This is the one element of living healthy that gets me fired up. There have been occasions where a self-imposed challenge was what I needed to get past a personal set back, the loss of a loved one, or a career changing decision.
The most recent set back, had the potential to render my passion for hiking indefinitely suspended if not totally over. The thought of not having a backpack to load, a trip plan to develop, or a trail to hike, was not one of the "Life" cards I knew I had in my hand.
I had a partial knee replacement in February, 2011. Normal post surgery recovery is three days. I lobbied hard to my surgeon, the nurses, the night duty shift supervisor, and anybody who came into my room. I was home in two days. My surgeon prescribed six weeks of PT to renew mobility and strength in my leg. That went well. An additional six weeks after that, I spent time in the gym five days a week, to restore muscle and tone.
Two weeks before my planned return to hiking, I tested the knee with an easy 2.5 mile hike. The pain was gone, The steel and titanium replacement parts were holding up well. Two weeks later, I was back on trail with the High Country Hikers group from Aurora. I went hiking every week over the summer.
I was preparing for the transition to snowshoes when an idea hit me. I decided to make a self-imposed challenge, to really test my stamina, my physical and mental toughness, and those metal parts in my reconstructed knee. The surgeon said I could expect to get ten years of normal hiking out of the new knee. .
The challenge:
- Hike 100 miles between August 2, 2011 to May 10th. 2012.
- Hike 20 miles on snowshoes from October, 2011 thru March 2012.
- Raise $1,000.00 for PAR in the process.
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