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Before I started walking
pre-dawn this was my view |
For years my husband begged me to walk. He tried every motivation possible. “It’s healthy and we want to grow old and be grandparents”, “We’re going to California on vacation and we’ll be doing lots of walking”, “Let’s be a good example to the kids”, and the list goes on. He’d try to get me to go to the park and walk on Saturday morning, sometimes I did – but almost always begrudgingly. We’d take the kids to the park and let them ride bikes while we walked. I’d do it, but never enjoyed it.
Three years ago I fell and completely tore the ACL in my right knee. It was painful and a long recovery. I chose not to have surgery as I am not a tennis player, athletic, or under 30. I wish I could say the change came then, but it didn’t. I did start going to the YMCA to work out from time to time, but not much.
A year ago, for some reason I’m still not sure of, things changed. I decided to lose weight and started using MyFitnessPal – an app I could track my calorie intake and exercise on my newly purchased iPhone. I started going to the YMCA regularly that summer and slowly started walking. Then I took a full-time position at Guilford College and working out became challenging for my schedule. I started walking early in the morning before everyone got started in the house –that meant getting up at 5:30 and heading out with the dog. An interesting thing happened – I discovered I liked it.
I like walking while it is still dark. The birds are loud and the stars bright. I’ve started using the MapMyWalk app and it tracks my route, measures distance, pace, and calories burned. It helps motivate me. Amazingly, I am now contemplating walking in a 5K this fall. All those seeds my husband planted years ago are finally starting to bloom. Thanks sweetie.
Labels: 5K, MapMyWalk, MyFitnessPal, walking