Hiking out of a Hangover – Deer Creek Canyon 4/13/13

Since I started hiking to healthy over a year ago I have been really good about not drinking on Friday nights before our hike, while it is my cheat day I never want to run the chance of a hangover hindering my hike on Saturday. That’s not to say that I still don’t get my drink on, I just wait until I have showered post hike on Saturday and then start knocking them back. This past Friday however, was special and so I drank! I had my best girls on deck to hit this place in Denver called the Green Russell, it is supposed to be like an old school speak easy with great drinks and atmosphere….and it was all that and more. Honestly I had so much fun that I didn’t really watch how much I drank and I tried to be really good about drinking a huge glass of water in between each drink.  I really thought I would beat the potential for a hangover and still knock out a tough hike on Saturday. After a safe ride home I passed out at a respectable 11:00.

A few hours later I woke up and knew I was in for a good solid hang over. I was determined to not give into it so I pounded water, took two Advil and tried to fall back to sleep only to lay there for a couple of hours getting mad at myself, chanting I was going to do the hike no matter what. Then at 4AM-ish Aaron got up and said he was feeling really awful, like can’t hike awful and was going to take his meds to see if it helped.  I am embarrassed to say I rejoiced and immediately shut off my alarm and fell right to sleep, clearly more concerned about myself than Aaron.

When I started waking up around 7:30, I looked at the weather and knew our only chance to hike this weekend would be on Saturday, if we left right then we could still get to Bergen Peak with enough time to get in our 13.5 miles. Unfortunately Aaron still wasn’t feeling well, so I decided I would torture myself do the taxes and if he was still not feeling well when I finished,  I would just hit Deer Creek Canyon on my own. Surprisingly, I didn’t start drinking while I did the taxes but mostly because I really wanted to get some hiking in.

When I finished my annual torture taxes, Aaron was waking up from a nap and feeling up to joining me for 6.5 miles at Deer Creek Canyon (Hike Details here). Now I will admit I was still hung over when we started, but we decided to try and go for time since we weren’t going for distance or stamina. Man was it hard, I was nauseous most of the hike but then there was a moment around mile 4 when I felt that last drop of alcohol sweat out of me. It was like someone had lifted a huge weight off of me.  The last 2.5 miles flew by as I finally felt better, and I really needed to get to the bathroom.  In the end, we managed to finish 6.5 miles with a total of a 1300 ft elevation gain in just over 2 hours, not to shabby.

A couple of things we noticed about hiking this trail later in the afternoon on a starting to get insanely windy day before bad weather hits.  First, it was surprisingly empty, something we have only experienced here when it is actually snowing while we hike.   I think we passed maybe 15-20 other hikers/runners the whole 2 hours it took us.  Pretty sure they were all hung over too, well except the group of pregnant women who were too cute not to just applaud and grin at, and so no one was very cheerful to be out.  The other weird contingent was the dates we saw, seriously 2 couples on dates and like early on dating, where one person didn’t prepare or dress appropriately but the other isn’t going to point it out because they are not sure if they like them yet- early on.  Or the one person wasn’t honest about their activity level but was trying their best to impress the other person, while also trying not to pass out because they can’t breathe heavy in fear of letting on to the deception…..  It led to really fun people watching.

All and all it wasn’t  what we wanted to accomplish this past weekend, and honestly has left me in a funk because I feel like I didn’t get a good solid hike in.  I am trying to remind myself that at least I got out and moved but I am struggling with motivation and staying on track.  This week we are getting hammered with snow, like 20 inches or more in the foothills have already fallen, with more expected tonight and tomorrow.  I am thrilled to have the moisture when we so desperately need it but sad because I have no idea where are we  going to hike this weekend if all the foothills got a couple of feet of snow.   It should be interesting for sure!