So, after a really stressful week last week, wherein I did an entire weeks’ worth of classes and homework in a single morning before going to take a quiz (studying for my Japanese test last week REALLY threw off my schedule) I ended up — yep. Sick. Exhausted. Unable to function.
Sigh.
I HATE, absolutely HATE being sick. It makes me angry! And then I sleep for 20 hours and STILL feel tired! Arrgghhhh!
Anyway, so I slept through most of Friday and Saturday, and Sunday I woke up at 7 a.m. feeling groggy but okay. So I decided — a walk! I will take a walk! Er, maybe a run! Because my foot, which I twisted a few weeks ago running on a trail, is finally better, and also I feel really fat so running should make me feel better, right?
I explain to the kids and the dogs that mommy is going BY HERSELF because she wants TO RUN. And then I stand, undecided, by the back gate, eyeing a walking stick I haven’t used in ages. Finally I decide to grab the walking stick (I can always set it down, run, and then come pick it back up later).
So I walk, and I walk. It’s hot. At 8:15 a.m. it’s 80 degrees here and climbing fast; it’s a typical cloudless Tucson day with far too much sunshine for my taste. I walk through the desert, trying to speed-walk a little up the hills, checking my pulse. (Did it occur to me that starting exercise after 2 days in bed was a bad idea? Nahhh, of course not!). I got my heartrate up and decided to take a trail I hadn’t gone on before. It was very pretty — behold:
However. It was hot. And dry. And after walking for a while on this “new” trail I hadn’t tried, I saw that I was near this church:
And I thought, hmmm. Rainwater barrels on the side? That’s pretty cool. So I decided to go check it out, and made my way down a fairly steep slope to the highway. Then I crossed the highway, and walked to the church, thinking, I’ll just get a drink of water and see when the services are. After all, it’s 8:45 and EVERYONE knows Catholics have services at 8 a.m., so it can’t possibly be time for a service. Except, of course, that this particular church had a 9 a.m. service. Since people were streaming into the doors, I streamed with them, and sat in the back, surreptitiously stashing my walking stick by the door. Of course, I was in hiking shorts, and wearing prescription sunglasses, so I looked a bit strange, but mostly nobody bothered me (aka, I didn’t get thrown out — a plus!). Nine a.m. rolls around and suddenly I realize — I’m a 45-minute walk from home, have no water, and it’s already 85 degrees. I can’t stay for an hour and a half for this service! So, I quietly get up, find the priest standing right by my walking stick (um, excuse me sir, I mean father, I just need that big stick there…) and leave. Nobody tries to restrain me (this has actually happened before — BAPTISTS!) and I think I will get a drink of water before I go.
So I start walking around the church.
And around it.
And, wow, this church is much bigger than it looks. Is that a picnic area?
And finally — a bathroom! Water! Except it’s locked.
So I go to the picnic area and drink out of a sink there, and then promptly walk into a wash that I can’t get out of.
Backtrack.
Cross highway.
Wow, this was a lot less steep coming down…
Walking. Walking. Walking. It’s now 90+ degrees, sun is beating down, and home seems so very, very far away.
I finally arrive back home around 10:30 a.m., exhausted and footsore. I stretch a little, drink a ton a water, and then…I totally have to lay down.
I feel AWFUL.
Why didn’t it occur to me to take it easy my first day up? Huh? Why do I do this to myself?
I wake up 6 HOURS LATER with a sunburn and a bad taste in my mouth. And then I proceed to sleep through the night, and then through most of today, until late this afternoon when I woke up feeling…okay. And I thought, hmmm, I feel pretty okay, maybe I should take a walk.
EXCEPT I DIDN’T. Geez, people. I do learn…sometimes.
P.S. Except, of course, that I slept too much and am still up at 2 a.m. writing this. But I didn’t stay up until 2 a.m. last time! Really! I’ll be fine!
