The Best Summer Ever

I jumped off the bench with my arms up in the air, but I hadn't given thought to what I would do when I got back on the ground! I fell on my backside is what happened! My friend, Rebekah, was capturing a picture of my completion of 100 miles hiked over the course of 28 days at my favorite local hiking spot, Friedrich Park. We have come to call that summer, "The Best Summer Ever." It was the summer of 2017. During our morning hikes we had many conversations about our families and life in general. We pushed each other to set a goal and accomplish it. We logged our miles day after day after lots of sweating! We started off meeting at 8:00 a.m., but midway through the summer we decided we needed to start even earlier due to the heat and humidity. It was so rewarding to start our exercise early and be done by 9 a.m. when oftentimes our kids were just getting up!

There may have been days either one of us would have rather remained in our respective comfy, cool beds, but we had an accountability to each other and that kept us going. I felt such an accomplishment because some rather big boulders on one part of the trail were tough for me to conquer when we first started hiking, but by the end those boulders didn't faze me anymore. I felt that I could conquer anything. On one of our hike days, we did a longer trail of six miles. That was the longest we had hiked continuously.

They say it takes 21 consecutive attempts at something to make a habit permanent. Although we did not hike daily, it still felt like a pretty good routine we had built. I would do water aerobics on the off days. It was great keeping up my exercise routine. I would also sit out by the pool to sun and read. It was glorious! So essentially we were hiking every other day. We gave our bodies a day of rest in between our average 3 miles we hiked when we were on the trail.

Now I look back and I am so grateful to have had the best summer ever with one of my besties. I know that I enjoyed meeting my goals that I set for myself and the shared time with my friend. I also know this experience has taught me that I enjoy being out in nature and that I love summer. Not only did I treasure the time with Rebekah, but I also learned that I am able to push through hard things that I am faced with.

So I say...find something you have been wanting to do, find an accountability partner and work at it. You will be glad that you did. Maybe you choose to do it in the summertime. We did because we were on vacation from our jobs, but you can make it... the best time ever... anytime! And a quick note: if you are going hiking, be sure to check the weather. You never know if a storm carrying hail might meet you out on the trail! That is for another post!