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)