left the kids to their celebration as I raced back home to load up Mr Bo and proceed to horse camp, about 3 hrs to the south. I found my friend Chris recuperating in her trailer from the sauna-like conditions (obviously I missed Saturday’s ride; I was just there to do the intro ride on Sunday). Completion rates were about 70% for the 50’s and around 60% for the 30 milers on Saturday - I didn’t hang around Sunday afternoon to hear the final statistics for that day although participation numbers were much lower.
I generally look forward to my peaceful evenings in my little horse trailer, but unfortunately the heat and humidity made it pretty miserable until about 2 AM, when it cooled off enough for me to piece together a few hours of precious sleep. The comparison that came to mind was the T-1000 struggling against the pool of molten steel: I tossed and turned and sweated and basically got an entire workout that way. I joked with my friends that if you listened carefully you could’ve heard me screeching! It was a relief to get up, rinse off and get moving.
Mr. Bo didn’t seem to be particularly feeling it but we trudged through 11 1/2 miles in a little over 3 1/2 hours for a blistering pace of about 3.3 MPH. We’ve got a ways to go to work up to an endurance pace!
Nevertheless I am exceptionally proud of the first T-shirt for me to earn this season.
Z
I hope Victoria does well on her boards. I did very well.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need to join a challenge as my weight loss stalled in April and is staying within a 5 pound range between 187 and 193 and I don't like it.
Loved the pictures. the bridge, wooded trail, t-shirts, the camaraderie. Sounds too hot for me. Some women are tough! LOL.
I hadn't thought about t-shirts for horse trail rides, but now that you mention it, it does indeed make sense as a memento!
ReplyDeleteAt this point (30+ years of endurance riding), I have amassed enough "$50 T-shirts" to have 6 quilts made! (one of my colleagues, God rest his soul, had a hilarious routine about what we go through to snag our ride shirts, then trade 'em in (if we're lucky enough to do well in the point standings that season) for a "$500 jacket". Of course the recreational costs have gone up considerably at this point in time...
DeleteWith that many shirts, you should make horse blankets?
DeleteYes - actually I have had one horse blanket made; however I have not had the heart to dirty it up by actually USING it as a horse blanket, so it serves as another auxiliary (human) throw in my living quarters!
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