Father's Day Hike

It's Father's Day, and Dad and I celebrated accordingly by going on a long hike at Radnor Lake in our Vibram Five Fingers. The lake is about 15 minutes from our condo in the Gulch, Nashville.

We had a lovely, 30-or-40-minute walk/jog in mind... We got a 90-minute climb/hike, instead. By the end, we were both exhausted but pleased with ourselves for working so hard. The trails were dirt with mulch on top and some stretches of gravel. The park was damaged during the floods and one of the trails is still closed. We took the route around the lake and Ganier Ridge Trail, which was mostly an uphill climb with downhill switchbacks. It was beautiful and hot. Most of the trails are shaded by woods, so the sun wasn't beating down on us too much (thank goodness).

We were able to jog a bit, but mostly we just walked at a brisk pace through the beautiful woods. Being on a trail in Vibrams was a new experience (all experiences in my Vibrams are new, I suppose) and Dad got some blisters. There was a lot of gravel and many rocky stretches that required more concentration to navigate. I stubbed a few different toes when I wasn't watching carefully enough. No lasting damage, I have no blisters or scrapes. My feet feel like they've been squished, wrung out and left to hang dry. Sort of like jelly. The fact that it was 90 degrees by the time we finished contributed to the jelly-feel of my legs. In the coming weeks, I will be renewing my Pilates workouts. Side stitches and back aches are signals that your core is weak and not pulling its weight during the workout. I suffered multiple aches like that during the hike and even felt nauseous quite a bit. Perhaps more reading on RunnersWorld.com will answer my questions.

For Father's Day, I gave Dad a Vibram Five Fingers T-shirt. It's beautiful, dark red, organic fabric and it looks great on him! He was also given a pair of Injini socks to wear with his Five Fingers and some snacks. Not much in the way of gifts this year, but he's very difficult to buy for and he's already bought so much for himself lately. He is one very loved man!