What day is it? (41 miles total)

I'm glad I stuck with my initial instinct to NOT make this a 365 project.  Sept 7 was the 10th day, but then I was in Canada for 10 days.  We ended up driving about 7 hours a day, which pretty much meant that we drove and then fell asleep when we got to our destinations.  There were 2 days that we actually had a little bit of time to walk though.  First was a 2 kilometer (1.24 mile) path at the Viking Trail in Newfoundland.  The second was a path to the boats at Gros Morne (3 kilometers/1.86 miles) and then back to the parking lot (another 1.86 miles).    That's a grand total of 4.96 miles of planned walking.  Over 10 days.  That puts me pretty far behind.

Add to that the fact that it took a full week to recover from travel, so I didn't get back to any walking until this morning (which is 19 days since last time so. . . day 29.  Yikes!).

But, I pulled myself out of bed to get to the gym at 6am.  We were a bit pressed for time this morning, so instead of making it to 5.48, I only did 3 miles.  But at least I did it!

That makes my grand total of walking so far. . .

33.04 miles (day 10 total) + 4.96 miles (days 11-28) + 3 (day 29) = 41 miles!

Which means I've got to cover 959 more miles in the next 336 days.  Which means I'll need to average 2.85 miles per day every day, which really isn't THAT much more distance than I originally started with.  But I know that I'll have to miss days here and there, so I'll try to double up when I can to keep up with the goal.


*whew*

Day 10 - 5.48 elliptical after a day off

I took yesterday off, so maybe today should be "Day 9," but it's the 10th day since I started, so "Day 10" it will be.

I probably should have posted a "Day 8.5" because Monday night I went to Zumba class with Dawn.  One hour of high energy dancing in a room full of college kids.  Lots of moves that were hard to keep up with.  Lots of people crammed into a small space.  Lots of cumbia and salsa.  And lots and lots of sweat.  My sides were sore all of Tuesday. But it was a fun class, and I'll definitely do it again.

Here's a video that breaks down some of the basic Zumba steps.  Wish I had seen something like this ahead of time!

After taking Tuesday to recover, I felt like I should go back to the gym with Mark today.  I'm starting to prefer the elliptical machine to walking because I feel like it gives me a better workout.  I did 5.48 miles again today to help make up for my lack of walking yesterday.  My friend Amy thinks that after 2 weeks the exercising will be easier, more of a habit. We'll see.

Day 10: 5.48 elliptical miles (33.04 miles total)

Day 8 - 2.77 grumpy miles (27.56 miles total)

Little Miss Grumpypants here!  I swear, I must have lost my mind.  We needed to run a few errands in Carytown today, so Mark suggested we walk there.  And we still hadn't gone through Scuffletown Park the other day like we wanted to.  So I mapped out a route to include Chop Suey Tuey and Plan 9 in Carytown, and then a swing through Scuffletown Park.  Walking an extra block past our house on the way home would get us over the 2.74 miles mark, and if we were walking a bunch anyway, may as well make sure we go 2.74, right?

I probably wasn't the most pleasant walking companion.  I wanted this walk to be leisurely, and not particularly sweat-inducing, as I'm still planning to go to Zumba tonight with Dawn.  So I didn't wear my sneakers.  I wore my cute little everyday shoes instead, which was probably a big mistake.  Within 2 blocks I felt like I was just slapping bare footed against cement sidewalk.  No blisters, but not exactly comfortable.  And the mid-day humidity took care of the sweat-inducing part that I was trying to avoid.  Luckily we had our stops at the stores to break up the walk, and then I ducked in to Strawberry Street Market to get some tea in the hopes of being more cheerful by the time we got home.

Maybe it will take a while.

Day 8: 2.77 miles (27.56 miles total)

Day 7 - 2.87 miles! (24.79 miles total!)

Geez, I finish up my big week-long challenge, and then I almost forget to blog about it!

So, yeah, today was day 7 of my "can I walk 2.74 miles every day for a week?" challenge.  I spent part of the afternoon with my friend Dawn, who is working on her own fitness challenges (and who assured me that 2.74 miles on the elliptical is just as much exercise as 2.74 miles walking on the treadmill).  After getting back from running around to various stores with Dawn and trying on assorted clothes, I needed to plot a place to walk.  Mark wanted to go through the sculpture garden at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, so I mapped a route that included that bit.  Then after I finished mapping the route, he said, "Maybe we can walk to Shields Market after your 2.74 miles so that we can pick up a few groceries."  (*I attempt to quickly reroute my route to include a section we'll have already walked past and to cut out a few extra turns so I don't have to walk a full 3 miles since it's starting to get dark out.*)

It wasn't pretty, but it got us through the sculpture garden and back by Shields Market in 2.87 miles, which was over my goal for today (which is good because I got a cookie at the market).  That put me at a grand total of 24.79 miles in a week, which is pretty good for someone who generally doesn't walk for fun.

So, now that I've finished this first week, I've learned a few things.  1) I still want to keep active for 365, I just don't think I can limit it to walking.  2) I also *really* want to take a day off once in a while, in part because I'm sure I will run into some sort of allergy or injury at some point in the year which will keep me from being able to do a workout, and I'm afraid if I set a goal of 365, then I'll have set myself up to fail.  3) I probably do need to get new sneakers.  4) I've guesstimated that I'd be able to complete a marathon in 9 hours, assuming I'd be able to actually walk that much all at once.

So, what's next?  Well, I'm really not sure.  Tomorrow I'm going to go to a Zumba class with Dawn.  I'll still be doing something active, but I probably won't walk in addition to that because I don't want to push myself too hard and end up with an injury like the one that kept me sidelined for several months last year.  So I'll just take it one day at a time and keep moving.

Day 7: GOAL COMPLETED!  2.87 miles  (24.79 miles total)

Day 6 - Boulevard loop (21.92 miles total)

I was so relieved that the gym didn't open until 8 today.  I had grand plans of sleeping in late.  I even stayed up late as a treat to myself, knowing that I'd be able to sleep in.  But then the plumber called at 7:30am to let me know that he could come by today to install the toilet instead of Tuesday.  So, goodbye sleeping in!

My day was so focused on the new toilet and assorted house errands that I didn't even remember walking until Mark said, "Did you want to walk today?"  I didn't really want to, but I knew I should.  So I grabbed one of my routes from WalkJogRun.  We were hoping that our friend Ann would be able to join us with her dogs, but we weren't able to catch up with her this time.  Maybe tomorrow.

I realized today that I won't have even gone the distance of a marathon (26.22 miles) by the time my 7 days are done.  I don't know how people run that much at one time.

Day 6: 2.74 miles (21.92 miles total) 

Day 5 - So Tired (19.18 miles total)

I really didn't want to walk today.

No, that's not a picture of me, but I think I was in that exact pose this morning before I got out of bed.

Yesterday's walk was so late in the day that by the time I got home and ate dinner and finished blogging about my walk, it was an hour after when I should have gone to bed.  My alarm went off and I just laid there for about 10 minutes.  And then I thought about my goal of 7 days.  It's really not THAT big a goal.  It would be really lame for me to give up at day 5.  I mean, it wouldn't exactly be giving up if I hadn't gone to the gym to walk.  Mark had offered to walk with me in the evening since he wasn't able to go to the gym this morning, but I feared that if I waited until later we'd find some excuse to not walk - too tired, too sore, too something.  I figured the only way to really make sure I did it would be to get up and go to the gym in the morning.

So I went for the elliptical again.  The big toe on my right foot is sore from yesterday's walk (maybe I *DO* need new shoes), and I figured the elliptical would cause less foot-impact.  I went thinking I would just do 2.74 miles.  I closed my eyes, listened to music, and secretly wondered if it would be physically possible to fall asleep while using the elliptical.  (If other people can sleep walk, could I sleep exercise?  Or would I fall off the machine?. . . . I'd probably fall off the machine.)

Anyway when I finally got to 2.74 miles, I slowed down a bit.  Then my brain started saying. . . "Did you REALLY go 2.74 miles?  There's no way you can go twice as fast when you're just walking, but you go twice as fast on the elliptical.  Is it the same? Or is it like a bicycle, where you cover a bigger distance because you're on wheels?  It's not like there's an easy real-life equivalent of the elliptical machine.  It's not like anyone says,  'Oh, I'm going to go out for an elliptical stroll this afternoon.' Or 'Let's go for an elliptical ride.'"  I suddenly feared that if I stopped, I wouldn't have gotten in the same amount of exercise.  So I decided to push through to 5.48 miles, giving myself a mental pep talk the entire time.  Assuring myself that the first 2 miles seem to be the hardest and that if I just keep going I'll feel better later.  I hope I was right.

Day 5: 5.48 elliptical miles (19.18 miles total)

Day 4 - On the Town (13.7 miles total)

I really didn't think I'd get a walk in today. I had my radio show this morning, which had me out of the house before the gym even opened. And then someone was coming to work on my bathroom around 930am, which wasn't long after my radio job was done. There was no way I'd have time to go to the gym, shower and eat breakfast before the bathroom work started. So I chose breakfast and Mark and I decided to do takeout from our usual breakfast place.

By the time the bathroom work was done, it was prime gym time, so I didn't want to even venture over there. But it was still light outside, so I figured a walk around the neighborhood would do instead of the gym. I wanted to make sure I covered my full 2.74 miles, so I started searching the web for help, and I found a website called WalkJogRun. WalkJogRun lets you map out routes wherever you want, and tells you the distances you've mapped. If you sign up for a free account online, you can save your routes and keep a training diary of which ones you've completed. And if you opt to buy their iPhone app, you can take your routes with you.

Anyway, I mapped out some local routes, protected my feet against blisters, and crossed my fingers that one of my friends would be able to go with me since Mark was working late so I wouldn't have to walk at dusk with just my dog.  Unfortunately, I ended up going by myself, but the important thing is that I STILL WENT! (And I didn't get blisters this time!)

Day 4: 2.74 miles (13.7 miles total)