Walking... A LOT

Before I started this weight-loss thingy, I realized that the most I walk on any regular basis is around Wal-Mart when I'm shopping. That's scary. Most of my day is spent in an office chair, and then sitting in front of my beloved television. The companion who has stuck with me through thick and thin, good times and bad, in wealth and in poverty; it's never cheated on me and it's never abused me. It's my background noise when I'm alone; my "security blanket" that lulls me to sleep; and my escape from daily stresses. But I digress. This post isn't an ode to the great magic picture box that sits on my dresser... I'll write a haiku to it in another post maybe.

The hospital by my house has a lovely little asphalt track around its grounds. I don't know if it's a quarter-mile, half-mile or what, but it took me a half an hour to walk it at a good speed my first night walking (Thursday, February 5).

The next night, I walked around it twice in 40 minutes... and it HURT.

Let me state here that on weekdays I must walk after work and before picking up my girls from daycare. It's a small window of time, but I'm determined to do this.

On Saturday, I walked from my house with the girls and let them play on the adjacent playground while I walked two laps. They had fun even though it was cold and rainy. It hurt me again. Mainly my calves. I stole my youngest daughter's old MP3 player and loaded my own music on it to help me focus on something besides the pain and help me regulate my breathing and keep a steady pace. It worked.

Sunday morning I did another two laps in the windy cold, but it felt good. I remember this feeling! My heart actually getting a workout and my muscles aching, but feeling ALIVE!

I had planned on walking tonight at the high school track because my girls are at an itty bitty cheer camp there until 6:30, but it just started snowing like nobody's business! I may have to go to the rec center and spend $4 to use their indoor track. Or maybe it's not snowing this bad in my neighborhood.

I haven't weighed or measured myself yet. I think I'll do that once a week on Wednesdays since I started this on a Wednesday. I'm almost scared to.