Day 2

St. Croix River, Rush City, Minnesota.
Oh and that land across the water is Cheese-head territory. Enter with caution.

 Hi guys! Wow, today was such an incredible day! As you know, I turned 26. I pondered buying a couple cats... but then I remembered I don't like them. Before I say anything else I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you. Thank you for supporting me on this journey called blogging, thank you for all the birthday wishes, and most of all thank you for being you. I cannot find the words to express the immense gratitude I felt today to have so much support.

The highlights of my birthday included Grant House for breakfast with some fellow Chamber board members, Subway with my coworkers, seeing the directional signage finally go up in town, MY HIKE!, surprise flowers from my sister-in-law Jasmine (and Dan), and dinner with my parents. The icing on the cake was eating caramel right out of the container with my parents. Don't judge. It was awesome.

Trail going South of RR Landing

Now, concerning this 100 miles in 30 days challenge, am I crazy or what? The fact that I am sore and that my top speed is 2.4 mph really put things into perspective for me. Since I used to walk 4 mph easily, my goal is to be able to walk the full 3.3 miles at that speed by the end of the 30 days. I am not sure how realistic that is, but if you push yourself, anything is possible! At least that's what all those inspirational Facebook memes tell me.

Today I started my hike at the Railroad Bridge landing at the St. Croix river just out of Rush City. I grew up walking these trails with my family. It is such gorgeous place to take a walk. There are a lot of trails to choose from down by the river, but this one I remembered most and felt the most comfortable with. The weather was perfect for hiking and the sky was a gorgeous blue color that reflected perfectly on the water.

It was mostly magical. I say mostly because the entire time I was afraid of bears. And creepy people. And vampires. Just kidding about the vampires, but you get the point. Yesterday I told you that I would talk more about my fears today. Well, I think it is normal to be a little weary of wild animals when you are in their territory, the wild. But my fear became greater as I went deeper into the woods. I ended up using the excuse that I was sick of climbing over fallen trees (there were a lot about a half a mile in) and turned around about 0.6 miles in, went to my parents, and finished my miles there. I thought that I would be made fun of for this but after consulting a few people they agreed that I should have a walking buddy "down by da river." What are your thoughts on this? Just curious what some of you may think of that.

Speaking of what people think, that is also a fear of mine (and based on the stats, probably one of yours too). And I am facing that fear in a huge way by writing this blog. They say that you should care what people think, but you should care what you think more. I believe that and I am trying to practice that every day. You can't please everyone so why not start by doing what is right for you? Keep "doing you" and whoever is left or ends up on the trail with you is who you will be most authentically happy hanging around with anyway. But, that's just my two cents.

I hope you enjoyed the post today! Before you leave, see my lost and found section below.

Are these your gross tighty whities?
If so, they can be found a quarter mile south of the RR bridge landing.
Namaste.

With gratitude,

Jamie Lynn