One of the many things I like about taking a long ride, run or hike is that it purges my mind of life’s daily distractions — bills, deadlines, squirrels. The resulting void clears vital space for creative thinking, for random thoughts, ideas and whatnot to bubble up from the subconscious and get some air time. Usually, this is good thing. Sometimes it is not.
Give darkness the boot
In our ongoing crusade to keep you active in these dark times (post Daylight Savings, that is) here’s a different approach: Instead of cursing sunset, go to bed with it — so you can get up in time for your 6 a.m. boot camp.
Boot camp. For years, this approach to fitness was exclusive to the military. New recruits went into the service soft and squishy, got spit out six weeks later buff and tough. The idea got co-opted about a decade ago as gyms and private trainers began offering take-no-prisoners classes that gave a taste of the military experience, minus the two-year commitment and haircut. The workouts were popular because they were concentrated (perfect for people with tight schedules), intense (“guaranteed results” actually meant guaranteed results), and varied (each workout was different; you didn’t know what to expect from one day to the next). Over the past five years or so, the concept has been co-opted further, into a more … civil version. Or, as Anne Triebert likes to call it, a Boot Camp for the Rest of Us.
Hikes You Can Do: Cedar Point Tideland Trail Loop
Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going long), it won’t be strenuous hike (there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. This week, the 1.4-mile Cedar Point Tideland Trail in the Croatan National Forest.
The common cold: Lace up or stay in bed?
Early on during a backpacking trip a couple weeks ago I felt a cold coming on. Pulling my clogged-up and sniffling self out of the tent the second morning into a mid-30 degree chill, I thought I was going to have to pull the plug on my adventure. “If I can just make it to Hot Springs,” I told myself, “I can make it back to the car.”
Exploring the state’s little gems
Yesterday I may have been a tad premature with my early morning proclamation that the sun, after a week’s hiatus, had returned. But eventually, at least here in Cary, it was out in full force by mid-afternoon. At which point, after a morning of vigorous wet-leaf raking, we piled the family into the minivan and spend the remainder at the day at one of our favorite, off-the-beaten-path parklands: Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve.