[exercise, weight loss, food]

It’s been just over six weeks since I decided I wanted to thru-hike Te Araroa. I have consistently hit 35 miles per week since then.

I’ve also lost 17 pounds (7.7 kilos) since I started walking more actively four months ago. I decided it was time to step up my efforts. I checked out the local gyms and ended up joining one that has an indoor heated pool and offers Crossfit. It also is very clean, has loads of new equipment, and has gorgeous changing rooms. The trainer who sold me my membership is also a thru-hiker (and thru-biker!) who cheerfully talked Te Araroa and the other long-distance trails with me. He’s lost 100 pounds in chasing his long-distance hiking and biking dreams, so it was nice to meet someone else who’d already completed a similar journey!

Going to my first Crossfit class, I was a bit nervous, but mostly excited. I met the other folks in the class and they were all great and welcoming. No one looked at me like, “Why is there a fat person here?” Instead, they encouraged me at every step of the way. We cheered each other on. I was told the evening Crossfit was “pretty busy,” which apparently meant six people (including myself).

The trainer was great at modifying things to my strength and fitness level. I was sweating within the first three minutes and had an amazing time. I had never worked with lifting (beyond bench presses) so I had all sorts of new things to learn. I did some kettlebell work, which I was passingly familiar with but gained a new appreciation for.

My shoulders and quads are absolutely wrecked today (I feel like a baby learning to walk, or maybe an early prototype for an ambulatory robot when I walk, and taking off a shirt is a new adventure in ow).

I love it.

After class, I went to float in the pool for 20 minutes (which was an excellent idea) before using the hot tub and sauna. Dad picked me up (he had a meeting in town so we carpooled) and I had to run to the grocery store to pick up some epsom salts and bananas for me, and as he put it, I was “buzzing” around the store, riding the endorphin high.