Just walkin'

Before we moved away from Ottawa, Barry and I bought a treadmill. It is quite a nice one, and once I got to the point where I could balance on it, I quite liked it.

I don't mind walking... but here's the thing. It is boring. And it takes some time. When we first got the treadmill iPods hadn't been invented yet. (What medieval times did we come from!!! Wowsers!)

In any event. I discovered that I couldn't hear, over the sound of the treadmill, ANYTHING - so listening to an audio book wasn't going to work. Music had to be turned up so loud that the roof tiles were dancing (and the treadmill was in the basement) and I was busy. I wanted to get this walk over with!

At the same time, I had a friend who was taking the Running Room's running course (come to find out, I had another future friend taking it with her.) I couldn't IMAGINE how a running course could possibly work. I couldn't have worked another class or activity into my schedule anyway, but I spoke with my friend about how a running class worked and decided to give it a try on my own.

I liked the idea of doing it on the treadmill because it meant that there was no time getting TO the class. I didn't have to be ON TIME for a class. AND if I had a heart attack jogging, I could toddle (I hoped) over to the phone and call 911 before I collapsed. Same if I twisted my ankle...

Anyway. I was pretty good about going on the treadmill and eventually I got to the point where I could run for 5 km without stopping (I think I did that twice). Then we got ready to move, and the treadmill became a feeble voice in the basement, occasionally calling, but easily ignored.

We moved, finished the basement of the house ourselves, stored the treadmill in the exercise room down there, and I became busy in our new community. Barry used the treadmill and his bowflex religiously for a year or so. And then they began to sit. I joined Tai Chi, which I love. I think it is good for me - it is the only exercise that makes me work my brain as well as my body.

In December, Barry came out of the den and spoke to me, while I had my left hand on the top cupboard door handle. And, without letting go of the cupboard, I twisted around to look at him. And something in my left shoulder made a funny noise. Then I made a funny noise. Mine sounded sort of like 'ouch'.

I took a week off of Tai Chi. And then I went, only to discover that my left arm did NOT want to be held up at shoulder height AT ANY TIME. I stayed for the first hour of the class and then came home. The following week, I stayed home too. And then there was a two week break over Christmas. The first Thursday after that (Yes, there is a point to this!) we had had snow on top of warm ground and then the air temperature had dropped. Barry had gone out to polish off the driveway, and when he came in, he announced that it was VERY slippery.

Our house has a sort of longish driveway, with a ditch on either side of the end of it, (or the beginning, I suppose, depending on which direction you are going!) and a ditch on the other side of the road. We have a full size pickup... which I was not eager to test for ditch-worthiness. (This is the point where the story starts to gain some relevance, by the way!) So, I got dressed in my Tai Chi outfit and I went downstairs to the treadmill and I walked for 55 minutes. I probably should have started with a shorter time, but I would have been at Tai Chi for 2 hours, so I wanted to actually use up some of that time. I went 5 km. (When I came upstairs Barry asked how far I had gone. So for a lark, I told him 1 1/2 km... Before he could get a full on rant going {what were you doing down there for so long if you only went 1 1/2 km} I managed to get him stopped, told him I was pulling his leg and that I had gone 5 km. I was soaking with sweat - I may be out of shape, but it wasn't quite THAT badly out of shape!)

I had been thinking about a facebook friend of mine who has been walking this year past. So I marked on the calendar, the distance that I had walked. I walked on the Friday as well; 3 km. Saturday we went shopping. I have no idea how far we walked, but we were out of the house for hours, and we had cat litter, cat food, $400+ of groceries, had returned two things, visited 7 stores, and I was absolutely exhausted. Sunday I walked. In fact, except for Thursday, I walked every day this week. Thursday I went to Tai Chi. And there is only one jong I can't do. Today my left arm feels better than ever, so I seem to be on the road to recovery!!

Unbeknownst to me, my friend achieved a personal goal TODAY - she walked more than 1000 km over the course of the last year; this was her one year anniversary. She did some incredible number of laps in a domed walking oval in her hometown in Ontario and she has been reporting on her walks, off and on, all year. She had set some goal for her birthday and more than met it.

I do not aspire to walking 1000 km - that goal seems too high for me at this point. But I am proud of my friend and was inspired by her to get going!! I'll let you know how it goes... Tomorrow, if I find time to walk 3 km, I will have completed my first 25 km! :-)