Hello! I am so excited to see so many people following me now and leaving comments. It's very nice of you all, thank-you. I hope that you find something worthwhile to read while you're here, as I journal about trying to lose weight, get fit and build up healthy habits!
I was in a funny mood all day today. I kept getting frustrated and angry and annoyed at people. People who I didn't even have near me or in my company. I think I was having one of those 'in my head' days, where I was just thinking too much. I was running conversations in my mind, getting annoyed at the person I was talking with, because I wasn't able to express myself properly, or they weren't reacting the way I wanted them to. Stupid stuff, because I as I said, I was on my own this morning. I was meant to meet up with a friend this evening, but due to crossed-wires, poor communication, that fell through. That annoyed me too. I was annoyed enough that I wanted to stop into a fast food spot on the way back, just to get something to eat, so I could call it 'comfort food' and distract me from how crummy I was feeling. Since starting my food journal, and just listing what I am eating each day, I've started to become really aware that I eat when I'm not hungry.
I was feeling so wound up and angry and annoyed that I decided I would go home, change into exercise gear and go out for a walk. While I'm on holidays, I'm visiting my ma, who lives by the coast. There is a footpath that runs the length of the water, and it's all lit up of an evening, because on the other side of the road there are shops and restaurants and stuff. I decided it would be a good idea to go for a walk there, clear my head and get some exercise at the same time. It was a beautiful evening, really warm, without the wind being cold.
I took my Nano with me and decided it was the perfect time to try out the 'basic' setting - seeing as I didn’t have a timeframe or distance to confine me. I just wanted to go for a walk until I wanted to come back.
On the basic setting, I didn't get any reminders or prompts to keep me going. Gladys/Glynis (still narrowing down names) only talked to me when I started, when I checked to see how I was going when I wanted to turn back, and when I finished and hit stop workout. I kind of liked that because I went for a walk not just to exercise, but to clear my head. So by being able to just go and to push away the negative thoughts from my head and the bad angry energy, with no interruptions was actually really cool.
I ended up walking for just over an hour - 1:10:42 in fact, and the Nano calculated that I walked 6.61km (or, if you use imperial, 4.1miles). I don't think it was truly that much, however I do know that it was over 6km because the footpath was marked every 50m with the distance (I think that's 54 yards for the US folk). I started at the 4300m mark and after I was walking for a while I decided I would walk to the 1300m mark (yeah, I was walking the wrong way) and then return. Good plan, except… I got to where the 1300m mark should be and I couldn't find it. At 1450m, the path diverged into 4 or 5 different paths, because I had reached a parkland/community space. For the life of me, I could not see where the 1300m was, and it was supposed to be my halfway point. GRR!!!
(However, in the three minutes I was looking for it, I did get distracted by some posts along the path that had a strip of LED lights and as I walked past them, the lights moved up the post and made sounds. It was cool! They must have had some sort of sensor, because they matched up to my height then dropped as I passed them. And they only lit up when I was in proximity to them, so by the time I reached the end, the ones at the start of the path had dimmed again. Much fun was had).
I turned back and because it was getting later (it was 7.40pm, I think?) I didn't want to take forever getting back. I'm not entirely sure how or why, but I decided that because the path was evenly marked every 50m, it would be good to use that to do some interval runs. Run 50m, then walk 50m to recover, run 50m, walk 50m, etc. Now, I believe I've mentioned before - I'm not a runner. I think I'm starting to want to be one day, but I'm not close to it yet. However, I was able to do these interval runs for over 1km. So I ended up actually running a distance of at least 500m, maybe even 600 (546 yd - 656 yd). That's a pretty big deal for me, because I swear I hate running, and yet, it seems I have it in me to possibly become a runner. And of course, the running boosted my heart rate for a little bit and I even managed to banish the mind demons that had been plaguing me all day. Win-win-win!
Then when I finished, the iPod Nano voice congratulated me for this being the furthest workout I'd done yet. That was another nice boost to my mood.
So I started my day in a funk, got progressively worse, and then, even though it was night-time, I went out, I exercised, and I feel GOOD about it!! Yes! Here's to more stories like these!
-Kathleen
Wow! over 4 miles, Awesome!
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