Tue 7/3 - The First Fall

I stopped writing lately. That hasn't helped me work out my feelings about the trail. I am unhappy about not being with family & friends in Racine on the Fourth, and have begun to take for granted the fact that I'm living my dream. Getting over the mountains is a lot of work – made harder by too much weight in my pack, and a slightly overstressed pantella (a tendon) in my left knee. The tendon feels better with each day that I give it to rest, and I have been planning low mileage days of 10 or less in the future and recent past to aid recovery. It really just needs "zero days" where I don't make any forward progress on the trail for the fluid and inflammation to subside. After that, the pain will be gone until I overstress the knee again. I was walking over to a rock to sit down for lunch today with Puck and Skeeter, and I slipped on some wet dirt and fell. My butt landed on a rock, and my first thought was "I'm not injured." I had not done any damage to my body in the fall that would cut short my trip. In the miles before lunch, I was considering leaving the trail for home. I had decided I couldn't just walk away from the trail – injury was the only way out. After the fall, which was a perfect opportunity to accidentally injure myself so that I would have to go home, I realized how much I was taking the trip for granted. I really am living my dream and I needed to refocus on that. I hiked with Puck and Skeeter, and tomorrow we're going to watch the fireworks from the top of Bigelow Mountain.