Cardio-Knitting on the Trail

Yesterday was hike day. I love getting out into the woods. Usually it is for a trail run. This weekend since I'm on detox trail running wasn't the best idea. So we drove north on the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiked a small portion of the Mountains to Sea Trail. The dogs love hiking. It is quite an adventure. I decided that since I was not running and we were hiking one of the easier portions of the trail that I would work on a sock while I hiked. It may sound crazy but once you are accustomed to cardio-knitting walking outdoors and knitting is not that difficult. I have been walking the urban trail (sidewalk) to work while knitting most of the week. I simply combined my skills of trail running and cardio-knitting for a 3 mile hike. Kam was intrigued and insisted on taking a video. I'm not sure how exciting it is to watch someone hike but I will admit the dog noises are humorous.

What do you eat before hiking when you are doing detox? I suggest more than this. It was a lazy sleep in morning so fixing breakfast at home was not quite as fun as you might think. Kam came up with the idea that we stop off at the grocery store and get salad bar picnic. It is interesting how quickly the taste buds get used to good fresh food. I could taste how the peppers were OK but not freshly cut. The olives were canned not jarred. My intention was to avoid adding in legumes as long as possible. Kam felt that if I was going for a hike I needed the fuel. I ate the garbanzo beans. I did not enjoy them. They too tasted canned. But the fruit was amazing.

We found some fun rock formations and had to take the time to play on them. Kam was almost swallowed up!

Ceili just thought is was a cool place to hang out. She was such a cutie out there. We crossed many small streams. Each time she would stop an drink. Darby rarely wanted a drink. She was all about the walk. Once Ceili sat right down in a puddle. She was obviously overheating. 

When we go on a long trail run we often use it as an excuse to eat pizza. Always gluten free and topped with healthy items but still pizza. There is no pizza on detox. I was still craving it. I opted for pretend pizza. I sliced up a beautiful tomato and topped it with chopped garlic and sliced new red onion. I added on some Italian herbs. Then I put it under the broiler until the onion was cooked. I ate it over top of some baby kale greens. Perfect pizza taste and I didn't go off my detox plan!

As is the case with most Sunday afternoons we had projects to get done. While Kam worked on the back porch I cooked another meal. That back porch turns into a pantry every winter. It is single wall construction. On any given day it is about 5 degrees warmer than outdoors. In the summer it is about 15 degrees warmer than outdoors. We love it spring and fall when we have the perfect outdoor weather. The meal? I roasted brussels. I love them tossed with olive oil and garlic. No oil on detox. What to do?? I tossed them with a bit of lemon juice, fresh chopped garlic, and sliced scallions. They were tangy and delicious. One of Kam's fun things is to have a wedge of iceberg lettuce. So we opted for warm roasted veggies and cold crunchy plain iceberg salad. 

For dinner I was reaching over hungry. REALLY really hungry. I blame it on the hike. It was pretty warm in the house too so I didn't want to cook. I opted for salad. For the two of us I chopped up a gala apple and a pound of jicama. I added half a pint of blueberries and a bit of lemon juice. We had this on top of chopped lettuce. I was amazingly satisfied and quite full. 

And what is the knitting progress for the day? Well I managed an inch of plain knitting and the heel flap of the green striped sock while out on the trail. My afternoon/evening knitting was on that blue lace sock. I turned the heel and finished the gusset. I think it was a spectacular day! Plenty of healthy food, exercise, knitting, and some solid progress on the late spring cleaning projects.