Power walking with the dogs

I was very much in pain all day today and stayed in bed. My back aches don't usually last past an hour after getting up for coffee. The last thing I wanted to think about was going hiking up Miller Peak.

It was another hot (upper 70s) day and I stayed inside. Even the birds were going nuts outside and wanted their feeders refilled. The dogs were impatient and kept waiting for me to put on my shoes, grab my keys and head out the door so that they could storm out ahead of me and run to the truck so I could take them down to their walking loop. I wanted to hike today, but lacked the energy.

But then 4pm morphed to 5pm and I knew I had to take them somewhere, so I drove down to Oak Estates, leaving Sammy at home this time, to walk five miles. Getting out into the cool mountain shadows invigorated me, and my back pain wasn't so bad once I started pounding pavement. Even though this paved loop is just .1 miles from Three Canyons Road and residential traffic, no one ever drives on this loop and I get to walk the dogs off leash. No one ever drives to me to tell me to get the dogs on leashes. I have much better control of the dogs here than up in Hunter canyon, where they can get distracted by deer and other dog walkers.

Minnie and Sadie were chasing each other the first two miles. Minnie carried one small stump a good half mile around the loop before abandoning it for another stick she found. Even Sadie got in the act, just to annoy Minnie. The next time we do this loop, she will pick up that stump from where she left off, carry it a quarter mile, and then drop it again and leave it for the next walk. Zeke was in his own world, prancing through the dead grass and pouncing on imaginary villains.

I was averaging 17:30 minutes per mile. By the third mile the dogs were calming down and panting. Minnie took drinks from the water bowl I had brought along and placed at one intersection. I had too many ice cubes in the bowl, though, so Minnie was crunching on ice rather than drinking water by the third lap. By the fourth mile she was looking tired.

I got to see the last of the sun set, with the mountain shadows slowly covering the western slopes of the Mule mountains. That last mile was almost too dark for me. I could barely distinguish the dogs from the grass or pavement. I saw the oranges against the Mules turn to reds and then to brown and then dark grey. Lights in the homes in the eastern foothills came on, and the Catholic shrine on the hillside as well. I could even see the traffic light on SR90 from my vantage point. The lights of Naco were now also in view. It was in the mid 60s and it felt good!

Four loops around came to 4.82 miles that took me 1:24 hours. That's clearly no personal record, but now I know how far I can go at a brisk pace and still give the dogs a challenge. Sadie and Zeke have no trouble keeping up with me, but Minnie struggles. She spends so much of her energy that first mile pulling up stumps, dragging branches and teasing Sadie, that she runs out of breath faster than the others.

I got back home at 7pm with three panting dogs. I felt so much better after the workout. I had a lot to think about while walking: the death on Saturday of conservative Chief Justice Antonin Scalia (and the Republican Senate already stating they will not endorse any of Obama's nominees), the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency and his warmongering ways, and all this bickering in the presidential campaign. This promises to be a politically hot year for the US and the world.