Usery Mountain Park

I got to run in Usery Mountain Regional Park again. It's one of our county parks that are vacant this time of year. 100 degree temperatures and not even the gate is attended. There was a self pay box, which I place my $6 in and then I headed toward Merkle Trail. Merkle is the short interprative trail in the middle of the park. It's about 1 mile long and it goes around a small butte. The picture shows Usery Mtn. There's the Wind Cave trail that goes up to the strip of colored rock at the top, but today wasn't the day to tackle that trail. Merkle is relatively flat and close to my SUV and water. No one else was on the trail.

Here's a google map of the trail. The road is well defined, but if you look inside that loop you'll see the Merkle trail. It's smoothed with pea gravel to make it accessible to wheel chairs, strollers and anyone that needs a flat walking surface. It's great to run on.

Here's a good view of the trail. Lots of Saugaro's, Ocotillo's, barrel cactus and other desert plants. I did see an Antelope squirrel and lots of lizzards on the trail. Not enought time and too much heat. I ran/walked for about two miles.

Losing Weight?

A few years before I started running I did the Atkin's Diet. I lost a bunch of weight the quit. And gained it all back. No diet and no exercise at that time and I got up to around 260 pounds.

I started running a little over 2 years ago and lost 30 pounds in the first 4-5 months. Then I plateaued and didn't lose any weight for the longest time. This summer I ran less because of my knee, then the heat, then all sorts of things took priority over running and I gained a bit. Now weighing 235 on Saturday I decided I was going to run and do Atkin's at the same time.

Two days of Atkin's and one run later I am down to 232.