Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Do you know how much energy a 16yo male has? Well, if you have one, and one who is very weight conscience and concerned about being in great-shape then you already know that their energy level far exceeds their mom’s. At least mine far exceeds my energy level.

It is fruitless to explain this little fact to them too. At least it is pointless to waste time explaining to mine that a 50yo just might not have the same get-up-and-go that a 16yo has. Since that didn’t stop him from expecting me to keep right up with him and be able to hike 15 miles one day, 10 the next and 20 the day after, we hiked. And we aren’t talking about little walks in the parks either. When we hike we each carry a pack containing 3 liters of water or 6.6#, food, rain gear, warm jacket, first aid kit, flashlight, matches, camera, binoculars, and a bit more food. Our day packs added on about 20 pounds of gear to be carried on our little hikes. Little, right <grin>. That extra weight sure adds to the effort it takes to move, to walk, and particularly to climb up a mountain.

The 16yo also is not satisfied unless we are hiking to the top of a mountain which usually meant we were climbing 2000, or 3000, or even 4000 feet UP, in addition to hiking 10 or 15 or 20 miles. In a day. And a hike means that the trail you are following might be a nice slippery mud surface, or gravel, or rocks, or as was the case on most of our hikes snow. Snow is not fun to hike through for any distance at all. No, not at all.

It isn’t a bad thing having an energetic 16yo by any means. We saw so much more, and obtained an up-close-and-personal appreciation for each place we visited that we would not have had by just car hopping from park to park. I did enjoy the hiking and by the trips end we had hiked 300 miles, which translated into a nice weight loss for me. A very needed weight loss for me. I dropped from size 16/18 to size 14/12. Not bad at all. It also translated into a body that is in rather good shape now too. To keep this up and continue on the weight losing cycle we have exercised for at least one hour every day since we returned home, and most days it is closer to 2 hours.  On the exercise machine the settings are all much higher too which tells me that my muscles are much stronger.

I’ve got a bit more to take off and when we go on our next trip I want to be in shape before we leave so that maybe, just maybe I can run up that trail with the 16yo.