walking again :)

Urban ranger is an inspirational metaphor to get you walking. Warning: there is poetry involved. Discuss it here.
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gratefuldeb67
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walking again :)

Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:38 pm

i've hesitated for a few days about whether or not to post, as i always seem to make big announcements of my intended plans to exercise, and then give up fairly quickly after the declaration of intentions.
but, i'm feeling very confident that i'm going to stick with it this time, so here goes,,,
i started walking again this week!
for now i'm walking between 1 mile to about 1.6 miles per day.. my only criteria is that i go out and do it, but i'm definitely trying to at least stick to a mile a day minimum. i got rid of my old "fourteen mins of anything" habit cal, and have started a fresh urban ranger one, and i'm pleased to say i have four days of walking in so far!
i even did a tiny bit of walking alternating with jog/fast walking, to get my heart up a bit more :)
since i've given up over the past 10 years on basically any regular exercise after a brief honeymoon period of maybe three or four months, my main concern is that i won't keep this up long term. i truly want to do it and stick it out this time and have it become a part of my life.. i'd like to look back in a few years time and say "i didn't give up", and hopefully by then, i will be in *much* much better shape to boot :)
it did really pick my mood up to go walking and i had fun, so i'm feeling fairly optimistic that this is doable, so long as i don't become over ambitious.
my son has been my inspiration. in the past two years he's been running on the track team and doing core exercises as well, and he has *completely* transformed his body.. he's gone down from a 34 pants size to 28 and looks amazing! he had a rough start back then, when he first joined track and was a good 25 lbs heavier, but he didn't give up.. even when he came in last at basically, all his track meets.. he persevered though, and now he runs with ease and is in wonderful shape.

i'm glad i've started now, as in past years i'd wait till mid summer to start exercising.. i think i've got a good head start now. :)
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Hoeka
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Post by Hoeka » Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:05 pm

Debs, such good news! What I love most about walking is that every day and every walk is a new experience. You might follow the same route every walk, but the environment (and the walker) are never the same two walks in a row.
So, go out & enjoy. And it's spring, your side of the world - even more to observe & revel in.
Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners - Shakespeare

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:48 am

thank you Hoeka :) that's very nicely put and i agree completely!
thanks for the encouragement.
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koopa
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Post by koopa » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:48 pm

You should start a new 21 day campaign....

And maybe add some dutch in there after successfully completing it after a few months... :wink: :wink:

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Post by Kevin » Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:52 pm

Good work, Deb. Walking makes everything better.
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Too solid flesh
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Post by Too solid flesh » Thu Apr 28, 2011 8:03 am

That's great, Deb! Best wishes.

I also agree with Hoeka that walking is different every time. We have glorious wisteria here at the moment.
Be kind, for everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle.

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:27 pm

thank you all! yes i'm really enjoying it and it does make everything better kevin. so far it's going well and i am feeling a little soreness in my legs.. not so much that it's uncomfortable, but enough to know that i'm using muscles that haven't been used for a while now.. a good feeling! :)
the plan to keep it at a default minimum, and not to over extend myself is what's going to help me form the habit. it helps to know that it's not going to take loads of time.. if i have the time and energy, and feel up to it, i might do longer walks, but that's totally optional. i just want this to "stick" finally in the long haul.. i'm getting excited about going shopping in the next few weeks to look for good walking sandals :D

sorry koopa, i don't get the dutch comment?

have a great weekend all! :)
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Post by koopa » Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:47 pm

This is from your original 21 day attempt thread....

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1333
mrsj wrote:Day 1, Jan 31: Yellow day, but I still tromped 4463 steps today. Pretty good considering that I slogged through 15 centimeters of snow. Real hard going. And, I'm pretty beat today because I was at a party yesterday and things got a little wet...
Day 2, Feb 1: Over 8200 steps and I'm exhausted and a little sore in the lower legs. I ranged to town and walked all over town. To get to town I had to shlog through a lot of snow so it was hard going. My pedometer says that over 3400 of these steps were aerobic.
Day 3, Feb 2: Ranged home groceries before snowstorm hit. Home ranged during snowstorm. DH built me shelves in the library for all the DVDs. Moved all the DVDs from 4 1 meter tall stacks on floor of living room and put in alphabetical order on my new shelves. A lot of walking and moving. Used a laundry basket. 5200 steps.
Day 4, Feb 3: Ranged home the groceries. Home ranged. 5123 steps.
Day 5, Feb 4: Home Ranged and ranged outside some. 5525 steps.
Day 6, Feb 5: A normal day, but I forgot my pedometer. Green.
Day 7, Feb 6: An S day, but ranged home the groceries, did laundry and ranged with Thor.
Day 8, Feb 7: S day. Range a little bit, but resting today. Tomorrow, 6000 steps on pedometer.
Day 9, Feb 8: Ranged with Thor. Home ranged. Ranged home groceries. 6000 steps. I did it! It's hard, can't range very far outside as everything is so icy.
Day 10. Feb 9: The usual rangeing and movement with purpose. 6125 steps. Jeg tror at jeg skriver på mit eget sprog da der er ingen der læser dette alligevel! Hah! Bare en lille prøve...
Dag 11, 10 Feb: Ikke ret mange trin på skridtælleren-kun 3000. EM (elskede Mand) er hjemsendt, så jeg tramper ikke med Thor mere. Faldt i søvn på sofaen og sov hele eftermiddagen væk. HAH! Jeg vidste at ikke nogen læser de her sider! Hele ugen alene...
16 Feb: Jeg giiiiiiiiiider ikke poste her mere da jeg har bevis på at der er ikke nogen der læser her eller deltager i festen! Jeg tramper derud af!

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:27 pm

oh my, that thread is from 5 years ago so the reference was a bit obscure..
also, that post in dutch was by mrs j, not me.. :)

had a fail yesterday, but a good walk today!
as far as 21 day challenge, i am actually already thinking about this just being a permanent habit.. i know i will have failure days along the way, but hopefully, they will be minimal.
so long as i keep my minimum default of one mile per day, i know i really do have the time and energy for it, and there's no good reason to miss doing it.
today i happened to walk 1.65 miles tho :)

i use the gmaps pedometer to check my miles walked once i'm done.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
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koopa
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Post by koopa » Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:34 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote:oh my, that thread is from 5 years ago so the reference was a bit obscure..
also, that post in dutch was by mrs j, not me.. :)
Of course it wasn't by you, you didn't complete the 21 challenge a couple of times already... :)

Can't be THAT obscure if I was able to reference it 5 years later after only joining the site 4 months ago, no :)

Needless to say, I did a lot of reading including all of the before forum posts that the site has. Good stuff, took me about 2 weeks to get through all of it.

Bill

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 12:37 am

whatever
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friscobob
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One Step At A Time!

Post by friscobob » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:51 am

You can do it! And this time of year is a great time to start. You can walk the same route daily,or just walk anywhere for 30 minutes out, and 30 minutes back, etc. You can walk in malls, at walking tracks at parks, walk in place while watching television,or on a treadmill. Just keep doing it, as walking, along with a strict No S Diet, is how I got down to my ideal weight. Stick with it, one day at a time, step by step, and the job will be done! Good luck!
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:33 pm

thanks so much bob!! i am doing well and really feeling positive about this :)
i really appreciate your post.
i read how great you've done in the past year!! good for you!!
you're one of my big inspirations to do this, so thank you again :)
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friscobob
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You're Welcome, Deb!

Post by friscobob » Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:11 pm

Just keep on walking and keep on singing every day! As a matter of fact put on Fats Domino's hit song "I'm Walking"! All the best to you.
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koopa
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Post by koopa » Tue May 03, 2011 11:48 am

Deb,

Hows the walking going? If it doesn't rain, today is an AWESOME day to go for a walk. I walked from Grand Central to my office, and it was a treat. Perfect temps, just hot enough that I didn't need a jacket, but not too hot where it would make you sweat.

If you have the opportunity, today is the PERFECT day for a walk!

Bill

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue May 03, 2011 2:03 pm

it's been going well thank you :)
in the past two weeks i've had 9 green days for walking.
i've made weekends optional, but i've found it enjoyable enough that i find i want to walk on the weekends too. i need to get some good walking sandals though.. mine are the cheap kind you get at CVS in the flip flops section, and not at all supportive. i am sure if i get some decent ones, like Teva or something like it, i'll feel even more inclined to walk further.
right now i'm averaging between 1 and 1.6 miles when i go out.
glad you had a nice walk bill.
have a good week. :)
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sat May 07, 2011 5:19 pm

still going well :)
i walked to the supermarket yesterday to pick up a salad for dinner and some s day treats for today, and it was a 1.8 mile round trip, and today i walked just because it's nice out and i felt like it and did 1.2 miles.
yay me!! :wink:
so far in two and a half weeks i've had 13 green days and 5 red, for urban ranger :)
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Post by koopa » Tue May 10, 2011 11:50 am

How has the walking been going? Again, a GREAT day for a walk! This morning, the temperatures are just amazing and I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of NYC. I was able to walk the entire distance without even breaking a sweat!

May has been very nice to the UR in the east coast! I can't speak for the rest of the country :D

If you have the opportunity, you DEFINITELY need to get out and enjoy this weather!

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue May 17, 2011 1:02 pm

i haven't had a good week for walking last week. i was totally unmotivated.. i'm not sure why.. i did have a few days, but mostly it was a lot of "red" days on my habit cal... so far, this month i had 8 green days and 6 red days..but i'd like to get back on the horse this week. only thing is it's very rainy and i don't like walking in the rain more than one or two mins, and it's gonna be raining for the whole week till sunday..
my plan is to substitute dancing around in my room, for a minimum of 14 mins each day that i skip outdoor walking, and i will still mark it as a day of urban rangering. i don't want to create another habit cal, but i want to nip this failure trend in the bud now.
can't wait till it gets sunny again :)
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koopa
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Post by koopa » Tue May 17, 2011 1:10 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote:i haven't had a good week for walking last week. i was totally unmotivated.. i'm not sure why.. i did have a few days, but mostly it was a lot of "red" days on my habit cal... so far, this month i had 8 green days and 6 red days..but i'd like to get back on the horse this week. only thing is it's very rainy and i don't like walking in the rain more than one or two mins, and it's gonna be raining for the whole week till sunday..
my plan is to substitute dancing around in my room, for a minimum of 14 mins each day that i skip outdoor walking, and i will still mark it as a day of urban rangering. i don't want to create another habit cal, but i want to nip this failure trend in the bud now.
can't wait till it gets sunny again :)
You can always walk in place....you would never hear the end of ridicule from your kid though.... :D

The rain is bore, my company had a suite at mets stadium last night, took an hour and a 1/2 for the mets to finally decide to play. The worst part of that was it gave me more time to eat WAAAAYYYY to much, but thankfully, I didn't break my pact to not drink any soda or alcohol. The booze and soda was free, so I can consider this habit, kicked!

Food was another story. Couldn't stop eating the free food. So delicious!

Well, keep at it. The easiest way to avoid red days is to make them green instead.... :D

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Tue May 17, 2011 1:19 pm

thanks koopa :) good for you for ditching the soda and booze! that's great :)
yes i'm basically gonna be doing indoor walking back and forth, and dancing.. my son is at school, so i will hopefully be spared any embarrassment, but then again he's used to me looking like a spaz :wink:
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Post by koopa » Tue May 17, 2011 1:21 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote:thanks koopa :) good for you for ditching the soda and booze! that's great :)
yes i'm basically gonna be doing indoor walking back and forth, and dancing.. my son is at school, so i will hopefully be spared any embarrassment, but then again he's used to me looking like a spaz :wink:
If you have Wii fit, they have a decent "running" exercise that has kept me motivated when I was doing the indoor inplace jogging. Just another option in the sea of possibilities to avoid the red marks... :twisted: :twisted:

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:35 pm

i had a nice walk this morning :) the weather was perfect!! but i'm having a weird problem, that i often get, which i always forget about before i go walk, and don't remember until i finally am halfway through my walk.. i have very sensitive skin and take herbs which make me light sensitive.. i am also, in general, a very allergic person to certain things and believe this is due to me having a generally high basophil count in my blood (the stuff that is associated with allergies)
it's gorgeous out today, and i decided to walk in shorts.. previously i was walking fairly late in the day, in the early evening..
so once i had gotten half way through my walk, my legs started itching and i looked down, and my whole thighs were just breaking out in red patches/hives... it was awful!!! i wasn't even tired and wanted to walk for longer, but i had to return home because i couldn't take the maddening itching.. it was like i got bitten by 100 mosquitos!!
i'm going to try and remember to take some benedryl before i leave for a walk next time i go during sunny daylight hours. i was so disappointed that i had to come home, just to take medicine :(
i might also have to walk in capri pants and ditch the shorts, but that would be a shame on nice warm days.. i hope i can find a solution. still i walked over a mile today, so at least i got that far. :)
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Post by wosnes » Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:23 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote: i might also have to walk in capri pants and ditch the shorts, but that would be a shame on nice warm days.. i hope i can find a solution. still i walked over a mile today, so at least i got that far. :)
It's personal preference -- I don't like shorts. Never wear them. Ever. Don't own any. I always wear capris and sometimes long, light weight pants. I think they're perfect on nice warm days.
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Post by Thalia » Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:12 pm

I do like shorts -- but I find that a long, light cotton skirt is even cooler and more comfortable, one of those tiered peasanty things. Would something like that or a longer sundress be an option if the shorts aren't working?

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:44 pm

thanks thalia, i like skirts, but don't own any right now.. i like to wear shorts when it's hot. but the main issue that day was, i think, sun exposure and some kind of allergic reaction, though i'm not sure.. it might just have happened because my blood was pumping.. the itchiness was so bad!! i haven't had a morning walk since then unfortunately, so i haven't had a chance to see if taking the antihistamine would do the trick. it's now turned extremely hot here, and supposed to go into the upper 90's to low 100's for the next few days, so i might just go back to late evening walks while it's like this.
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Post by reinhard » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:32 am

Deb, I'm so happy to see you've been urban rangering regularly again -- and sorry I've been too insanely busy to pop in here till now. Keep it up and give my best to Richie!

Reinhard

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Post by koopa » Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:30 pm

Hows the walking going? It has been really hot in the NYC area this past week.

Last week, I was in a business trip in Tucson. This week, vacationing in PA.

I wish I was back in Az as the weather was nicer!!!

Anyways, I hope the weather isn't preventing your UR plans....

Bill

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