Fresno Bee’s outdoors writer profiles a hiker who lost 70 pounds.
Each time we met, I learned more about her. How Ordway grew up in rural Tennessee. How she moved to Fresno and ballooned in weight. How she lost nearly 70 pounds and keeps it off by hiking — serious hiking.
How serious? It isn’t even June, and Ordway already has stood above Yosemite Falls four times. Saturday, she and a group hiked 14 miles from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point and back via the Panorama Trail. She’s also been to Half Dome, Chilnualna Fall (three times), Angel Falls and Lewis Creek.
For anyone, let alone a 57-year-old grandmother, that’s quite a list.
As much as I’m loath to post links that encourage the weight-reduction racket (hence my relative poverty), I have to make the “it worked for me” exception for hiking-related stories. I often tell people “yeah, I hiked off almost 40 pounds,” which is true to an extent, but actually, most of my working-it-off happened on hilly country roads where I walked as fast I could push myself six days a week while dodging commuters and crotch rocketeers, and swapping Cokes and cookies for bottled water and baby carrots. Suffering, in other words.
I feel like hiking is payback for all the weight-loss drudgery. And the more I hike, the less drudgery I have to go through. Speaking of which, it’s time for my morning walk.
Where to start? Come on now, carrots and water shouldn’t be torture… that’s healthy living and should be celebrated, not sneered at! (I do know what you mean, though. I could eat Chips Ahoy and all sorts of great ice cream pretty much all day long, breakfast, lunch and dinner if I didn’t have the self-control to put the brakes on eating so much junk. An occasional treat — okay. But not everyday!)
And wait a minute. Hiking all sorts of beautiful places can help a person shed unwanted pounds?
Hmmm, why does America, in general, want to be fat then?
[scratching head, very confused.]
But what if people wanna be fat and lazy, shouldn’t they have that right? Well, yeah, they have that right but do we want them to be a burden on America’s health care system? Those of us who pay for health care and strive to live healthy lives, we’re paying for the laziness of others, in a way, paying to fix problems related to so many who live uncaringly.
What about those who we personally love & care about? Do we want them to possibly face a future of illness due to being overweight while living on coke and cookies? Perhaps even an early death leaving behind others who grieve for their dearly departed loved one? No, we shouldn’t want that at all for anyone.
Perplexing issues. Hopefully yourself and Carolyn Ordway and so many others can be an inspiration for the masses to GET OFF THEIR BUTTS AND EXERCISE!!!
Speaking of exercise: this morning I did a walk/jog for four miles — walking the first half mile, jogging the second, walking the third through seventh and jogging the eighth.
That’s a mile and half of jogging, and even though it was separated by healthy stretches of walking it’s a new record for me. I couldn’t do this when I was in high school in the mid-70s.
Hey, that’s great! I’m a former smoker, haven’t had a puff of a cig for just over three years now. My running time is at just about 20 minutes (not sure about distance since it’s on an unmarked trail) … and while that’s a laughable time to some people, that’s an accomplishment for me! I love hiking but this running thing is now sort of an addiction, I guess partially ’cause I know it’s improving my physical health (more than hiking ever will) which is important to me.
While you may only have run a mile and a half, if that’s good for you then that’s awesome! Running that distance is better than spending that time sitting on your behind and getting no exercise at all!!!