Skip Day

When I began the 1200-mile challenge in January, my plan was to average 4 miles per day, 6 days per week with Sunday being a rest day.  Throughout all of January and February and through almost half of March, I didn’t take that Sunday rest day.  My reserve mileage increased and the extra Sunday miles allowed for lighter-mile days now and then.

Even though working out every day had not been part of my “someday” plans, I was beginning to think I might keep up the pace and do 366 exercise days in a row.  Then, Tuesday happened.  Tuesday was my travel day back home from spending two weeks with my daughter, son-in-law, and my newborn grandson.  I had planned to hit the trail that morning, but then there were two hours of blissful baby-holding.  I went to a late breakfast with my mother-in-law wearing my workout clothes, thinking I would head out the door as soon as I returned from breakfast, but then breakfast ran long as we chatted and caught up.  I drove home (four hours) still wearing my workout clothes.  I thought I’d head out for a walk as soon as I arrived home in the very late afternoon, but then my daughter and her boyfriend, who were spending part of their spring break at our house, were waiting and hoping for dinner out before they left the next morning.  End result?  I took a skip day!  Do I regret it?  Not a bit!  I spent time with my two-week old grandson, I enjoyed conversation with my mother-in-law, and I had a lovely time with my daughter and her boyfriend.  I would regret skipping time with family, but I can easily make up the four miles lost on my exercise skip day.

New Month, New “Someday”

The calendar has flipped over to a new month which means it’s time to add a new “someday” to my journey.  This month I’m going to begin learning Italian in earnest.  I’ve piddled around with language in the past, but it’s not something that comes easily to my brain.  I’ve tried for a week or so (much like dieting), but I’ve always given up.  I love Italy.  I love the pace and the beauty of Italy.  I love traveling in Italy.  I would love to speak Italian so I can communicate better when I am there and also to keep a piece of Italy with me.

Reviewing the last three months, writing, for my blogs and in my journal, is moving along smoothly; writing my book (November’s “someday”) is lagging.  However, I have been giving the book’s content a lot of thought and my writing is usually done in my brain before I even begin to put words to screen.  I am meditating regularly (December’s “someday”) and feel the practice has taken hold as part of my daily routine.  I am walking and/or running daily and I am ahead of plan on the 1200-mile annual challenge I started last month (118.76 miles to date).  Now, it’s time to add language lessons and practice.

To begin this month’s “someday”, I’ve downloaded an Italian language program to listen to in my car.  I’m in my car a lot, so that seems the most reasonable way to get started.  I also joined an online language program I’ll use to supplement the audio program.

I’ll keep you posted.  For now, ciao!

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain on the roof.  Having lived my entire life in the Pacific Northwest, I’m used to waking up to the sound of rain.  I snuggled deeper into my blankets, letting the sound lull me in my cocoon.  It was lovely – until I realized I needed to get out and put in my four miles.  Four miles in the rain.  Four miles in the dark.

One of the benefits (if you can call it that) of having this 1200-mile goal for the year is I don’t want to miss a day.  I don’t want to fall behind in my mileage.  If I wasn’t participating in this 1200-mile challenge, I probably would have settled back in to bed and listened to the rain.  Or, I might have been really ambitious – I might have actually gotten out of bed to sit snuggled by the window with my coffee while watching the rain come down.  But, no, I didn’t do either of those.  Instead, I got up, put on my rain clothes and headed out the door into the predawn darkness.

It wasn’t just wet; I soon realized it was colder than I had expected.  I hadn’t brought gloves and my hands were soon wet and frigid.  I was wearing a baseball cap to keep the rain off my face, but it was raining too hard for that to be very effective.  I wasn’t sure if the moisture dripping off my nose was rain or snot.

The trail I walk on is a well used trail, but I didn’t meet any other walkers or runners this morning in the dark and with the rain coming down hard.  I did see four other people standing outside, in the dark, in the rain, but they weren’t out for exercise.  Each of them was outside for a cigarette break!  Really??  I had to pull my butt out of bed to force myself outside for reasons of health and fitness and here these folks were standing outside, in the rain, to smoke a cigarette?  Unbelievable!

I normally do an out and back and then head out again for a shorter out and back to get in my four miles.  Like a horse that heads back to the barn too quickly, I knew I couldn’t tempt myself with a return to the house until the full four miles was done, so I had to plan my route to take me far enough away to make it less likely I’d cut the walk short.  As I walked, I thought about what I’d write for this blog and the blog became a motivator.  After all, it wouldn’t do to write about walking four miles in the rain if I didn’t actually finish the four miles.

According to the nursery rhyme, it’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.  Not for me!  My version:  It’s raining, it’s pouring, my mileage is soaring.

10 in the Bank

As of yesterday morning, I have ten reserve miles built up for my 1200-mile challenge.  Actually, it’s almost eleven miles, but that doesn’t sound as good for a title.  My plan for reaching the 1200-miles this year is to walk or run four miles a day, six days a week.  While I haven’t yet taken a skip day, there have been days when I’ve done a little less than four miles.  However, because I have had a few days when I’ve gone longer and since I haven’t taken a skip day, my mileage has stayed on track and now I have a nice, ten-mile reserve.

It’s a little like dealing with finances.  I now have a little money in the bank.  Do I spend a little bit here and a little bit there, letting it whittle down to nothing or, perhaps even going into debt?  Or do I save my money for a big expenditure – a vacation perhaps?  I’m actually feeling a little miserly about it.  If I don’t spend any of my saved miles and I continue to put in extra miles, I’ll continue to grow my reserve.  I may become the running/walking version of Scrooge McDuck.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Year of Running Minus One

I’m not Facebook friends with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, but it was pointed out to me that a couple of days ago he posted his New Year’s physical challenge to run 365 miles this year.  He’s calling it A Year of Running and states that it’s a mile a day.  My first reaction was…Wimp!  My second thought – he must be taking a rest day since there are 366 days in 2016.

Zuckerberg already has more than 87,000 people signed up to join him in tackling this goal.  That’s great!  Many of those folks are probably already runners, but I’m sure many of them are couch potatoes who are inspired by a goal that sounds doable.  I hope that the true couch potatoes aren’t turned off by the running goal.  I’d like it better if it was a running or walking goal.  That’s not the point, though.  It is a goal and, for many people, it will be a challenge.  I do wonder how much of a challenge it really is for a guy like Zuckerberg, who is probably already a runner.  I may be wrong on that, but he looks like a runner.  Maybe he just has good genes and this goal really is a challenge for him.

Actually, I think I need to take off my Snide Hat and acknowledge that it’s good anytime a person takes on a physical challenge whether it’s training for a marathon or getting out of bed to use the bathroom after a medical event.  I applaud Mark Zuckerberg for putting his goal out there and, because he reaches millions of people, for encouraging others to join him in setting a physical goal.

Now I’m out the door to do my mile (x4).

Sneak Peek — January’s “Someday”

I did it!  My January “someday” is to conquer a physical challenge.  No, I haven’t conquered the challenge yet, but I have taken the first step.  I’ve done many races, mostly 5ks and 10ks and I’ve also completed a handful of half-marathons.  In 2001 I completed my biggest challenge to date – I walked a marathon.  It was not a pleasant event.  My feet were covered in blisters and I almost stopped at mile 22, but I continued on when a friend mistakenly called my phone number instead of my husband’s and admitted they’d conspired to all meet me at the finish line.  Obviously, I had to finish.  As I limped along with my blistered feet, an aide worker at mile 25 suggested I stop walking and check-in to the medical tent.  I kept going.  It was pretty ugly, but I finished and I’m glad I did.  It was an accomplishment I’m not sure I’ll repeat, though if I did, now I’d do it as a runner/walker.

There’s another type of running/walking challenge I’ve toyed with the last few years, but always managed to talk myself out of doing.  Not this year!  Someday is now, after all.  The challenge is the Oregon Road Runners Club’s “1200 Club” and I signed up today for the 2016 event!  It’s not really an event; it’s a year-long program to run or walk 1200 miles from January 1^st to December 31^st.  That averages out to 4 miles per day, 6 days per week.

I’ll admit I’ve been practicing to see what that kind of mileage is like and I feel confident I can do the daily mileage.  The challenge will be in doing it day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month, through snow and ice, sun and heat, vacations, and sickness.  Yes, it will be a challenge.

So, stay tuned.  I begin the challenge January 1^st and will be focusing on getting a good sound start that month.  I’ll report on how it goes, how I feel, the challenges, and the victories.

Challenge your body before your body challenges you.