Walking My Way

Walking . . . we do it everyday!

We get out of bed, walk to the restroom where we empty our bladders, then we walk to the kitchen and guzzle down coffee; ensuring we'll NEED to walk to the restroom AGAIN in about 30 minutes. Ha ha, that tickled my funny bone!

We walk to the car that takes us wherever we want to go without the excursion of walking. Maybe it's to the grocery store, where we circle the parking lot wasting about 15 minutes in search of that perfect front row parking spot. Heaven knows we wouldn't want to over excurt ourselves walking into the store. After all, we're going to expend a lot of energy walking up and down those aisles.

Yeah, walking takes us many places. We walk at work, possibly a factory where the break room is about a mile from your work station or in the retail business walking from one end of a department store to another. At home we walk to the mailbox, back to the house, to the refrigerator and then to the couch (classic couch potato maneuver). We walk to the neighbor's house, walk to the park or maybe even to the ice cream shop down the road. All day long, walk, walk, walk. It's a tiring business, walking.

So why on God's green earth would anyone ever want to punish themselves by walking an extra 2-7 miles a day? Well, because it promotes good health.

Yes, we've heard it before, walking is the best form of exercise. Though I'm not quite sure who said it first, I am quite certain that every doctor, nurse, fitness guru or personal trainer has at one time or another said it to their overweight, out of shape public.

With this in mind, I have set out to do just that, walk; and walk I have. In the last 3 weeks I have walked 93.3 miles. Yes I said 93.3 miles. Now I'm not tooting my own horn here, well okay maybe I am in some small way! But for me, a lazy girl at heart, to walk that much! Well, that's no small feat (ha ha, put the word FEET in there and ya got yourself a pun!).

For this overweight couch potato, extremely fond of stuffing her face with high calorie goodies while reading up on and charting out the best course of action to rid herself of her unsightly spare tire; deciding to rid myself of my unhealthy habits is one big task!! I mean I have a whole lot of bad habits to break. This is going to be a long journey and at times I'm sure an arduous one at that!

I started with eating habits. I now eat for my health. I'm NOT using the D-I-E-T word! I am NOT on a D-I-E-T, I'm transforming my eating habits into a new, healthy lifestyle that I can stick with the rest of my life. That was the first step. But this post isn't about the eating part of my new lifestyle, it's about the exercising part. Back on subject here.

You would think a person with weak ankles that ache and legs that hurt under the strain of such excursion would never consider walking to be the best form of exercise. However, I thought about it and a little pain now is worth it in the end!

My goal is to walk a 10k five days a week. I know that I will not always reach this goal and have not made it everyday. There are just some days that I can only handle walking 2-3 miles. But I'm okay with that. Why? Because it's 2-3 miles (a 5k) of heart pumping, lung filling, weight dropping exercise completed! I don't sweat the small stuff like not making it to 6.2 miles everyday. My goal is there as a guideline, as something to strive for, but okay if I fall a little short. I mean, I don't want to injure myself either. I just want to push myself to go a little farther than the time before.

Another mini goal I set for myself, is when I walk to my car and drive to the grocery store, I don't circle the parking lot wasting 15 minutes searching for that front row parking spot anymore. Instead, I pull into a spot as far out in the parking lot as I feel safe with and walk in logging more steps!

So far, I'm happy with what I've accomplished these last few weeks. I would have NEVER thought I could have walked 93.3 miles, that's over 31 miles per week, a few months ago. I guess what I've learned is not to underestimate what I am capable of.

God has blessed me with two legs and feet that work. They are all the exercise equipment I need to stay healthy! They don't cost a thing and the park doesn't charge me to walk there. What's not to like about that?

What I wanted to share with you all is that starting this year I am making a commitment to myself. That taking care of me and this body God gave me is top priority. It is the first time in a LONG time that I have cared about myself and my health. I have a family that is depending on me being here for a long time!

This year I've also set a goal to participate in as many 5K walks as I can. So far I'm registered for 3 and I am also going to walk in the Mishawaka Relay for Life.

If any of you are interested in supporting my Relay for Life walk just click on the words "Relay for Life" underlined in this post. That will take you to the American Cancer Society home page where you can choose to donate. Search for my name and you can make a contribution online there. Thank you in advance for your donation!

"I am Walking My Way to a long, healthy and happy lifetime! God willing!"