Hurrah! I've been blogging and musing and being mindful about food and peripatetically exercising for 31 days now. It's been really good to have a focus to log all this stuff and also a record that I can go back and read about later.
I have written stuff all my life - most of it on little jotters, plans, dreams, lists, rambles, venting - I find the act of putting words to paper really gets me to coalesce my thoughts. I often think of my mind as this subconscious sea of words, thoughts, desires, wants, needs, memories, facts that is just milling around, and occasionally some gem gets deposited on the conscious shore. Writing seems to be able to direct these to arrive a bit more frequently - as does conversations with people whose minds I find fascinating. It is one of the reasons I miss my last boyfriend ( jeez - such a corny term for a 53 year old guy! But it fits.) - he had a marvellously magpie mind, yet was incisively sharp, clever, funny, witty and of course charming. I could talk to him for hours and never get bored. That's what I miss most about him. I am sure there are plenty more of those kinds of people around - I only have to open my eyes and heart to see them appear in front of me. Or start moving in different circles!
Well, enough on that. This is supposed to be about my exercise, food and weight! Hurrah for me! I have been on a nice little hike over at Shotover County Park - our local 'wilderness'. It used to be an MOD area where they tested out tanks I believe. Here's a list of interesting places I can go for more walks near me. I've been up Uffington's White Horse a few times - can't wait till I am fit enough to tackle that again. And maybe this time next year I will do a walk or cycle along the Ridgeway and find myself in the footsteps of history!
Urgh - digressing again. Heh - my mind is racing ahead of my typing again...today's hike. When I got to the carpark there was a horde of re-enacters milling about. Shields, swords, middle ages stylee clothing hehe. Probably going to redo some old battle. Lots of people with their dogs up there too when I plunged myself down the trail into the woods.
I started off thinking I'd just do a gentle 15 mins, stop then retrace my steps. But it was such a glorious sunny day, blue skies, just a hint of crisp bite in the breeze - perfect autumn weather. And the initial trek was all downhill...so I carried on. Luckily I met up with a bloke with his two kids and golden retriever, and asked if the path I was on was a circle. He was kind enough to say yes, and that it wasn't really that far, and did I have a map. When I said no - he handed me a leaflet and said - well, you have one now! It's such a great thing, this kindness of strangers.
I continued on my walk, coming across various people and their lovely and sometimes excitable dogs, a few joggers, a few cyclists old and young careening down the trails. Eventually the path started to go up and I had to step over fallen logs, hmm. Hoisting 300+lbs over on uncertain footing was an achievement! As was making it up all those steep slopes, my calves were aching, my shoulders feeling sore, my thighs creaking. I stopped every so often to have a drink and a rest, found a few perfectly placed low slung branches to perch on (thank you trees!) and kept telling myself how well I was doing :)
And having the map meant I could tell myself look! half way there, look! you've reached post 14...etc. I took the yellow trail which is supposed to take around 45 mins. Me, I did it in an hour and 20 mins. I am so very pleased with my effort, determination and actually getting there and persevering. Yay for me!
I'll post later about the day's stats - so far it has been a great SW Green Day: porridge for breakfast, banana snack, chicken salad & a bagel for lunch. And I'm doing great on the water intake. Oooh, I am soooo pleased!
heh - can safely say my mood is gooooood. :D
No comments:
Post a Comment