Day 90- Steamboat Springs Zero / by Beth Whittington

Well…. 

Sleep didn’t come easy to me last night, and when I finally decided to get up (around 6:30) I wasn’t happy with the way either of my legs felt.  They felt much better than before, but it seemed tenuous, as if the slightest wrong move would cause pain again.  Still, I went through the motions of sorting our resupply and getting packed up.  

Going through the resupply was fun because there were lots of surprises in the box!  Mary sent more treats from my Body in Balance ohana, to include more Deep Blue, some most excellent beef jerky, and more of the delicious tea.  I love and miss everyone at the studio so much!

Also in the box were some treats from Beth Revell.  I can’t wait to try the Verb Energy bars she sent us (they have caffeine in them, which is awesome), but I must say that her shortbread cookies are amazeballs.  We could easily eat them all today, but I forced Nick to stop eating them because I want to have something to look forward to while we are on the trail (like I did with Leslie’s brownies).  Beth, you are the best!!! Thank you!

Mary also sent us more of her breakfast bars, which I don’t want to overlook because they are also delicious and I always look forward to eating them in the morning.   

Finally, there were letters - one from Cindy, another from Theresa with more commentary on the blog posts, and, finally, my Happy Trails Wyoming letter, which I should get to read in a few days (I cant wait!).  It all made me smile.

However, despite smiling over the fun surprises in the resupply box, Nick could tell something was bothering me.  He asked what was wrong and I told him how I was feeling.  He asked if I wanted to take the day off instead of heading back to the trail around noon like we planned.  

What did I want to do?  I sat with his question for a bit.  While I really just wanted to keep hiking (I hate feeling so behind), I had a feeling that doing so would be a mistake.  Things are feeling a lot better and I’m sure I could have gritted my teeth and got the miles done.   However, what if this extra day is all I need to feel really good again?  Or at least much better?  We were only planning on a half day, anyway, so staying won’t set us back too much.  I looked at Nick and admitted that I wanted a day off.  He seemed happy with this decision and went to the front desk to see if we could have the room another night - if not, we’d hike out.

Nick returned with bagels and eggs (from the free breakfast in the lobby) and news that we had the room for another night.  I felt relieved.  

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the room, excepting the time we ventured across the street to the grocery store for some food (yogurt and chocolate granola, cheese and crackers, more of the garlic plantain chips, blueberries, kombucha).  

We both needed the rest, I think - it was good that we stayed another day.  I slept A LOT.