2012 is a record breaking year and the year is not over!

About this time of year I start adding up my hiking totals.  I do this by going back over my blog posts and putting all my numbers into an excel spreadsheet.  This is part of why I always log miles and elevation gain on my blog entries. 


Last year, I did not get out much due to an ankle injury that I never did recover from.  Eventually I found an ankle brace designed for athletes that provides support and does not hurt to wear.  Thanks to that ankle brace (T2 active ankle)  I am hiking again and I seem to have made up for some lost time.  With my ankle brace I can hike in trail runners, but since both of my ankles are bad and I'm not yet wearing two braces, I have had to switch to wearing boots this year.

Ideally I would go on a long hike twice a week.  I have found that if I hike twice a week I can loose weight without dieting.  But getting out twice a week is very difficult with my obligations to my family and my chronic sinus issues.  Still I have managed to get out 47 times this year and I am very close to dropping a full pants size. 

When I made a preliminary graph for this year I was surprised to find that I have broken my six year record (I've only been keeping track for six years) for miles and elevation gain.  I still have two full months left to hike, so I expect to shatter all my records as long as I can keep my sinus issues in check.  I've already had one sinus infection this year, I was suffering from it when I tried to climb the Brothers.  I got it treated with anti-biotics and I felt pretty good two days later when it was time to climb Mount Washington.

I don't let the snow or the rain stop me from hiking, but I do try to at least pick the driest looking day for each hike.  So far there has not been a dry day in the last two weeks other than today.  Today I am ill with a cold or something and can not hike.  I hope I can get through this cold without getting a sinus infection so I can get out later this week and work on shattering my old records.

If I do make it out later this week, I'm pretty sure I'll be hiking in the rain.

That's okay,  I am all set for the rain with newish rain gear and very new waterproof boots.  I think my next trip will be a snowshoe trip and I'm looking forward to testing out my fairly new snowshoes on this unseasonably deep snow  that has suddenly arrived.