Take a Hike

Last weekend, I went hiking for the first time. (Sorry, Robomarkov, you weren't my first.) It was nowhere near as horribly painful and excruciatingly difficult as I had imagined. (Note that I am not an outdoorsy person.)

I hiked up Tortugas Mountain (often called "A" Mountain because of the large, white "A" for Aggies painted on it) with my friend/employee from my gym. It took us just about an hour up and back, including a rest and water break at the top. (We also saw three goats!) He explained to me an interesting bit about human physiology, that the hike seemed strenuous at first because our bodies were burning sugars as an immediate fuel source, but after five to ten minutes, our metabolism switched over to reserve energy -- something about creatine phosphate, which is involved in the Krebs Cycle. (That I know about, as it occurs in plants, too.)

As an example, he asked if I could hear how heavily he was breathing as we started out. "No," I replied, "I was huffing and puffing too loudly to hear anything but myself."