Walking in June

I'm sure I've already mentioned that Teen B is taking another PE class this summer, even though I swore last summer that we would never do this again. Aerobic Walking, it's called, as opposed to Anaerobic Walking? (walking while holding your breath?) Anyway, he has to walk 10 miles a week, and I'm doing it with him. 

Some weeks we have to do a special kind of walk. Last week we had to do a 5K, which is 3.1 miles (the miles count toward your 10 mile total for the week). We were going to walk around the track at Manhattan Middle School 12 times, but then Rocket Boy had the bright idea that we should walk the Bobolink Trail (i.e., the South Boulder Creek trail near the Bobolink Trailhead) instead. It would be more interesting, and we'd only have to walk it maybe 2.5 times, back and forth. So I drove to the East Boulder Rec Center, parked near the west entrance to the trail, and we started walking. 

Our first indication that something was wrong came early: part of the trail was underwater. But only about 10 feet of it, and the water wasn't deep, so we walked through it and continued on. But then we hit the mosquitos. The trail runs alongside a creek, hence its name, and we were walking at about 7-7:30 pm, and the trail was just alive. Mosquitos love me with all their little hearts, so, yeah. Periodically, Teen B would shout, "Mom! You're covered with bugs!" I just kept slapping away. 

We gave up at about 2.7 miles, just couldn't do it anymore. It wasn't that we were too tired -- we were tired of mosquitos. (Also, Teen B insisted on doing the 5K in flip flops, so he had a blister.) We walked back to the car, but then I got the bright idea that we could walk around the rec center, walk over to the playground, the tennis courts, anything to get to 3.1 miles. We finally gave up at 2.95 miles, so he didn't get full credit, but it was something. And when we got home I tried to count my mosquito bits, but it was impossible. At LEAST 50 bites, probably more. All over both arms, my neck, a few on my legs. Teen B had 2 or 3. He obviously doesn't have Type O blood (mosquitos' dream food). Just think of how many baby mosquitos hatched from all those mama mosquito blood meals.

This week we had to do a hike -- meaning, walk for at least 1 hour (no mileage requirement). Since we're starting another heat wave today it would have been good to do the hike yesterday. But yesterday was the day after my Mounjaro shot (I take them on Friday nights), and I'm very tired after the shot and not really up to a hike. So we did it this morning.

We wanted a COOL hike, in the trees, not out in full sunlight, and also not near any CREEKS. So I thought of a couple of possibilities, but the one that appealed to me the most was the Shanahan Ridge trail, because we didn't have to drive to it -- we could take the Skip bus line, which goes right by the trailhead. The only problem was that there are multiple trailheads quite near each other -- how could we be sure we were on the right one? Well, they all interconnect, right? It will be fine.

So this morning after I finally dragged myself out of bed and had breakfast, we caught the Skip at about 10:45 (we almost missed it). And we rode it to the stop at Greenbriar & Smuggler Way, where I saw a trailhead sign out the window. "Let's get off here," I told Teen B, so we did.

"This isn't in the trees," he pointed out, as we studied the trailhead sign. Greenbriar Connector, it said. I didn't remember any trails called that, but I figured it would work anyway. "We'll get to the trees soon," I promised, and we started out. It was probably around 90 degrees (it's 95 now), with a slight breeze, which did help.

Long story short, we never got to any trees. (Though the wildflowers were plentiful, and we saw/heard meadowlarks and saw fritillary butterflies.) The Greenbriar Connector trail connects with the Lower Big Bluestem Trail, which EVENTUALLY connects to the Bluestem Connector trail, which connects to the Shanahan South Fork Trail, which would have gotten us back to a bus stop. But we didn't see that on our phones, and the map I'd printed out didn't show any of this, because it was a map of a different trail. So we walked for 1.13 miles and then turned around and walked back, for a total of 2.26 miles in 1.07 hours. It's fine. We did the assignment.

But if we'd stayed on the bus for ONE more stop, we would have gotten to the right trailhead. I saw it when the bus came around to pick us up and we rode on past it. Live and learn.

***

Walking 10 miles a week is very good for me, I'm sure, but it is challenging. For Teen B, the issue is that he finds the walks boring, but for me it's all about fatigue. The Mounjaro is causing fewer GI side effects now, which is great, but it makes me so tired. I make a to-do list every morning, like always, but by evening I find that I've only done a few things on it. I can't even seem to get through my regular morning routine, much less get anything else done. We have a stack of thank-you notes ready to write, but I can't seem to get myself to address the envelopes. Mostly I lie on my bed and read, with short nap breaks here and there.

And then in the evening take a walk!

I thought I'd record my weight loss in the blog, just for general interest. I've lost a few pounds so far, nothing dramatic.

Starting weight (Sunday, June 9 -- the day after we got home from our trip): 258.8 lbs.

After 2 days on Mounjaro (June 16): 255.2 lbs.

After 9 days on MJ (June 23): 252.4 lbs.

I'm not sure I've actually lost 6.4 pounds. My weight goes up and down. Perhaps a better starting weight would be what I weighed on Friday, June 14th, when I took my first shot: 254.6. If I use that, I've only lost 2.2 pounds. 

Whatever. It doesn't seem to be a miracle weight loss drug, but the scale is going down -- and I really like thinking about what it's doing to my A1c level. I'm looking forward to being in the 240s again. I realize that most people in the world would think these numbers were nightmarish, but it's my reality.

Oh, I never mentioned the bone scan that I had done the week after we got back from our trip. I first had a bone scan 3 years ago, after I was diagnosed with hypercalcemia and before I had my parathyroid surgery. The first scan showed mild osteopenia, so then of course we had to re-do it to see how I'm doing. The results showed that my bones have improved a little, but one number is still bad -- my T-score for my Left Hip: Neck (whatever that means) is -1.3, and you want to be -1 or better. All the other scores are fine (AP Lumbar Spine: -0.1; AP Left Hip Total: 0.7; AP Right Hip Neck: -0.8; AP Right Hip Total: 0.8.

OK, I thought, back on the calcium. I had stopped taking calcium several months ago, after my endocrinologist said I didn't need to, that my dietary calcium was enough. But now I've added one calcium tablet each evening. Can't hurt. And of course, weight-bearing exercise, such as, ahem, WALKING 10 MILES A WEEK.

***

What else has happened recently? Teen A passed his driving test on Thursday and on Friday I did the online paperwork to get him a real license. It won't come for a while, and I haven't gotten things straightened out with our insurance yet, so for now he's not driving. Very different from when I was a teenager! People who got their licenses immediately went out and drove somewhere. But Teen A's attitude is: "I've got it, now I don't have to worry about driving anymore." Sigh.

Teen B still has a long way to go to get his license, but he's working on it. He has 26 hours and 46 minutes of driving time (out of the 50 needed). He's added 71 minutes since we got back from our trip, and he added one hour and 9 minutes on the trip. He'll get there. (The photo shows the chocolate pie that Rocket Boy got while he was here and put a green 75 on, to show that the twins had driven 75 hours. It'll be 100 someday.)

We finally switched our phone service from Ting to Mint Mobile, after stewing about it for months. Switching was complicated, and I feel like I didn't do it quite right, but it's OK, we're all on the new service, everybody's phone works, we're fine. Rocket Boy and I were on a pay-as-you-go plan for years, and it had gotten irritating -- every month trying not to use minutes and then using too many and having the bill be higher than the month before, etc. Now we have a flat rate, no surprises. It will actually be a lot cheaper. The Ting plan worked well when we didn't use our phones much, but it's a whole new world now.

We got the new car titled and registered, but we had to get a temporary license plate because we decided to get a pretty 150th anniversary plate that says "The Centennial State" on it -- for no extra charge -- and those have to be mailed to you.

We didn't do anything for Juneteenth. I'm not sure what you're supposed to do, other than maybe have a barbecue. It's still a nice remembrance kind of day.

This coming week -- what? It's the last week of June and we have absolutely nothing on the calendar (though I'll probably get a call from the eye doctor to say that Teen B's glasses are ready). I think mainly we'll take it easy, try to stay cool. Teen B and I will continue to go on walks, of course. To get to 10 miles a week we have to average 1.43 miles a day, and we didn't walk yesterday, so we're behind, despite the longer hike today.

I really need to go to the nursery and get more plants. I keep putting it on my list and then not doing it. The few plants I got last week and planted are lonely! Plus, summer only lasts a couple more months and then we start getting freezes. I really should get everything planted by the end of June. I'll try.

Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 95, Tuesday also 95, Wednesday 94, Thursday 91, Friday 89. A hot week for those of us without air conditioning. But it's a (fairly) dry heat. I wish it would rain!