Day 2: The Change of Plans and The Martian

A few years back I regularly woke up at ridiculous hours 2-3 days per week and hiked the Royal Arch trail before work. When I heard reports of mountain lions roaming the area I switched over to the Sanitas trail. More people. More dogs. The ten car parking lot would be full by 6:30am and cars would start lining the street. During the Olympics a guy hiked every Friday dressed up as a different athlete – 70s shorts and a basketball, swim goggles and a beach ball… Every week me and the other hikers couldn’t wait to see what he’d come up with next.

Yesterday morning I arrived in the dark right at 6:00am. Not a single car in the lot or the street. Five years ago I wouldn’t have though twice about heading straight up that hill. But nobody? No dogs? I’m a little more cautious now. I waited. And waited. By 6:30, still no one. Hmmm. Pretty active year for bears so I Googled bear sightings. Sure enough a mama and her cubs had been wandering the area right near the trail. I really don’t want to start my journey by surprising a mama bear with her cubs in the dark.

So today’s CrossFit-less workout was 10 short hill sprints at Chautauqua. It wasn’t much but at least I went to ‘the bad place’ a bit. Look at the importance of good warm up though. I don’t know how far the sprints were but notice at the difference between my first and last times there. The first 3 hurt so bad I wasn’t sure I would survive and the last few I actually felt okay until the last step or two.

Last night we saw The Martian with our neighbor buddies. I wrote a bunch of thoughts about it but at the last minute I’ve decided to keep them private until other people have actually seen it. They’re coming though.

Starting weight: 148
Weight: 145
Competition weight: 138