In Case You Need More Enticement To Take A Walk......

The latest news from the world of medical research clearly demonstrates that 10 minutes - TEN MINUTES - of physical activity a day leads to a longer, healthier life. 

Who doesn't have 10 minutes to invest in herself?  Ten minutes is about what it takes me to drink my morning cup of coffee.  In 10 minutes I can get two baskets of laundry folded and put away. 

So, wanna live healthier and longer?  Walk for 10 minutes a day.  Sounds too good to be true - but it's not.  This one is for real!


Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Sad Shoes, Mad Wrist

I feel like an invalid today.  This morning, I wore a new pair of shoes to walk at the mall with a friend.  We did our usual 55 minute walk and my feet didn't bother me much.  But, when I returned home and removed the shoes, I had a huge blister on the bunion on my left foot and two red marks on the knuckles of my right foot.  Are those knuckles if they're on your feet?

Those shoes are going back to the store!  I do not 'break in' shoes.  I've learned the hard way that breaking in shoes is double talk for a poor fit.  I now know the difference.  Over the past year, I have worked hard, visited two doctors, and purchased five different pairs of shoes and have succeeded in clearing up the corns, calluses, and sores on my feet.  I'll not willingly go back to those painful feet with open wounds on them.  No way!

On top - almost literally - of that, last Monday I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist.  This procedure used to be one where you wore a cast for 4-6 weeks after the surgery.  That has changed dramatically.  Now, you have a bandage on the day of surgery and the next day, you remove the bandage, clean the wound with hydrogen peroxide, slap on a bandaid and go about the business of 'your routine activities'.  Now, I like my  hand surgeon and I'm sure he means well.  But, no way can I resume my normal activities.  Lifting things.  Writing things.  Typing things.  Crocheting things.  Tying my shoe laces.  Really?  Well,. no, not quite.  I had trouble single-handedly pulling up my elastic waist shorts.  Can you fold laundry with one hand?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Things have actually gone really well until today.  My husband (the doctor) insists I've just 'over done'.  Well, what does resume your normal activities mean then?  It means that my wrist and the incision now hurt like the dickens and I should probably not be typing.

But, I did walk.  I walked this morning and again this evening.  I wore a pair of shoes that normally is quite comfortable this evening and put a bandaid on that darn quarter-sized blister.  The walk helps with the pain in general.  Walking and talking, rather than dwelling on my misery, is much better.  I  highly recommend it.  No, the wrist and the blister - and even the thunder - would not deter me today.  I know what works for pain management and exercise is a big part of that 'cure'.  Try it.




*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Yes I Did It!

*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Just Say Yes

Are you old enough to remember when Nancy Reagan coined the line about resisting drug abuse, 'Just say no.'?  It was a fairly naive thing to say.  Clearly she never suffered peer pressure to try a smoke or some weed.  Doubtful that she felt like an outsider as a teen, looking for a way 'in'.

But, still, there is truth to her simplistic tag line.  'Just say no.'  Why not 'Just say YES!' to exercise for yourself, for taking time for yourself, for giving yourself a break and a chance to improve your life and your health?

Just say yes, I'll go for a walk today.  Just say yes, I'll walk in place during all the commercials during the ball game on TV tonight.  (I wonder how many minutes of commercials there are in that three hour ballgame??)  Just say yes to feeling and looking better.

Or, as Nike put if even more succinctly, Just Do It!


*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Friends With Benefits

There is a huge benefit to having a friend who enjoys walking.  There is no downside to having walking buddies.  When someone calls, wanting to hit the trail, I'm usually ready.  But, it's even better if it's just routine and the only question is what I text my friends - 'when and where?'

Routine is beneficial with exercise and all those other things that are 'good for us'.  Routine can be deadly in other areas - like love affairs and creativity.  But, for probably 75% of the things we do each day, routine pays off.

If you have little kids, you'll find they are comforted by routine and their behavior improves or remains easier if they know what to expect.  Breakfast at a certain time in a certain place.  Playtime then lunch and naps.  Dinner then bath, book, and bed.  I never had trouble with my kids in getting them to bed and staying there.  They knew this was not a 'gray' area.  Once you've been put to bed, you stay there.  No one can make you sleep, but your feet better not hit the floor.  To this day, my kids know that if I'm home around 1 PM, it's quiet time for an hour.  They are well trained.

This sort of routine pays big dividends when we apply it to daily or weekly chores like paying bills and cleaning the kitchen.  If we put off paying bills in a timely manner, our credit rating is destroyed and we end up paying extra for everything.  If we don't clean the kitchen after each meal - well, you've seen the kitchen of a college student.  Probably easier to thrown out the dishes than try to soak the grunge off them!

So, the routine works very well for daily exercise.  Pick your 'treat' (not poison).  Walk, gym, dance, jog, bike, swim, etc.  If we just say 'yes' every day to one or another of these activities, they become a welcome part of our routine.  We come to rely on that block of time we give to ourselves.  And, before long, it's not a chore but a treat.  Not poison, but - what's exercise for 'chocolate'??  


*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Looking Forward

It's turned very hot and muggy here.  Were I more of a morning person, I could take better advantage of the cooler, less humid early morning hours for my walks.  But, alas, I am not blessed with that body clock.

Another problem with my walking early in the day is that I'd almost always have only myself and my mutt for company since most of my walking buddies have full time jobs.

So, I try most days, no matter how hot and humid, to take the dog out for a brief walk in the morning then leave her at home when I take a longer walk later in the day, outside or at the mall.  Of course, the dog is not welcome at the mall but she certainly loves the trails that I and my walking buddies so prefer.

Yesterday was such a day.  Lizzie got a walk of about a mile that included two stops for water (for her).  Then, when Kris got off work, we headed to Castlewood Park to walk the trails there, mostly because they are shady.  Never underestimate the power of shade!  

Shade can decrease the ambient misery by 20% in the summer and increase it by 50% on the coldest days of winter!  Those are not scientific numbers.  Just observations made by me and my walking buddies.

But, here's the take-away.  Figure out a way to walk no matter how hot or cold it is.  Walk outside if you can because it's so much more inviting and restorative.  But, walk inside if you must.  Just walk!


*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.