Left Foot, Right Foot . . .

Okay, so Pat is all sad that he hasn't posted in over six months. I haven't been doing much better. But, as I mentioned to him, I could post a lot more often than I do. I'm always thinking, "Hey, I should put that in the blog," and then I just don't. So, we're both going to try to get better about that. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, last week I did something kind of stupid.

Important thing to know here, for those who don't actually know me: I'm overweight. Technically I am considered obese, but I don't like to think of myself as such since that brings to mind a certain visual image that I don't think I quite fall into, but vanity aside, yes, I am obese. I'm 5'3" and just over 200 lbs. I wear size 18 jeans. At my last doctor visit I was told that I'm actually in remarkably good health considering how overweight I am (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc are all fine) but then I'm still young. So, yes, I do plan to lose weight and get in shape, but like so many other things it just hasn't happened.

At any rate, now that the weather is turning nicer again, we've been going on walks whenever possible (though since I stand all day at Borders and come home pretty sore, we only go on my days off), I'm trying to control portions, drink water instead of sugary drinks . . . you know, baby steps. My mom also struggles with her weight, and recently she's been taking her days off (which is every other Friday) to visit my grandma and use her Wii Fit. About a month ago she invited me out there to join them.

The great thing about Wii Fit (I SO want one) is that it's a really easy way to track your progress. Before you start doing the exercises it measures your weight and BMI, compares it to last time, and you can set goals for yourself, for losing or gaining weight. So anyway, I go out there with her the first time, create my little Mii character, play some of the games, and set a 2-week goal for myself. Two Fridays later, I tag along again, and lo and behold I've lost 5.5 pounds over those two weeks! Sweet!

So, two more weeks go by, and unfortunately my work schedule has changed so that I'm working on Fridays now, so I can't go with again. This was last week. And now we finally get to the point of my story.

Thursday was an absolutely gorgeous day. And I was thinking about the fact that I wasn't going to get to work out this week (not that once every two weeks is really anything to fuss about, but I was still looking forward to it), and Pat was working, so I was just hanging around the apartment by myself. And I was thinking that I should get out and take a walk, just in case we didn't go for one that evening, and even if we did, two walks in one day wouldn't be a bad thing. But THEN, I came up with my stupid idea. Instead of just taking a quick walk around the neighborhood, I decided I was going to walk to the library. Which, according to Google Maps, is 2.6 miles from my place. 2.6 miles there. 2.6 miles back.

Back in high school I once walked from my house to the library, which is (again, according to Google) 2.2 miles. It felt like it took me forever, and if I recall correctly I ended up calling my parents for a ride home 'cause I just couldn't do it again. But that was before I went to college, and got used to walking all over the place all the time. Then again, college was three years ago.

Back and forth like that for about twenty minutes in my head before deciding to just suck it up and do it. It's really not that far, I decided, and it certainly wasn't going to kill me. Worst case scenario, if I was so much of a wimp that I couldn't walk home, I could just hang out at the library all day until Pat got off work and have him swing by to pick me up.

So I did walk all the way there. Took me just under an hour. Dropped off all my books, got a few new ones . . . sat around reading for about 45 minutes to recharge my legs . . . and then turned around and walked back. I was very surprised that it took the same amount of time to walk home. I was expecting to be huffing and puffing the whole way back, taking way longer now that I was so tired, but I guess my rest break did its work.

And honestly, I felt really really good. Tired, but really good. Until I woke up the next morning and my legs were KILLING me, and swore that I'd never voluntarily walk that far again. Well, now it's a gorgeous day again after a crummy weekend, and I'm actually thinking of making this a weekly trip. I go to the library about once a week anyway, why not get some exercise in? Pat tells me I should have stretched out before and I would have been fine. Fine may be an exaggeration, but I'm sure it would have helped, had I thought of it.

So anyway . . . we'll see. I'm not going to go today, and the forecast is actually calling for rain on Thursday (these are my only two days off this week) but we'll see what happens. If nothing else, I've taken back my vow of never doing it again.