Guarantee

Have you read the Guarantee at the bottom of this post?  It's still in force - and always will be!  We all 'relapse' on occasion - fall back into bad habits.  Does it ever do us any good?  Never has done me any good.

If I don't walk or do some sort of sustained physical activity in a day (dancing counts for me), I find that I do not sleep as well as I should.  I also have difficulty maintaining an even temperament.  Makes me wonder 'who' I was all those months and years ago before I became a walker.

Well, for the past almost 35 years I've done some sort of physical activity.  Played racquetball for about 20 years - then started walking, and a few years ago added in dancing.  But, racquetball, while it certainly improved my mood because I just loved playing it so much, did not seem to have the overall beneficial effect on me that walking has.

Back to that Guarantee.  I have no control over your life - and very little over my own.  I try to do 100% of my 1 %.  If you don't know what that means, email me and I'll explain it the way it has been explained to me.  I DO have control over how I spend some of the hours of my day and how I take care of myself.  That's what the guarantee is about.  Take care of yourself and you get all the benefits.  Don't - and you don't.  Easy?  No.  But, it is simple.



*************************** 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.

Olympians

Have you been watching the Summer Olympics?  I can watch only a bit, then I get restless.  I'm such a mom!  It hurts me to see those kids lose!  Of course, when there is a winner - there must be a loser.  Bad thing is that a silver or bronze medal will often bring the term 'loser' from the announcer.  No!  The loser is the person who doesn't TRY!

All those years of practice.  All that money spent on lesson, travel, clothing......  All those early mornings.  The moms and dads should receive medals!

So, are you a loser or an Olympian?  If you're walking - you're an Olympian.  If you're hanging out on the sofa every day - well, you won't be winning a medal!  If you're just beginning a walking program and enjoy watching the Olympic games - get up and walk in place in front of the TV for a few minutes every hour.  That is the way to move from loser mode to Olympian!



*************************** 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.

Immunity

The thermometer has been in the triple digits for days and days in this area.  It's become so common that when it drops to mere double digits - below 100 degrees - we think it's getting 'cool'.  Everyone has been complaining about the heat.  And, darn it, it IS hot.

But, I'm immune to it, for the most part.  I'm not stupid.  I won't try to walk my 3 miles outside at the height of the day's temperature and humidity.  I've often waited til after dark or taken refuge in the mall for cooler walking.  While I feel I could handle the 3 mile walk, my 7 year old dog has been limited to 2 miles of walking in the heat - and she can't really tell me when she needs to take a break.  So, I've erred on the side of caution and sought cooler times to walk, leaving her at home some days when it's just too hot for her.

I, however, have developed quite a tolerance for the heat and humidity.  I sweat profusely, but I can keep going without any adverse effect.  I carry water, suck on mints, and try to stay in the shade.  But, I keep walking.  It is the very walking which has developed this tolerance for the heat and humidity.  Not so many years ago, a walk in outside in summer would have triggered a migraine headache - the sun, the heat, and the exercise combine to produce the worst of headaches!

This doesn't come in an afternoon or in a week.  It takes persistence and care.  Of course, if you have other health problems, you shouldn't attempt walks or other activities that might aggravate those problems.  But, if you're generally healthy, stretching out your walks in the heat and humidity, slowly over the days and weeks of heat, you'll find that, one day, it just won't sap you like it used to.

Take care, but get there if you can.


*************************** 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.

Who Is This Scott Jurek Guy?

I just finished reading an article about Scott Jurek, an ultramarathoner who runs 100 miles races.  ONE HUNDRED MILES!!! What's he thinking?  Well, actually, he admits to doing more hallucinating during those runs than thinking.  No surprise! *

What did I learn from this article about Scott Jurek?  Well, first I learned a new word, 'ultramarathoner'.  Then, I learned that there is more than one human who runs them.  But, most importantly, I learned that his opinion of those who are not ultramarathoners is pretty cool.

When asked if he thought mere marathoners were wimps, he responded:
"It's totally cool to run a marathon.  I still appreciate somebody who takes six or seven hours to complete one.  Sometimes running around the block is a lot for somebody.  So I definitely don't liik at a marathon as a drop in the bucket."

Thank you, Mr. Jurek.  You have validated all of us who can't even run - but do WALK - around the block.  Even the mere walkers of the world are doing their part.  I concur!


*Time Magazine July 22, 2012, Page 60.


*************************** 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.

For More Encouragement

I recently signed up to receive newsletters from Leslie Sansone's website.  Just received my first one.  It's full of encouragement.  You might enjoy seeing it yourself.  Here's a link to the latest newsletter where you can find a way to sign up for the newsletter yourself.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=uyle7gjab&v=001ncxQURES3Asq3LpbVY_j8QWUF_o2RxrJbw5xe0CIQxQvVhI8GY4C8hcjtEGPsx
YzkJnSekCYysXS1ibcyR3jv69leEMIc9Z8b_GKimyXpf1oCb1uQ6FFh2uWMsZtlYEI

Of, use this tiny URL to get there rather than the link that has 193 symbols in it!
http://tinyurl.com/d3mk5q8

*************************** 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.

Walk And ???

What do you do besides walking to take care of yourself?  I dance and crochet.  I also read quite a bit, watch a few TV shows, and play a few word games on the computer.  This is ME time!  Time I worry about no one else.  Time when my mind can wander, work on solutions to problems without my having to think about them.  I am a person who enjoys quite a bit of private time, and since my husband is an early to bed guy, I have a couple hours each evening to spend mostly on myself - between cleaning up the kitchen, folding loads of laundry, and letting the dog in and out.  No kids here anymore to interrupt my silent reverie.

So, what do you do?  Do you have a creative hobby?  Patty is a crocheter.  Are there other crocheters here?  What about readers, knitters, wood workers, beaders, antique hunters?  You name it!  If it's an activity that you do because you love it and you can get 'lost' in it, then you're taking care of yourself.

Let us hear from you, please.



*************************** 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.

Struggling

Because of the heat and something going on with me (feeling overly fatigued and generally crummy), I have been struggling to get my walks in.  Here are a couple of things that I've put in place to get me through times like this - to anticipate them because they WILL happen.

First, I have a friend who is counting on me to walk with her.  I have two different friends I walk with on a regular basis, Sally on Thursday and Saturday, Kris on Friday, Sunday, and Monday, and I dance with Laurie on Tuesday.  Thursday dance, I'm on my own.  Same for Wednesday walking since I really have to squeeze that one in in the brief amount of time I have available between getting home from work and arriving at my Alateen meeting at 7 PM.

Having a walking buddy keeps me accountable.  It often makes the difference between my slouching on the sofa or going for a walk.  I have to be really miserable to deprive a friend of her incentive to walk.  Who knew I had so much power?  Well, I don't really.  But, both friends encourage me and remind me that I'll feel better and sleep better (a real issue for me) if I walk.

My walking buddies and I have taken refuge in the mall for our walking these past few weeks.  When the temperature is in the three digit range with high humidity, I'm loathe to walk outside.  I've done it, but it's grueling.  If I'm feeling energetic and don't have to look presentable for any occasion after the walk, I'm more likely to walk outside.  But with the drought here, the high temperatures and humidity, the mall has been a haven.

Patty shared that she has been relying more on her Leslie Sansone tapes when the weather is too hot.  I say Hooray! to that idea!  Any accommodation we can make to keep ourselves moving is a good thing!



*************************** 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.