Hike #4

It was bright and sunny this afternoon so I took a walk with the birthday boy, my oldest son who turns 20 today and is busy studying for his last exam tomorrow, poor guy!

Time: 50 minutes

Distance: 4 km

Here we are together about a month ago (no snow today but we didn't have a camera with us):

Weekly 5K #2

                                     

Man, it is cold today.  Too cold, it seemed to me, to bike to the gym, but strangely enough, bundling up for a quick run seemed much more appealing to me this morning.  So off I went, and quickly warmed up!  I think I will feel warmer for the rest of the day.

And as you can see, I improved my time by one minute over last week - ha ha!

Have a great weekend!

Hike #3

Hike #3
Time: 2 hours
Distance: 8 km
With: Ingrid
Start: the church in Testelt

Ingrid and I were so lucky with the weather yesterday!  After a week of storm winds and rain, our planned walking day turned out to be beautiful and sunny - albeit cold, with temperatures around freezing.  We got started at the little church in Testelt, built of the local red sandstone.

From the church, our route took us right up the Voortberg, to where we had a view of the village from above (that's the same church in the distance).

Up on top of the Voortberg, with the sun shining and everything looking bright green, it almost felt like spring.

Another steep ascent on our route took us up to the Weefberg, near Averbode.  A sign on the other side of this hill told us that in 1943, an American B-17 bomber, "Patches", was shot down by the Germans and crashed there, causing a huge crater to be formed.

This lake was not part of the crater, but we loved how the trees were reflected in the water:

After this we had one more smallish hill to ascend, the Rodeberg, before returning to Testelt and a hot cup of tea to warm us up.  It was a good winter's walk.

5 K Day

I got to the gym early today and just wanted to do something simple.  So I got on a treadmill and programmed five kilometers and decided to see how long it would take me to do it.  I hadn't run a full 5 K in I don't know how long (I've been doing regular interval walk/runs the past few months and the occasional random run out in the neighborhood but not for specific distances), and I had no idea how it was going to go.  I was thinking probably 40 minutes?

I took a short walk break at the top of each kilometer and even then I was tickled to see I could finish it in 36 minutes.  The interval running has paid off in maintaining a basic level of running fitness, I guess, which is encouraging!  So I was thinking I might just make Wednesday my regular 5K day and see how much I can improve over the next few months.  I'll keep you posted!

Hike #2

 Hike #2/52
Time: 60 minutes
Distance: approx. 6 km (did not have my Garmin with me as it was not charged up)
With: by myself - my usual Sunday walking buddy, my husband, had to go into Brussels for a meeting (Sunday meetings being one of the less pleasant features of his new job); and my oldest son, who sometimes walks with me, was too busy studying for a big Cell Physiology exam tomorrow.
Start: home

It was too nice and sunny this morning to blow off a walk just because no one could go with me. So I set off with my camera and a good hat for the wind.  With all the rain we had the past couple days the paths through the fields were really muddy.
Perfect for cyclocross but not so great for walkers - this path (above) was a slippery struggle.

 I headed up the Trolieberg and took the path through the fields that leads to the St. Martinsberg, which is one of the highest points in Kessel-Lo.  From this point (picture above), you can see the St. Rombouts tower in Mechelen which is about 30 km away.

 It was hard to believe this field was covered in snow just ten days ago - it looked and felt just like spring with the sun today.

Back in suburbia again, I passed by the Buddha garden...Namaste!

A good way to end a good walk.

Happy Sunday!

52 Hikes in 2015

hike

v. hiked, hik·ing, hikes

v.intr.

1. To go on an extended walk for pleasure or exercise, especially in a natural setting.

2. To rise, especially to rise upward out of place: My coat had hiked up in the back.

v.tr.

1. To travel over on foot for pleasure or exercise: hiked the Appalachian Trail.

2. To increase or raise in amount, especially abruptly: shopkeepers who hiked their prices for the tourist trade.

3. To pull or raise with a sudden motion; hitch: hiked myself onto the stone wall; hiked up her knee socks.

4. Football To snap (the ball).

n.

1. A long walk or march: went for a hike to the lake.

2. An often abrupt increase or rise: a price hike.

Ewa posted a link to an article on hiking goals on FB yesterday, and one of the suggestions was for doing 52 hikes in a year, which immediately appealed to me, so after a couple of back and forth comments with Ewa, we both decided we were going to try to do this, and post about it!

But then I was thinking about what differentiates a real hike from just a regular walk.  I would never think of walking around the block to the bakery, or walking downtown to the library, as hikes.  But would most of my longish walks on local paths with my husband count as a hike?  Or would it only count if I had my hiking boots on and a topographical map in my hand?  How long would it have to be?

So to be sure I looked it up in the dictionary.  What a relief!  A hike is simply an extended walk for pleasure or exercise, especially in a natural setting.  So for my purposes for this challenge, a hike should be:

• in a natural setting (so it needs to get me out of the urban setting where I live)
• extended (it needs to be a least 30 minutes)
• for pleasure or exercise (pretty much all my walks count, in my mind, towards exercise, so if it hits the other two criteria, it works)

So, my first hike was very simple.  Yesterday morning, with the winter sun shining brightly, and before we had to get ready to visit all my in-laws, which is the big tradition here on January 1st, we took a walk to the cemetery and back, to stretch our legs and erase the cobwebs from staying up late on New Year's Eve.  It was beautiful with the frost glazing the bushes and trees, and even though we had to be careful not to slip on the path, we were able to walk briskly enough to complete the four kilometers there and back in 50 minutes.  It felt good!

1 done, 51 to go.  This is going to be a fun challenge!  Anyone want to join in?