I Walk

My favorite form of exercise is walking.

This has served me well as someone who has never had a driver's license. When I lived in the Bay Area, I used public transit and walked nearly every day, and stayed in pretty good shape doing so.

After moving to Marysville, Washington and I became a stay-at-home mom, coupled with the amount of rainy days here, walking places totally dwindled. I also had another baby.

And I got seriously out of shape.

I've told you about my high cholesterol. I also expressed how the idea of me starting to have health problems freaks me out because of Mark's. If there's anything I can do to keep myself healthy, I just have to do it.

It was this reality check that got me up and out there walking again. Sometimes even in the rain, although that's pretty miserable and I don't recommend it. Thankfully, I have a treadmill for back-up.

Walking is not only good for your body; it's also good for the soul. The way I feel about life, the world and myself is dramatically improved when I go for a walk.

I step outside, stick my headphones in my ears and start Pandora on my phone. Always on shuffle because I like to hear a variety of music. Now too, I open up the MapMyRun app, make sure it's still set to walk and touch START. I hear the voice say "begin workout" and off I go.

My feet hit the street, I take in a breath of fresh air and am instantly refreshed and invigorated. I know I'm doing good for myself and it spurs me. But I don't start out full on; I know it's best to start slow and work up to a fast pace. The more I'm doing this, though, the sooner I speed up and really give it my all (hopefully without looking like a spaz).

I live in a neighborhood surrounded by small farms. The main road to our development doesn't have sidewalks and no shoulders. So my routine is at least two laps around the perimeter of the neighborhood.

This route, depending on just how far I push what is the "perimeter", MapMyRun tells me is about 2.7 miles. Yesterday I felt it was time to push to three miles. I decided to walk this one section of my route a second time and was able to get that three mile goal. Finally!

It was more like 11:44 am. See my funky route?

Go me! Now, this means I have to continue to do at least three miles, right? Well that's OK. Because I WANT to.

Wanna know what else I'd really like to do? I'd love to do a charity walk. There are several causes I care about. Just need to get back into better shape, and then work up the gumption.

Now, if I could just find some activewear that has a special pocket just for my phone, I'd be in heaven.

What is your favorite form of exercise? Why do you love it?

Inspired by Mama Kat's weekly writing prompts.