"How do you hike outside in this heat?"

That's what friend Didi asked.

I responded that it is like cooking a frog: You put the frog into a pot with tap water on the stove and then turn the heat on. I go hiking all-year-round, so don't realize I'm getting cooked. I also take a Camelbak full of ice and Gatoraide.

I bicycle outside in this heat too. If you think it's bad hiking in the forest when it's a 100 in the shade, try riding in 100 degrees under the scorching sun for a few hours. However, I love my long Summertime Sunday rides. I solo but also like to hike and bike with old, quiet friends I've long known and loved.

I like it hot and sweaty. And I like 'em hot and sweaty too. Oops, wait a minute... I've given up gals.


- © 2010 by Willy

Place?

"Now go to your happy place... a place where you feel comfort, acceptance and love," said Karen the Yoga instructor.

Place? I'm happy when being active hiking, bicycling, weightlifting, running errands, feeding the ducks, reading, working, and meeting people to get things done. A pedometer revealed that I walk 4 miles a day at work. I'm seldom in my office or in my home. I'm completely hyperactive and I channel it to benefit. I may have high blood pressure and trouble sleeping but I love everything I do, I love every day, no matter what. Surrounded by blessings, I quietly and steadily make miracles happen.

I don't have a happy place. I have a happy journey instead... which gives me comfort, acceptance and love.

-© 2010 by Willy

Summertime

"Didn't you get my text?" Dallas said. "It's 102 degrees!"

I had already done my cardio warm-up, my rotator cuff warm-up routine, and was doing light pecs and delts. The dumbbells felt hot to the touch, like a cast iron skillet on the stove. Sweating was profuse. It was a lot more than 102 inside that unairconditioned tin building of a gym.

"No," I said, "what did it say?"

Dallas made a face.

I put my dumbbells down. "Go home to your wife and your air-conditioner!" I said.

"To my iced tea and taking it easy!" he said as we left, smiling.

In the South, it's summertime and the living is easy. Fish are biting and the cotton is high. And air-conditioning is sipping iced tea while resting in the shade.

Being from the deep south... and growing up with no air-conditioning at school, home, car nor buses... 102 degrees to me just means drinking cold liquids continuously to let it go straight through and do a heat exchange. For my riding and hiking, I load my Camelbak with ice and top it off with water. This time of year, I am so hydrated that I have to pee several times during the night. On weekend days, I prefer bicycling and hiking first thing in the morning. On weekdays, I do what I can. After work today, I hiked 6 miles in 99 degrees but under the canopy. Last Saturday we rode twentysomething miles in the sun. The heat doesn't bother me if I consistently stay with the program, stay consistent to get attuned to changing temps gradually, and drink fluids. High temps are part of training and conditioning. I won't accept anything else.

I choose to practice how I play.

And the living is easy.

- text © 2010 by Willy