I had two goals today as I set out for my “long” hike. One was to hit my 50 mile mark.  The other was to hike a full 10 miles.

We hit the 50 mile mark; although I will admit, I only had 2 miles left to hit that goal.

Unfortunately I missed 10 miles by .20 miles. I walked 9.8 miles.

Really? 9.8?  I even worked in a loop on the trail when I figured out I was going to be short of the 10 miles….but all that work and I still only get 9.8? Is there someone we can call who can officially say “Hey…let’s call it 10 miles and move on to drinking in celebration of your great achievement!”  No?  Well crap.

As I rounded into the last 2 or 3 miles, I could tell my posture had gone to hell in a hand basket. My shoulders ached from leaning too far forward. All I could think of was how good it would be to get home and stretch my shoulders. My feet at this point, were none too happy with me either. And my hips were pissed with me as well. Probably just as well I didn’t make the 10 miles. Who knows what the other parts of my body would have done to me at that point!

Now that I’ve hit thee 50 mile mark, which in all honesty, I never really expected to reach….what’s next? Well….I’m going to keep it simple. Next I’ll shoot for 100 miles. That should be doable right? Another 30 days, 50 miles for a total of 100.

Its also probably time I start branching out on some more and new hikes. So if you’re local and happen to be following, stay tuned.  I’ve already got quite a few in mind!

And for the record, here’s the tale of today’s numbers.

Miles: 9.8

Time: 03:11:56

Min/Mil: 19:14