🐾 Training, Doubt, and Tiny Paws

🥾 April 22, 2025 — Appalachian Trail Thoughts

The house is stuffy. We sleep with two fans blowing the warm air in circles, never quite cooling anything down. When I wake, I take a cold shower. Outside, in the predawn hours, it’s cooler — like it always is.

The black and white cat curls up in my lap as I sit cross-legged on the porch. She’s purring, a tiny machine of comfort. Robert has fed her twice now and asked to keep her. He isn’t serious — but he’s asked twice. I’m not ready for that kind of commitment, and I know he isn’t either. Still… she really is a sweet cat.

Today I’ll probably text our friends to see if anyone can take her in. “If either of the roommates want her,” I tell Robert, and he grins. But I know they’re not ready either. Julia — that’s what Robert’s calling her now — cries at the door. I hear her tiny paws scratching the wood. She’ll find us in the house, too, somehow always locating the nearest window and staring us down.

Training Notes
Yesterday’s workout:

• 5x15 barbell back squats & pull-ups

• Step-ups, more pull-ups, core work

• 15-minute weighted stair climber finisher

• Plus a 5-mile walk

It still doesn’t feel like enough. But I remind myself: each week, the load increases. Each week, my foot heals — just a little.

I saw the foot doctor yesterday. Just as I suspected: plantar fasciitis. No surprises, and honestly, not much help. “Get some good shoes. Ice it daily,” he said. No special workout. Just stretching. I already knew this, so why did I pay $250 for a confirmation?

“It’s incredibly common,” he added, though he never even asked what I’d done. I’m wearing $100 worth of shoes and inserts on each foot, and my grandparents did the trail with so much less.

Funny… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.
I almost said afraid, but that’s not quite true.