Day Seven

I can not believe that I have made it for seven whole days on this program. But I am here to tell you right now that there is no way in this world I will ever be able to run three miles. There will have to be a major, and I do mean major, change in my body's function.

My instructions for today said "Off". Well, you know by now that I'm not taking a day off. One of my personal goals is to do something daily. After church, and preparing a wonderful lunch for hubby, I decided to walk my neighborhood path. Hot, hot, hot. I just groaned as I walked out the front door. There is one thing that I have noticed and that is that after I get going pretty good, I don't really notice the heat that much. I think I am just more focused on getting to the mid-way point. After I get to the mid-way point, I start feeling a bit of relaxation or a burst of adrenaline or something. I don't really know what it is I feel.

Nothing really exciting happened on today's walk. No barking carseats, no strange packages. Even though it was hot today, after getting up all the major hills in my neighborhood, I was relieved that there was a good breeze blowing. I do tend to walk with my head down, kinda looking at the next step in front of me and before I even knew it, I was a the top of the big hill on Maner Road. And I thought, Dang, that hill wasn't so bad today.

I notice that I seem to talk about hills a lot. I guess that has been the hardest part of my walks, as I'm sure it is for everybody. It's like I see the hill in front of me as a major obstacle simply there to torture me. "The hills are alive with the sound of groaning." Since I started this program, I set little goals for myself. All of which are attainable, but will certainly require work and a lot of effort. One such goal is to walk to my parent's house. I think it is about 6 miles or so . The only problem is that they live on the biggest hill in the world. Actually a mountain. So the last 1/2 mile with be straigh up. Week 4 of this plan has me walking 5 miles one day, so my goal is to go there that day. (Oh, one of them will most definitely have to bring me home.) I actually dreamed about walking there. I've also dreamed about the Jingle Bell Run too. In that dream, I am the last one finished and it is getting dark and some street cleaner with no teeth, holding a broom in one hand and a big black dog on a leash in the other hand is standing there grinning at me. Go figure.

Margrace Road is a scarey place. No sidewalks. I discovered this after deciding to lengthen my distance today. Fortunately, I only had to walk .2 of a mile down the that road. After I got back to my neighborhood, I began thinking about this running thing. Now let's get this straight, I do not know how to run. I do not know how my feet should land. What do I do with my arms? Hold them up, let them droop, what? And what about the tripping over long feet possibility? Do they make a book "Running for Dummies"? I bet they do. I'll look for it the next time I'm at the book store. But anyway, I am serious about this. After I got on the downhill home stretch, I decided to give this running thing a try. Nope!! It did not work for me. I gave up after about a block. Then I tried again. Still nothing. Loving daughter will have to accompany me the next time I get the sudden urge to try.

Anyway, I'm off to the Grove Park tomorrow for a day at the spa. I hope there will be time to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill for 3 miles. Or maybe I can just go for a 3 mile walk on the grounds. I'll bet there is a path somewhere. (What has gotten into me, I'm going to the Grove Park and want to walk on a treadmill? I must be losing it.)

Until then......