Parking

Where do you park when approaching a store, building, or some other location? I tend to park in the first spot I see that is a distance away from the structure I'm seeking to adorn with my presence. Why? So that I can get extra steps. Parking close is not a priority for me. For one, most days I wear a pedometer. Even on days I don't wear the pedometer, I find that I park a distance away from the entrance.

Parking a distance away is so automatic that I don't limit to doing so when it is not just me. I don't take into account the others that in the car with me, unless it is my Mom*. Otherwise, I feel that folks can walk. Unfortunately, not all share my enthusiasm for parking a distance away from the entrance. Case in point, a few weeks ago I drove a friend and I too a restaurant for take-out. The parking lot was pretty full and there was someone walking to a vehicle. Instead of following or waiting to see where the person was going, I kept moving and parked at the end of the lot. As we exited the car and walked toward the building the car began to back out, my friend stated we should have waited. I made no response. In my mind, however, I'm thinking the time we would have waited on the person to pull out would have been wasted time.

That's my thought. Wasted time. The amount of time it takes for me to circle a parking lot looking for a close spot or waiting for someone to put their items in the care (if any) is wasted time. I could already be in the building with the amount of time I'm waiting! I dislike wasting time.

Basically, if I'm driving - expect to park and walk a distance.

How about you? Where do you park? Do you circle and circle and circle? Or do you park and walk?

13.3 miles

That's how many miles I've logged thus far since May 1st. Not too bad considering I only achieved 16 miles in the entire month of April. Of course, that was due to injury. I'm determined to be go beyond those 16 miles this month, and I'm well on my way! Yippee!

Last Monday I was fitted for orthotic inserts. I'll pick them on Wednesday of this week. Next week I hope to add in some jogging to my walks.

Sidelined

My left ankle began to swell this past Thursday. Over the course of the day, the pain increased steadily and I was unable to put weight on it. I took some Tylenol PM, elevated it, and went to sleep. It was not as swollen Friday AM, and I was able to stand on it with not as much pain.

I went to work, stayed off of it as much as possible. I iced it Friday afternoon and relaxed the evening away. It was still swollen on Saturday morning, but not as painful to touch. I decided to get it checked out anyway since I'm about to start some travel for work.

I was diagnosed with Achilles tendonitis. Bummer. The symptoms listed on the linked website is exactly what I felt. I've been told to ice & rest my ankle. Therefore, no running/walking for the next few weeks. Actually, that is not so bad since I'm traveling for work over the next few weeks. Yes, I'll do a fair amount of walking (I'll be at a conference), but it won't be at a fast-pace, it'll be leisurely.

I've also been told to get some custom orthoctic inserts from my shoes. I know a few people who have those items, and they speak highly of them. So, I'll get those in the next few weeks.

Needless to say, I'm not going to reach my goal of 45 miles for April. I also may not reach my overall goal of 480 miles for the year. We'll see how well I rebound from this.

Walking

I've talked about this before, walking is the easiest form of exercise one can do! No lie! It is!

Just put on some good walking shoes and start moving! They don't have to be fancy or expensive, just whatever is comfortable to the individual.

Today is National Start Walking Day promoted by the American Heart Association.

My employer sent an e-mail about an event today at noon promoting walking. The flyer stated to wear your tennis to work today, then walk to the capitol at noon for a group photo. The head baseball coach from LSU will speak and there will be a group photo. I'm in!

My office building is probably a half-mile from the capitol, but I want to at least get in 1 mile on the way there, so I'm going to take a circuitous route. I have a feeling not many people from my office area will participate. No matter! I'm doing it for my health!

51.73

11 miles over my March goal of 40 miles! Hooray!

22.89

I didn't reach my monthly goal of 40 miles during the month of February.



As you can see, I only earned 22.8 miles. Not too bad considering February, to me, was a cruel month. I had a lot of personal stuff happen that really impeded my walking/running. Additionally, the weather didn't help. It was brutally cold here in the South and I just could bring myself to get out in it.

I'm happy with what I did, although it was all toward the end of the month.

Today begins a new month and I've recommitted to 40 miles for the month. I've already set a goal:



While I won't log any miles today (rain!), I will over the course of the week and Saturday will be topped off by a 5K. I'm also participating in another 5K later in the month. I have every intention of earning those 40 miles and possibly more!

Not so hot this month

My running/walking petered out this month. Not that I'm not doing it, just didn't do it as intensely as I did during January. I'm not giving up though! I'm sticking to my goal of getting 480 miles by December 31, 2010. It can still be done, I just have to get in more miles in the coming months.

The weather this month was just awful. At least awful for us Southerners. Outdoor activity was really limited. Anywho, I'm back at it. This past week I did two personal 5Ks, and I did a 10K yesterday. With each run/walk, I lowered by average pace. So I'm pretty impressed with myself.

So far this month, I'm at 13 miles. I aim to get at least 20 by the end of the month. The weather this week is supposed to be really nice, so I think it can be done.

Some months are better than others...

40 mile goal reached

I set a goal on Nike+ to run/walk 40 miles during the month of January. I accomplished the goal with 2 days to spare despite the unusually cold weather we had during the month.

Hooray!

Walking. Walking. Walking

The simplest form of exercise that many refuse to do. Why is that? One doesn't have to belong to a gym or purchase fancy equipment to lead a healthy lifestyle. All one has to is walk.

Walk it out!

This posting on NPR's Health blog, Women and Walking: The Benefits of Picking up the Pace, focuses on the benefit to women, but that shouldn't limit men. No matter the gender, walking is an excellent form of exercise and it is done of your own power!

All it takes is 30 minutes of day. That can even be broken up into 2-15 minute segments. Just a little bit helps you in the long scheme of things. Eventually, you may add to your time and not even realize it.

Do it! Your body will thank you!

40 mile goal - halfway point

I set a goal back on January 2nd to run 40 miles in 4 weeks. This is the mid-way point and I'm at 23.6 miles. Nike+ states I'm 4.82 miles behind my target. I calculated that I need to do at least 2 miles each day for 11 days. Now I know that I can't do that each of those 11 days. For example, I have a conflict on Tuesday that will prevent me from running/walking that evening. Also, we never know about the weather. In fact, it is due to the extremely cold weather we had here the week of January 4th that prevented me from completing more runs/walks. 

I hope to get in 3-4 miles at some point tomorrow and also on Monday. Weather.com tells me to expect rain Wednesday and possibly on Thursday. Sunny on Friday and rain against next weekend. I need to get in at least 10 miles over the next 7 days. Here's to hoping the weather cooperates.

Posted via web from giving thought|giving sight

40 miles

Thought I don't set resolutions, I do set goals for myself. I've decided to get 40 miles of walking/running for the month of January. That's less than 2 miles a day. Thinking about it that way makes it feasible since I generally try to get in 3 miles per walk. Of course, there will be some days that I can walk due to inclement weather or activities that I'm involved in. Overall, I think it is a goal that is attainable. I've connected by Nike+ account to twitter & facebook so that I can track my progress publicly.

I started today off with a 3.74 mile walk so I'm well on my way!

Walking

I don't know what it is about cooler weather, but it gets me going with the walks. So far this week, I've walked 6.85 miles.

Monday evening I set out to complete 2 miles and end up doing slightly over: 2.18 miles. I continued my activity by dribbling & kicking a soccer ball with my nephew for another 30 minutes or so. I was worn out!

Yesterday, I set to do 3 miles and ended up doing 3.64 miles in 47 min.

I may get in a 1 mile walk this afternoon, but that's probably it. I think I will set a challenge on the nikerunning site for the month of November.

3.83 miles

I awakened this AM about 5:30 having to go to the bathroom. I checked the temperature and it was a cool 44 degrees. I love to walk in the cool weather, but it was still to dark to head out at that time. I laid in bed until about 6 am and decided to get up and get moving. I finally headed out at 7 am. I don't know why, but that to me is the perfect walking weather.

I set my Nike + to do a 5K. I ended up doing 6K or 3.83 miles.

2 walks

I got in 2 walks this week. One was during a 15 min break at work: 1.09 miles. The other was last evening at a local park: 3.05 miles.

It appears that Nike+ is now forcing all to use their new beta site, which really does look much better than the old site. I can't, however, seem to find the code to post my walks to the blog. That really bums me out because I really liked the information that those widgets provided.

There is a way to link your account to twitter and/or facebook, but that doesn't seem to be working for me either. Oh well..

3.7

My usual walk is on Thursday night, but assistance was needed tonight with soccer practice. Also, I can't do my normal soccer practice duty tomorrow night. So a walk tonight it was!

4.25

Two walks today...

3.57

Got in a good walk while my nephew was at soccer practice.

2.15

I got in 2 walks while at work today:

Gym routine & 1.04

One thing I haven't indicated here is that I am a gym rat. I go to the gym, most weeks, 5 days per week. I change up my routine at least every 8 weeks and sometimes every 4 weeks. Currently I'm on a 4 week rotation where I target specific muscle groups on M-W-F. I do abs and cardio on T-Th.

My preference is to go to the gym first thing in the morning, prior to work. Generally, I am there between 4:50 and 5:00 AM. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to workout in the evening. I don't know why, but I can't find the motivation to go the gym in the afternoon/evening. I just can't do it. I come up with all sorts of excuses, i.e., go to the store, I'm tired, I have a mtg., etc.

Going in the early AM leaves no room for excuses. I get up and go! Of course, I must plan for that as well and that doesn't bother me. I pack my clothes and lunch each night. I also layout my workout clothes so that I don't have anything delaying me in the AM. I get up and go!

In addition to the gym, I sometimes get in 2-1 mile walks during breaks while at work. Also, one evening a week I take my nephew to soccer practice and I try to get in a 3 mile walk during that time.

Exercise is an important of my daily routine.

ETA: forgot to post the nike log:

Latest walks

9.21 miles total since 9/2/09