Think Twice Before Taking a Walk

So, last Saturday, Landon and I were both off. I was excited about us being off together, and not having a very busy weekend. I have not been running consistently lately (to say the least), and I wanted us to run together Saturday morning. Now, first, you must know, that I am not a morning exerciser. Some of it is because I don't want to get up any earlier (since I'm getting up at 5 something before the crack of dawn already), but I think a lot of the reason is because I always feel sick if I run in the morning - and then I feel sick all day (feel sick means my stomach hurts). I don't know why this is, but it's just the way it goes for me. The times I do the very best running/exercising is when I get home from work before I eat dinner - I'm really tired then, but if I come straight in the house, change clothes, and do it right then, I do great. I've eaten several meals, had lots to drink during the day, and my body - even though it's tired from the work day - enjoys doing some physical activity after being in an office all day long. Enough background.
This brings me to last Saturday. Because we had to stay up late Friday night to watch Harvin in his first little NFL game, we slept pretty late. Once we got up, I decided I really wanted us to go for a run together. We used to go fairly often together, but have not done that in a while. Landon didn't really want to run, but he agreed, and we set off. We do this circle around our house, usually, that is about 5 miles. The bad thing is, though, once you start the circle, you can't really cut through to get back any faster if you want or need to. I sometimes do not take the circle because of that one dog situation where the dog followed me all the way down the road and ran with me as if it was my own dog...but I digress. We start out okay (right by our house), but get to about 1/2 a mile, and I'm pretty much dying. I know, I know, the first mile is the hardest...R..i..g..h..t. So, we keep going - and Landon is having a pretty tough time, too (but not as tough as me). So, after the first mile, we stop running and start walking to rest for a minute. It was not going well. We just felt disgusting. The weather was beautiful, and the breeze was a little cool (for the first time in a LONG time), but the sun was beating down without a cloud in the sky. So, it was HOT. We were hot. We keep walking, and I know at this point, I cannot run again on this little exercise excursion. Just forget it. So, I've resigned myself to just walking - sounds good - we can talk about the Sunday School lesson for tomorrow and just enjoy time together talking. This would have been ideal...yet...it just didn't turn out that way. By the time you get 1/2 the way around the circle, you can look way across the hills and see our house. But, you can't get to it...or can you?? We were so tired and hot for no apparent reason that day, we decided to try to cut through the woods to check it out. Already, we are barely making it (excuse me, I am barely making it), and now we are trying a bizarre "shortcut" route. MMMM....not going to be good. We have to climb down a big hill first...which we do and is tough. Then, we are going to have to climb up a rather large hill...similar to the picture below.
Now, you know, Landon used to be a surveyor - I mean, this man is used to being in the thick of crazy woods business. I stand to rest and he goes to investigate. He comes back with the wrong answer. "No, it's just too steep and thick," he says. "If I had a machette we could do it, but I don't have one". Well, darn. You forgot that trusty machette on our run/walk this morning that you usually bring...We climb back up the large hill and get back to the road. I say I'm so thirsty I feel like I haven't had water in 10 days. Landon says he feels like we've been walking for 10 days. Are you kidding me? Finally, in the home stretch, uphill, he turns around and wants to talk about something. I just cannot talk anymore or listen - it's just too taxing for me. I barely mumble out the words, "Don't talk anymore." He then looks at me, and says, "I'm so glad I'm married to you. I don't want to be married to anyone else." Why this is, I do not know. I mean, I've just told him "Don't talk anymore". We're going uphill, so I'm half bent over because I feel so sick, and my arms are hanging down by my sides like a gorilla, and this man just said he wouldn't want to be married to anyone else. Nice. He thinks I am funny and always good for laughs. This is why he likes to be married to me. We finally make it home and drink 100 gallons of gatorade and water and tea (because sweet tea makes you not feel sick). Then, I felt sick the rest of the day. We did go to Cracker Barrel, which always brightens the mood. I will not run again on a Saturday morning, in the hot (even though it seemed cooler), and I will NEVER try to get through another ravine situation to get back home the "shortcut" way. Yikes, man. It was BAD.