Even If

I did it!  It was raining, my son had an appointment across town, I had paperwork to do.  And I walked Anyway!  Even if I got soaked.  Even if my back tightened up about 1/2 way through the walk.  Even if I felt as if I couldn’t take another step 1/2 block from home.  Even if I had a meeting that night that I had to prepare for.  I walked!  1.18 miles in my neighborhood which included a 559 foot change in elevation on the last .18 of the walk.  I was soaking wet, and I needed help getting up my stairs.  My dear boy gave me a back massage so I could move again.  I did pretty well at the beginning of the walk, about 26 min/mile, but boy that back stretch!  There were some irises that were blooming and some pale pink tulips too.  So I stopped to take a picture, but it didn’t help me loosen up.  I found some retaining walls to sit in for a couple of minutes then continued on.  It was really really hard.  The challenge will be tomorrow.  Can I do this 2 days in a row?  I have reset the goal for 90 miles by June 4.  I am not Amanda–running for miles and eating special foods.  I am Rebecca, and I am walking and pushing myself to be better and feel better.  I don’t think my weight will drop the 2 pounds/week they say it does when you walk.

I hate it when I’m told, “if you walk such and such amount of time, the weight just melts off.”  If that were true, there’d be a trail of grease behind me and I’d have serious laundry challenges.  I don’t measure my success in this walking program by the amount of change in my weight.  I measure the progress by how long I can walk.  I want to get back to the point where I could do a lap around Walnut Creek (3 miles).  Once I do that, I will endeavor to cut my time down bit by bit.  I hope that this tightening up will eventually go away so that it won’t matter what kind of terrain I’m walking.  I am doing a mild stretch before starting.  My stride is off.  I am extending my leg and pulling my body over my front foot instead of changing my weight forward and catching myself with my front foot.  I believe that’s why hills are so painful.  It’s hard to fall uphill!