Day 9

When I woke to the sound of rain this morning, I thought I might not get to walk today. It went on to rain quite a bit all day, and I was feeling pretty blah to start with...but I still managed to get a walk in when the rain stopped at one point. Hooray! I carried a small umbrella, just in case (didn't need it), and was only going to walk around the block once or twice, but when I didn't see signs of new rain coming, I just kept walking, the opposite direction as usual, and went about my usual distance (around a mile to a mile and a half). The weather was lovely after the rain, maybe in the upper 60s, but I was still on the hot side by the time I finished walking!

Day 8

Yesterday the water playscape in town opened for the year. It's free, at a park, and the kids have been playing with the backyard hose all week, so we decided to take them there this afternoon. I'd hoped to get a walk, but first I had to go to the car and feed the baby, and then I just sat on a towel in the grass with him, watching the older kids (and M!) playing in the water. We eventually went over to the regular playscape, where I sat on a bench and watched them play. It was getting really hot, and I was having no fun at all. Eventually M said he'd take over if I wanted to sneak off for a quick walk.

I thought I'd just see where the trail was, but I ended up walking it. I couldn't find anywhere how long it was, but M guesses maybe a mile & a half, and I know I walked at least another half mile on little side trails. I really felt good to be walking again. You can't imagine how weird that is for me to feel--I'm used to never exercising and never wanting to! Anyway, as soon as I got back to the play area where I'd left M and the kids, I found them walking towards me with the stroller in tow, planning to find me and take a walk of their own. So, although we stopped quite a few times along the way, we all walked the whole trail--the second time for me. Honestly, it was more fun the first time because the second time, the kids were occasionally fighting and whining, but it was also nice to walk together. As we started to head back, I noticed that one way led to another walkway along a dam, and K and I went that way and walked about halfway over the dam before turning back and meeting up with the rest of the family. In all, I must have gone 4.5 or 5 miles today!

Two not-so-fun things: (1) As K and I were coming back across the dam walkway, he took off running, and I decided to jog the rest of the way myself. It was a very short jog, but even after all the walking I've been doing, it left me breathless and feeling like I was about to pass out! Here I was hoping I was getting at least a little more fit! And (2) I'm having problems with my feet, and I think I got a blister on the bottom of one of them today. I hope this doesn't prevent me from keeping up with my walking!

Day 7

On a Saturday, with the kids home, I thought we should all do something as a family. 6-year-old K had plenty of fun all day, with T-ball in the morning and a birthday party in the afternoon, but we ended up having dinner fairly early (K ate at his party and the rest of us ate while he was gone), so I suggested we all go to the park I'd been walking to. We drove, because of the baby, and not being sure when we'd have to leave.

After the kids had some crazy fun on the playground, I suggested we walk around the park, cross the bridge, etc. As we started to do so, we ran across a girl R knew from 1st grade and a previous swim class, who was there with her mom and baby sister. M and I ended up spending a while talking to her mom... we hardly know her, but for some reason we've run into her several times in various places, and it turns out we had even more in common. For instance, she also has 2 older kids and a baby, and she's a technical writer, as I used to be, currently works for a consulting firm M almost went to work for a couple of years ago, and is working on site at a company M did work at in the past. She said she'd keep an eye out for job leads for him, so that's good!

While we were talking to her, the kids were running around, climbing a tree, kicking a little soccer ball, etc., so they got plenty of exercise while we were just chatting. After that, we all walked around the soccer field and then back to the play area for just a few minutes, but I didn't really get my regular walk in. I chased a soccer ball with K a few times, and strolled a bit, so I wasn't completely inactive, but it wasn't like a 20-minute walk, either. The kids really wanted to walk back home with me instead of riding in the car, and I would have loved to, but the baby was fussy so I had to get home to feed him. Maybe some other time!

Days 5 and 6

Thursday I took another walk through the neighborhood. I was surprised this time how quickly it seemed like I got to the turn-off point to walk back. So instead of turning there, I decided to walk a bit further, up to the park where M and I walked with B the day before, and cut across by a field by the park before walking home. I took a couple of detours which made it slightly longer, but it was probably just a little longer than the previous walk.

Friday afternoon, I really wanted to squeeze in a walk before an event we were going to in the evening. It's starting to feel like I haven't had my day if I haven't had a walk! I walked to the park again, but there were people playing ball in the field, so I decided to walk the loop around the playground instead before heading back. The whole walk was about 30 minutes long. I felt great walking and listening to music. You'd think I would use this time to think, but instead it's more the one time of day I'm not really ruminating. It's like one big break from my worries. I just walk, & listen to the music and the lyrics, and notice what's around me, and it's like a mini-vacation. So in that way, I'm getting more benefit than just exercise, and better yet, I realized it's almost like a return to the way I felt in childhood, when I'd just ride my bike around the neighborhood for ages, or walk around, without a care in the world, just feeling the wind in my hair. Today's kids probably won't get to experience that kind of freedom like I did, but I'm sure enjoying it.

Day 4

M and I walked in the park for about 20 minutes with B in the stroller, but it was mainly a stroll. It was a beautiful spring day, with flowers and birds and butterflies. I actually frolicked in the flowers for a few moments there.

I had Lean Cuisine for lunch again, which was good--but then I had 3 hot dogs for dinner when M grilled in the backyard! I've never had 3 hot dogs at one meal before in my life! And, um, I also had a Fudge Bomb Pop for dessert. But hey, I had to make up for that Lean Cuisine somehow...!

Day 3

When I was walking yesterday, I had a couple of moments when I felt the urge to dance like Snoopy, but didn't. Today, it was rainy early in the day and I was stuck inside with kids later, so I couldn't go for a walk. I settled for dancing indoors to the songs I'd wanted to dance to yesterday. That made for about 7 minutes of moderately fast-paced dancing. Later, I danced around more with K (kind of trying to entertain the baby...!), but I'm not sure that was enough to count as exercise! At least I didn't stay on the couch all day.

And though I'm not officially on a diet, I had Lean Cuisine for lunch, so I didn't feel too bad about the full-fat fettucine at dinner.

Day 2

I took a walk, alone. I was gone maybe 20 minutes to 25 minutes. I took my iPod, which made a huge difference. It worked well for pacing. I had it on full random mode, and walked fast when there was a fast song, and slow when there was a slow song. Because of the iPod, I think I walked further than I would have otherwise--about 1.4 miles. I didn't want to push myself much more than that yet, since I tend to overdo these things early on and then get too tired or sore to bother doing it again. (And it looked like a storm was coming.) But I really enjoyed this walk.