Head Clearing

To escape much of the ugliness online with Leftist's celebration of the murder of Charlie Kirk, including by many people whom I thought knew better and would act better (Boy, was I wrong about that), and the other horrible events of the week, I decided to get a bit of a break in this morning.

So, I drove out and then hit the West Bloomfield Nature Trail this morning, increasing the load in the rucksack with another 5 pound soft weight to 30 pounds for a solo ruck. 

30 pounds felt somehow markedly heavier than the 25 pounds from Tuesday, which of course was heavier than the previous 20.   I figure I will keep adding weight as I go to increase the workout.

That this ruck hopefully would clear my head a bit was the goal, as well as the bonus of getting a workout in. 

Of course, it started sprinkling rain as I began, which was not in the forecast, but that soon cleared up.

 Getting into the trees and away from the sounds of traffic and the day-to-day was rather nice.

 

Quite a few people about, but I soon managed to get on my own and just concentrate on maintaining a decent pace and enjoy the quiet.

I was doing a 19-minute mile pace for most of the ruck, but by mile 4 I was slowing down to a 20-minute mile pace.

Solo rucking is different from group rucking.  No banter or chit-chat or conversation, just moving along looking at the greenery and keeping moving. Quite calming, actually.

Certainly a bit more introspective, and it lacks the internalized peer pressure that makes you not back off your pace in a group.  You don't want to slow down the group or be one to give up during a task. It also lacks the outside encouragement that others in the group give including regular check-ins to see that people are ok.

Surprisingly, I'm not the slowest and most out of shape person in the rucking group, which is nice.

 I ended up doing 4.7 miles in 1.33 hours and an overall average pace of 19.55. Not a bad beginning.

It did help clear my head a bit, and I got to be inn a calm space and see some wildlife, too.

If you're getting all wound up about the terrible news and events of the past week, put the phone down, step away from the ugliness of social media, get outside, and get yourself refocused. 

The ugliness will sadly all still be there when you get back, but you deserve a break from it.