I went backpacking this weekend. I’ll write about it in detail later.

What I will tell you now is that it is official: I am out of shape.

I’ve sort of known it. I’ve put on a few pounds over the last couple months. I haven’t been going to the gym. I’ve slacked.

But this weekend I got the proof. I set out to conquer the trail, but the trail conquered me. I was slow. I sucked. My two companions walk ahead while I trudged slowly behind. Sometimes I just stopped and stared at the trail hoping it would get easier. It did not. There were a few times where I was ready to just sit down and stop. I did not.

I should be at work today, but I called out. I’m whipped. My ankles and knees are battered. I am bruised. And my feet are sporting many shiny new blisters.

Besides that I feel good.

While I was trudging along, I had an epiphany. My project, the one with the PHP, is still very awkward in the way it is coded. Standing there, in the drizzle amongst the rocks, it occurred to me a better way to structure it. That is what I will be working on today. Probably.

This weekend was a wake up call. I need to stop pigging out. I need to go to the gym and do something. And if my knees bother me too much to run, I need to walk. I need to. I don’t like being chubby, but I guess that wasn’t enough motivation. But I cannot tolerate being so whipped on the trail.

It’s not just the trail, I’ve been exhausted all the time recently. It seems like I come home from work manage to throw together a dinner for me and the kids and then I pass out on the couch. This is not how I want to feel or be.

More on the hike later… with pictures.