Long walk between rains

Kali came to visit this long weekend and though it rained on Friday and poured on Sunday, Saturday was a lovely day. We decided to head up to Futatsuyama from home.

It’s about an hour’s walk one way if you aren’t rushing, and we weren’t. Most of the journey is a paved country road, narrow and not used much at all. Beautiful and easy to travel on. The last hundred meters are a steep dirt trail (muddy from the rain) to the summit. The ridge faces west and on a good day, Mt Fuji is in view. We saw her snow capped peak floating on a cloud over the horizon. Lucky!

I felt doubly lucky because I made the walk with almost no stress, even chatting as we hiked. I demonstrated the evil of cedar pollen and pointed out various bits of nature along the way.

Previously, walks up the local hills hurt me and my bad heart. No talking. I’d need to stop frequently to catch my breath. My heart would pound erratically. But this time, I was only out of breath because I’m out of shape from not walking enough. Thank you, Atenolol 25 mg. You are the drug I didn’t want but I am deeply grateful that you made me normal again.

It feels so good to be moving through the world in a way that I enjoy. I am pretty thrilled to have walked up to the top of the mountain without worrying about dying along the way. The last time we hiked up here, I paid for it with two days in bed afterward.

I’m going for another hike tomorrow with the Oyama Senmaida folks in preparation for a public hiking event in March. I’ll be staff for that event, so tomorrow I learn the route. I am looking forward to it and confident that I will be competent.

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Mediatinker, Kristen McQuillin, is an American-born resident of Japan since 1998. This blog chronicles her life, projects, thoughts, and small adventures.