Stepping it up

I woke up to the aftermath of thunderstorms with lots of angry looking clouds in the sky. I sat down at the computer and thought ... "I can't go for my morning walk. I have no umbrella, no raincoat, no way to protect myself if it starts to rain and walking faster is just NOT an option." I wasn't going to do it. Not even the sight of my precious Fancy Pants looking pitifully at me motivated me this morning.

Then I went online and started reading my e-mail. I came to one from a friend in a Yahoo! women's support group I belong to, which was a response to my own e-mail to said group last night about not pushing myself hard enough. I started to feel like I was letting those who believe in me down. More importantly, I felt like I was letting myself down!

So, with a big sigh ... off I went. I was going to do two laps around my small block to increase time and distance. When I rounded the last corner, on the first lap, to head for home I was huffing and puffing. I was having a hard time breathing because of the humidity level and my sinuses. My knees were aching. I knew if I made it to my house, that one time around would be it.

So ... I did a 180 and headed back the way I came. More than one way to increase distance and time and ensure I didn't cheat myself by giving up after the first round! It was hard. Man, my knees were really throbbing and screaming in pain when I turned the final corner toward home. I wasn't even sure I could make it home! I had no choice. No place to sit down, so I had to push on. The entire walk took me 25 minutes ... I increased the distance (almost doubling it) and the time (ten minutes more than I had been doing up until yesterday when I made my usual walk last 20 minutes). Goal accomplished because I read that one e-mail and knew if I didn't walk today I was only hurting myself.

Thank you, Mary, for the inspiration to get me moving this morning. I was so pumped after watching "The Biggest Loser" last night but my enthusiasm had waned overnight. You managed to remind of how pumped I had been and that was enough to get me out the door. And the rain held off. I made the entire walk dry (if sweat doesn't count)! Maybe I should watch the show in the mornings to motivate myself. I did DVR it so I have it in case I want to watch again. I may just do that when I feel like sitting on my butt instead of walking. It will at least get me up and moving!

I stepped up today? How did you do?