All Rightee now. I made it through the weekend. I even hung out with the regular smokers. Of course what they smoke smells pretty much like their smouldering dirty socks, so even when I was a smoker, the urge to bum one from them, never crossed my mind.
I got more incentive yesterday morning when I hiked with a friend for a long ways and up hill most of the way. About a third of the way up, I realized how out of shape I was. The smoking hasn't helped as well as suffering with asthma because every freaking blooming pland in the world is bursting right now. I did laugh at myself though. Had I been alone I would have laid on the ground and rolled back to the car at this point. Then I remembered a few years back, 17 or so to be exact, when I used to walk up and down hills in these old mountains all the time. One hill which is pretty much up hill both ways, I used to walk twice a day at the start of fall hunting season. And it was one of those hills which when you are half way up you lookup and see the tops of your feet.
I also used to wade miles of river to fish all through the summer and in winter, I walked the river bank in a pair of hip waders and carried a heavy, full trappers basket.
So, when I finally reached the top of the hill yesterday, silently gasping for breath and beggng for mercy, I said there is no way I will ever light up another cigarette again. What added to the incentive is that I would have croaked before I let the person I hiked with know I was about to die up there. Or should I say half way up there. What kept me from giving myself totally away is that I had my camera, tripod and camera bag. Sometimes the benefits of being a photographer isn't necessarily the pictures. Yesterday morning the benefit was having to stop and take a really great photo. Hehhehheh. I have a lot of photos of tree limbs, the ground, the same mountain scene several times at several vantage points, AND I made it to the top and going down was a piece of cake.
Afterwards I went into town. Had to go to Wally World, and while takling to a friend who works in sporting goods, notice a sweet Ambassador 5600 reel on sale. Right then and there I talked myself into using all the money I saved from not buying cigarettes to purchase the reel.
Oh yeah. The outdoor wonder is coming back. And while I'm using that new reel to cacth some of those big brown and rainbows I know personally, I will be breathing heavy and well. If I gasp, it will be because I have just outrun a critter that was trying to eat me and my big trout and I am finally on safer ground.
Oh yeah. I made it through week one and now I'm going into week two with more determineation than ever. I'm just going to take a few more hikes on my own this week. Maybe I'll take a hike on the trail that's up hill both ways. I haven't paid much attention to what the tops of my feet look like lately. Be a good opportunity to see if my toenails need new paint.
