Six Miles, Baby. Six Miles.

The beautiful trail in Bentonville, AR, where
we walked six -- count them, SIX -- miles.

What a magnificent start to an awesome day.  It’s Sunday, and I would normally sleep later than normal, get up and make a big breakfast, and then have some time to relax.  Instead, today I got up at 6:30, showered, dressed, and drove 30 miles to meet two girlfriends at an absolutely amazing bike/run/walk trail at 8 am.  (I did.  Yes, me.  I did that.)

My original intent was to break in some new “quad line” speed skates that I bought a while back and have only had a chance to use a couple of times.  My fear, though, was that I wouldn’t be able to skate at all because of ankle injuries that are still healing from falling down the stairs well over a month ago.  But, as it turned out, I was able to skate briefly – long enough to feel satisfied that I gave it my best shot and will be able to do more as my ankles continue to heal – but afterward I walked the trail instead.

Now, when I say “I walked the trail,” I don’t mean I meandered down a short trail.  I walked about a while on my own (my girlfriends were there to run it and I had asked them to go ahead and to meet me somewhere in the middle when they turned to come back).  About a half-mile or so down, my friends were on their way back after their run, and while one had to leave, the other agreed to walk further down the trail with me.

Construction at Crystal Bridges

Here’s the best part.  We walked to a vantage point overlooking Crystal Bridges, which is a beautiful new museum under construction there, which was a full three miles away.  By the time our trail walk concluded, we had walked six miles.  (Yes, six miles.  Yes, me.  Yes, I did that.  I did.  Well, my friend and I did.  Yes we did.)

And it was a breathtaking walk.  The weather? Gorgeous.  The creeks and streams are still carrying a lot of water, so we saw lots of beautiful waterfalls, and we ran across exactly two little turtles along the way also.  Last, Mother Nature was kind enough to keep her snake friends to herself, which I always consider a bonus!

Mr. Turtle, who really wanted to race me.

Getting fit proved to be fun this morning, and getting some girl time at the same time… well, that was just the best!  We even concluded afterward with a healthy lunch, which helped me stay on my plan for this entire day.  Loved, loved, LOVED this day!  Woohoo!!!