<p>I’m not sure which town you’re in but you know how things are on my side of the river.</p>
<p>There is a ton of retail over here from the Pheasant Lane Mall to the Nashua Mall to the Merrimack Premium Outlets to the strip on 101A from Nashua to Amherst and even the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester isn’t that far away. The retails stores do have merchandise that you don’t find online and sometimes the clearance and specials beat online.</p>
<p>There’s a lot to like about online though. I have stuff shipped to the office so it’s a piece of cake.</p>
<p>Rest day for me yesterday. I just didn’t feel like working out and I find that it’s best to take a day off when I feel like that.</p>
<p>Good day in the gym for me. I missed working out yesterday so I did intervals on the bike and walked on the dreadmill. Was there for 90 minutes. Had an interesting talk with another woman who I hadn’t seen for awhile. She has dropped 40 pounds. She has always worked out every day and she works out hard! She couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t losing weight so she went to the dr. The dr. told her her glucose was high and she had to cut sugar and carbs out of her diet and she had to keep exercising every day. I asked her if she was pre-diabetic or diabetic. She answered no, I just have high glucose. Aren’t they one and the same???</p>
<p>Beautiful run this morning along the beach! 72 degrees, light breeze, gorgeous scenery, very few people out. I did chick a couple of fairly athletic looking guys. I have no idea how far I ran, but it lasted close to 45 min, so it was at least 3-4 miles. I need to have my Garmin implanted under my skin, so I will never forget to take it with me. At the end of my run, I took my shoes off and ran barefoot on the sand for about 3/4 of a mile. It felt great! I’m tempted to rent a paddleboard as soon as I finish my coffee and mushroom omelet (yup, homemade!).</p>
<p>Congrats on the permanent job offer, MOWC and birthday wishes (we’re the same age–my bday was in Feb.)
IDad: hike looks great.
Cjane: You seem to be really consistent with your low-carb regime–I wouldn’t worry too much about the sandwich and the donut.
BB: Five miles on the beach is a good workout!
BC: Didn’t realize you were in Nashua? I’m not too far away in MA–northern Worcester County. I’ve gone shopping up on that strip of endless malls and stores and malls that you mentioned. Lots of bargains and no sales tax.</p>
<p>Feeling good because I’ve managed to string together 4 days of eating less than 100g. of carbs. Also reading Mark Sisson–The Primal Blueprint. I’ve gotten some valuable information from it that’s helped me. Did a long walk today (7 mi.) and went to a new class yesterday based on Crossfit. It was tough, but I could do most of the exercises and kept up. Signed up for spinning tomorrow.</p>
<p>Awesome hike, but I’m toast. 5.8 miles. 5 hours 17 minutes of walking. Plus 5 hours in the car. About as perfect a day weather-wise as I could imagine. Upper 70s, not a cloud in the sky.</p>
<p>4.93 miles, mid-80s, sunny, low humidity. It was one of those days where the miles went by easily. I use Google Earth to scout out my runs and it’s mostly running through apartment and condo complexes. Next week, I think that I may try a few subdivisions of houses. There’s a tremendous amount of traffic in my work area and I try to get off the main roads as quickly as possible unless they have sidewalks. The downside of sidewalks is that sometimes they’re concrete.</p>
<p>I work in Nashua but I live in the town North of it. It is a bit of a paradise for shopping though it was without a high-end mall until the Merrimack Premium Outlets moved in. You won’t find the kind of stores that you see in Copley Place or some other parts of Boston but we get by with what we have.</p>
<p>At home workout today. Added in another leg exercise, a simple but effective one. Also did the calf raises with toes pointed in and toes pointed out in addition to just regular. I only do those that way on occasion because it doesn’t take many to overdo.</p>
<p>May break out the new Mizunos tomorrow. We’ll see. </p>
<p>About as much car time as idad, but, sadly, no hike.</p>
<p>Cals 1114
Fat 79 g
Carbs 15 g
Fiber 3 g
Protein 87 g
Sugars 4 g</p>
<p>Looks like I was trying to atone for yesterday, but truly not the case. I ordered a NY strip steak, brussels sprouts with bacon and spinach sauteed with butter for dinner, but was so full I took half the steak back with me. My travel cooler pantry has been serving me well during the day. Almond and coconut milks, powdered peanut butter, protein shake mix, cheese, hard boiled eggs, whole milk yogurt, cream for my tea.</p>
<p>None of my photos of the Falls turned out – aiming directly into the sun. So, a YouTube will have to suffice. This place was jaw-dropping spectacular. They claim the falls are about 200 feet high:</p>
<p>Silly me. I did the “very rough and steep” side excursion on the way back. Just about killed me, but there were two really nice waterfalls deep in a gorge:</p>
<p>Wow, CJane - 15 g of carbs? Awesome job. I do not think I will ever be able to go that low.</p>
<p>My happy, carefree life of a beach bum will end soon. Mr B is flying in tomorrow. The good part is that we will be able to hike together (I promised him that I would not do any solo hikes). I better go for a swim in the ocean before the sun disappears.</p>
<p>Hiking days are always bad. McDonalds breakfast. Apples and nuts all day. I probably still come out ahead of the game as I’m pretty sure I’m burning a boatload of calories.</p>
<p>Cals 2359
Fat 166 g
Carbs 172 g
Fiber 29 g
Protein 64 g
Sugars 79 g</p>
<p>Inbelievably high level of energy at the gym yesterday. Was thinking very hard what was different, the only difference was 2.5 donuts, yummy. They boost my energy much more than coffee, I was surprized. No intention to continue with “donut” diet, but it was an eye openner as yesterday I could not have coffee, it was my decaf. day…could not stop running around the house for whole evening, doing things, did not get tired at all, and no dinner, just snacks, was not hungry…very strange and unusual for me. Now I wonder when these donuts will show on my scale and how much it would be…</p>
<p>IDad- that looks awesome. I’m jealous. You’ll miss those hikes this winter!</p>
<p>3.3 miles on the Schulkill River trail from center city Phila. I have to walk about a block from son’s apartment before Garmin will pick up. Too many tall buildings. Son gave me a heads up on that. Passed some homeless people sleeping in doorways in the 1/2 mile in town before you get to the trail. I lucked out with the weather on this trip.</p>
<p>Speaking of GPS signals, I’ve now lost GPS in the car twice on I-93 just north of Concord, NH. In exactly the same place, it appears.</p>
<p>I figure hiking will be fine up through about Thanksgiving. I’m not big on the snow hiking and ice climbing and so forth. I don’t think it really gets nice again 'til June. I’ll use the winter and spring to get serious about strength training. I started the hiking just for variety.</p>
<p>Speaking of strength training, I was glad I had done all those 16-inch weight bench step ups last spring. Four miles into the hike yesterday, I had to go down 2/10ths of a mile into the Arethusa Falls gorge on this nicely terraced trail. </p>
<p>But, wow, nearly a quarter mile grinding up those stairs with 20 pounds on my back was a workout. The steps were mostly betweeen 12 and 16 inches tall.</p>
<p>I’m going to work on long endurance sets of those weight bench step ups this winter! Maybe I’ll do them with a back pack instead of dumbbells…</p>
<p>Yesterday was the first time I’ve been sweating like a pig and panting like a dog hiking DOWNHILL. I dropped down a very steep Bemis Brook Trail. It was a ladder of exposed tree roots and so steep in places that I couldn’t come down facing fowards.</p>
<p>I was very happy to get down that stretch without doing a faceplant. And kicking myself for the detour off the comparative superhighway smoothness of the main trail.</p>
<p>Idad - that downhill trail is rated yikes!!! :)</p>
<p>I suspect that loss of GPS signal in some places may be due to certain governmental installations in the area and not topographic features. There is a spot in CA, flat as flat can get, and yet my Garmin always loses satellites in that place! I learned to keep a map handy just in case when I’m driving through some unfamiliar spots.</p>
<p>Really mad at Mr B this morning for keeping me online for nothing; as the result, I could not go for a run. I mihgt go after the sunset instead of dinner (my evil plan initially included getting a slice of Hula pie instead of dinner :)).</p>
<p>Too rough for a butt scoot. You had to be able to find a root or a rock to place a foot for each step. I ended up turning sideways to the hill and stepping down. One step at a time.</p>
<p>I would have turned back, but that would have meant climbing back UP that slope.</p>
<p>I need to start appreciating the “British-style” understatement often used in the trail guides. I was forewarned. This section of trail as described at “rough” and “steep”.</p>
I have no idea how far I ran, but it lasted close to 45 min, so it was at least 3-4 miles. I need to have my Garmin implanted under my skin, so I will never forget to take it with me. At the end of my run, I took my shoes off and ran barefoot on the sand for about 3/4 of a mile. It felt great! I’m tempted to rent a paddleboard as soon as I finish my coffee and mushroom omelet (yup, homemade!).</p>![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa1.jpg]Frankenstein](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa1.jpg%5DFrankenstein){kind=link}
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa3.jpg]View](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa3.jpg%5DView){kind=link}
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa5.jpg]Waterfall](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa5.jpg%5DWaterfall){kind=link}
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa6.jpg]Waterfall](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Arethusa%20Falls%20Trail/arethusa6.jpg%5DWaterfall){kind=link}
![http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z5rqXTW5TR4/T_zj54-sFSI/AAAAAAAAEZs/hBLz7p-QIYg/s1600/DSC_0169.JPG]Terraced](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z5rqXTW5TR4/T_zj54-sFSI/AAAAAAAAEZs/hBLz7p-QIYg/s1600/DSC_0169.JPG%5DTerraced){kind=link}
![http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RQG-fVinvEA/T5szwF3JcWI/AAAAAAAAAPI/h0KxGuR3uBo/s1600/IMG_1295.jpg]Steep](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RQG-fVinvEA/T5szwF3JcWI/AAAAAAAAAPI/h0KxGuR3uBo/s1600/IMG_1295.jpg%5DSteep){kind=link}
![http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CSD0wuqL_SU/T5syMVz0M1I/AAAAAAAAAPA/7ehAsNktOC0/s1600/IMG_1296.jpg]Steep](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CSD0wuqL_SU/T5syMVz0M1I/AAAAAAAAAPA/7ehAsNktOC0/s1600/IMG_1296.jpg%5DSteep){kind=link}
