September Fitness Challenge

50 miles during August!!! * 

When my Facebook Memories remind me that I used to walk 3 miles a day I can be tempted to feel badly that I do only one mile/day lately.  

On the other hand I can choose to celebrate the fact that I AM walking at least a mile most days. 

I mostly choose to celebrate.

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Recently I saw Leo Babauta of Zen Habits recommending a month-long fitness challenge.  He says such a challenge can be helpful for a couple reasons:

1. Because I am committed to something.  (Now there’s a novel idea.)
2. Because it is for a short time.   (A short time sounds good. Am I right?)

That’s when I went to my calendar to see how many miles I had done so far this month.

That’s also when I realized that I could maybe make it to 50 miles yet in August.

Because I had already been pushing a bit more than usual…

So I decided to start there - and I made it!

Yay!

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So, yes, I will do a fitness challenge for September but I’m still deciding about my target numbers.  I know they must be doable - so I think I’ll start with 30 miles as my minimum commitment and then 40 or more will be bonus.  

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* Disclaimer:

This is where I pause to clarify that not all of those 50 August miles were walking, but about a dozen of them were biking.

For September I think I will start by using only walking miles and keep the biking separate…

Keep it simple; right?

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Walkable

We just walked to a movie.

We walked to a movie.

That may not sound like a big deal, but it kind of feels like it for me.
Well, at least it seems like a fun thing.

I suppose it has something to do with reading and hearing stories about people who used to walk to the movies in their childhood.  I couldn’t quite imagine that. It was hard to picture what that would have been like - maybe because I wasn’t even allowed to WATCH movies when I was a kid, but probably mostly because I lived out in the boonies where we couldn’t walk to anything.  Well, except to our one-room country school over a mile away.  Well, and half a mile down to my uncle’s place to get our ice cream from their freezer because we didn’t have one.  Wait; did we really do that? Was that really true or am I embellishing that memory?

But yes, I have lived out in the country on a farm six miles from the nearest town for pretty much all my life. 'Twas a good life. A great life even. But we weren't exactly within walking distance of many conveniences.  

All of that has changed in recent years and especially in our current situation.

We are now within walking distance of lots of things.  We have excellent walking options in all directions really.

First there is...

The little plaza across the street 

...which is a skeleton of what it used to be, but still offers several conveniences and services. We like all three of the restaurants - Classic Coney Island, the Clio Roadhouse, and O-Graydee's.  Good food, great prices.

We walked to the consignment store when searching for dining chairs.

When we run out of milk or eggs or snacks, we can walk to Dollar General.

Bob likes the convenience of having a UPS store so handy.

We haven't yet indulged in Extreme Indoor Kart Racing but I bet we will as an antidote to cabin fever once winter weather sets in. The Fitness Center is also right there waiting for us when we can no longer take the frozen temps outside.

AND the theater. When we first moved here we had been told that the movie theater was closed but we later discovered that that is no longer the case. They are open and show some fun flicks - at old-time prices!  Yay! What a fun surprise.

Down the sidewalk to the east:

And speaking of theaters, there is also a community theater offering new productions every couple months - just a couple doors over.

We can walk to the Senior Center to play a piano or an organ or to buy lunch for two dollars!

And the library which is one of the first things I check out in a new community. Yep, it is within walking distance - only half a mile from home.

To the park and downtown and beyond:

The city park has several playground areas, three picnic pavilions and fitness trails that head off in several directions. In fact, if you pick the right one you can end up at Dairy Queen. Yes, we have done that. Walking back home burns off the calories.

We can walk to the restored train depot museum and to the cool old downtown buildings. My favorite is the quaint hardware store with three jam-packed sections.  What a glorious hodgepodge! It reminds me of Barden’s Hardware in Kingston and Schlichter’s in Marlette.  Fun times.  I like the rows and rows of gift items and nifty dishes and kitchen supplies. Oh, and this one has numerous wind-chimes and I can’t help but sample the lovely low-tones. Mmmm… 

The toy section rivals at least some of the toy aisles at Walmart with an impressive array of blocks and puzzles and other educational games and toys. I like that. Ooh; Christmas shopping within walking distance; how fun is that?!?  I might feel like I’m at the Olsons’ Mercantile in Walnut Grove.

Churches:

There are two of them right here beside and behind us.  Besides a variety of worship service styles and times and the daily serenade of church bells - which we enjoy hearing, they also provide playgrounds, ball fields and lots of walking pathways. Yes, we have taken advantage of all of these offerings. Now THERE's something else I had only heard of and imagined (and sung about!) before now: walking to church on a Sunday morning; walking and hearing the church bells chime.

Also we have just discovered that we can walk as far as VG's and the Brough Bakery when the weather is nice.  Yum!

Walkability

While I very much loved living out in the country, I've also always been a bit fascinated with the idea of living in town where you can walk to things. Sure enough we do love our little town and one of the reasons is its walkability.  We often shake our heads and marvel about being within such easy walking distance of the library, shopping for necessities, THREE restaurants, parks and playgrounds for our grandkids and abundant hiking options.

And then, to top it all off, the surprise discovery that this little theater is indeed open again and that we can walk to "the movies"... Well, that's just bonus. I had never thought to add "walking to the movies" to my bucket list, but it turns out to be rather fun!

The ABCs of reaching a goal

I did it!

I completed a goal. A pretty big one even. I not only finished it, but I surpassed it.

Yep, that is big news because I don't often succeed in reaching my goals. In fact, it is a woefully rare event.

The challenge was to walk 100 miles in a month. I knew that was not reasonable for me - so I set my personal goal at 40 miles for September - something much more doable. Amazingly I hit that goal on Day 18 - way ahead of time - so I decided to keep going. Then I remembered that I had walked almost 40 miles in August so hey, why don't I combine the two months?

It had actually been suggested that we could take two months - or longer - to do the 100 miles so why not? I started pushing toward this secondary goal buoyed up by my early success. I am thrilled to report that I made it - and even a day early.

That's right; I walked 100 miles during August and September.

A goal set and a goal met!
Two goals set and two goals met!!!

Like I started to say, my relationship with goals and goal setting has been a little rocky.

I really like the idea of setting goals. It seems like such a smart thing to do. A strategic thing. Goals feel somehow noble. Lofty. Transcendent. I have been known to get excited or at least hopeful about goals.

Unfortunately, I've also been known to get discouraged and defeated about goals. About falling behind and failing to reach them. Therefore, because my track record for completing goals is not great, I never quite know whether to make them or not. I don't want to live aimlessly and not know where I am headed, but neither do I want to set myself up for failure.

Not willing to completely give up on the idea of setting goals, I have tried to observe some of the things that seem to work for me. Things that tend to be associated with success. My success. I'm smart enough to realize that it might be strategic to make use of those things that work for me. Here are a few that I've noticed with this 100-mile goal - as well as with some epic writing goals when I participated in NaNoWriMo each of the last four years.

Accountability
This is another tricky concept - one that can easily be misused or even abused. All too often I've heard people make lots of noise about accountability in cases where I have not seen any positive results. I know to stay away from several "types" of accountability. But at least one kind of accountability works for me. I suppose it might also be called "approval addiction" in my case. For certain rewards - like words of admiration and affirmation, like hugs and pats on the back, like empathy and encouragement, I can push myself to do hard stuff.

So the trick for me is to figure out how to get people to line up and cheer for me as I struggle to the finish line.

Okay; so maybe I'm being a bit facetious, but how do I entice people to support me? Sometimes it is as simple as offering the same encouragement to them. Sometimes it is in the comraderie. Sometimes an online group will serve that purpose for me. Sometimes I have to be creative to figure out how to find the encouragement that I need.

Does that seem a little egotistical? A bit self-centered? Of course it is. Or at least it would be if I weren't willing to reciprocate and offer something in return. Yah, yah, I know; this probably sounds like a really soft form of accountability. Rather squishy and ineffective. Perhaps you believe that accountability must be firm and tough - and maybe it does for some people. But that brand can also feel very unsafe and harsh - and for me that is downright de-motivating.

Yep, in the case of my surprising success, much of the credit goes to the fact that I had an audience. That could seem like the wrong motivation, but hey, it worked!

Baby steps
I don't know about you, but when I get excited about setting new goals I often want to jump right in and get 'er done. Right now. Why not just do a bunch of those miles today and the rest of them tomorrow? Yah, I might get impatient. And unrealistic. If this goal is lofty and good, then I tend to think in terms of grand steps to get there. The only problem is that I often am not capable of accomplishing huge grand steps.

What I can usually accomplish are small steps. Baby steps. One friend (i.e.: accountability buddy) often reminds me to set aside just 15 minutes each day - even though I might think that doesn't seem like enough. Another keeps encouraging me to take those baby steps. And then there are times when I have to remind myself of my own conclusions about picking just one thing to work on. Just. One. Thing. And then another.

Some days I feel like I just can't do it. Maybe I will talk myself into getting out there and walking just half a mile. Shoot; some days I can only convince myself to put on my shoes and go out the door and walk around the cabin and come back in. But usually, when I do that... Well, you know... usually I end up walking a little farther than I thought I could.

Cumulative effect
Have you ever noticed how things tend to pile up? Yep? No? Well, maybe not for you, but for me stuff accumulates in piles until the piles tip over and make new piles. Accumulation is a powerful thing.  And it is a force that can be either positive or negative.

I experienced the negative effects of poison accumulating in my system during chemotherapy. After the first round, I was kinda' sick and a little tired. After the second and third rounds, I was feeling sicker and more worn out. By the last round, well, let's just say that I did not feel very well at all nor did I have much energy. Sure enough I was suffering from the cumulative effect of the chemo in my body.

A similar thing happens in our homes or maybe on our desks. When we stay current and keep the desktop clear, it is easy to straighten up and be ready for the next project. But once we let things start to pile up, they seem to grow out of control at warp speed. There we see the negative side of accumulation.

However we can learn to take advantage of the positive power of accumulation and harness it for our own purposes. I can do today's portion today - and maybe even a little bit more. Then tomorrow I do it again and the miles add up.

This is why month-long goals work well for me. If I declare that I will do certain things every day, I set myself up for failure. But if I am working toward a cumulative goal, I get my kicks out of doing a little extra each day and getting ahead of schedule. Then if I miss a day, I don't fall behind. When I work on a cumulative goal, the momentum builds. I get excited and it helps me keep going.

Oh, and you better believe that I count every one of those baby steps I was talking about. Put enough baby steps together and it makes a mile. My petite little granddaughter proved that the other day. Her legs are even shorter than mine - so she takes even smaller steps than I do. When she walked with me the other day, we just kept taking her size steps and sure enough; we walked more than a mile.

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And these little jewels (accountability, baby steps and cumulative effect) work with words as well as with miles. I have observed these three things working toward my success in major writing projects for NaNoWriMo. Four times now I have cranked out "a novel" of 50,000 words during the month of November. True, they will probably never be published - at least not without a LOT more work! But I have used excerpts here and there and plan to do more with two of the books. But you know what? Even if I never publish a word, it was still a great experience and a great accomplishment. I built some awesome writing habits and I learned so very much in the process.

Once again I owe that success to having a support group, to typing just a few words at a time and to the power of those words adding up line by line by line, one day after another.

I am thankful that I am learning how to take advantage of these three concepts - accountability, baby steps and the cumulative effect - because I am really glad to finally have some successes in reaching my goals. Now that is cause for celebration!

 

Missed a day - and it's okay

Yesterday was one of those days when it just didn't work out to walk. Busy day. Social day. A day off all my routines. A day with people. A day to celebrate the life of someone special.

A day to be grateful that I was ahead of schedule on my walking chart - because then I didn't have to feel badly about missing a day.

Today is a new day. A new week. A new destination in our travels. A new era in my life. A day to return home after being away and on the road for seven and a half months. A day to figure out what to do with the rest of my life.

But first a day to walk again. And I did. Yep, nearly a mile and a half. I am officially back on track.

1.47 miles today for a total of 12.25 miles of my 30-mile goal for August.

Walking thirty miles in August

I'm not sure where she heard about it or if she came up with the idea herself, but my daughter signed up for the 100-mile July challenge this year - and SHE DID IT! She walked one hundred miles during the month - many of them on steep mountain trails.

Watching her do it (sometimes in person and sometimes just through Facebook reports) inspired me deeply. I found myelf wanting to do it, but afraid it was too big. Too much. Too many miles. Too daunting. But I really like the idea of a one-month challenge so I decided to set my own goal.

A month is a good amount of time. It seems to work well for me to commit for a month. I've done it successfully with my writing during NaNoWriMo and have enjoyed the excitement and momentum that can build during that amount of time.

I have used different goals in my walking regimen - most often ranging from one mile to three miles per day. However, recently our goofy schedule has offered me some great excuses - to the point where I just "try" to get out there and walk maybe a mile each day, but I am not really measuring the distance. I realize that I need to be more specific or more accurate and accountable about the actual distance I walk rather than such vagueness. I used to keep good track of the miles I walked and I remember how encouraging it is to watch the tally grow. So... I want to do that again.

One thing that appeals to me about this kind of monthly challenge is the hype and excitement of reporting in each day. What a cheering section can come out of Facebook! I think it is worth the effort of shameless self-promotion to get that kind of encouragement.

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Here's my simple plan:

1. Come up with a way to track my miles. Check. I figured out how to get the Endomondo app installed on my phone and I even figured out how to use it. I have set up a little chart in my journal to keep track of the cumulative tally.
2. My goal is 30 miles in August. That seems a little wimpy, but my main purpose is to get back into the habit, so I choose to stay with an achievable goal - especially considering that we will still be on the road for a good portion of the month. So, yep, the goal is one mile a day which I know that I can do IF I am consistent.
3. If/when I hit 30 miles, I shall be happy to set a second goal for even more - maybe 50. Bonus!
4. I will count only the "intentional" miles - as in the times when I put on my walking shoes and get out there specifically to walk. For example, we often park at the edges of parking lots to get more exercise so I was tempted to count those as well, but decided not to.
5. I will undoubtedly brag on Facebook and elsewhere about every single mile I complete.

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So here I go...

Wanna' join me?
How far will you go?
What's YOUR goal?

Let's go for a walk!