2011 walking thread

MaynNY:I have been thinking about printing out some flyers and starting a senior walk in the mornings.Maybe I will ckeck at the senior citizen center and see if they have anything like that or if anyone would be interested in walking. I think that there is one close to my house that has a park. If that is the case that would be good, because they would already be at the center. I would wait until it cooled off here though. I don't know if the center is large enough to walk inside, but I think I will check it out.

Heidi: Yes, I love gmap-pedometer. It's great for helping you create variations of your usual routes or just plan new routes.

Mscal: that's an excellent idea about starting a walk group at the senior center. I joined a nearby walking group on meetup and posted an idea for a walk a couple of weeks ago. But no-one else signed up so I did it on my own. The trouble was the meetup group is fairly new and the members are scattered over too big an area and it's hard to find common times for walking. I also get the impression that many are just interested in one or two mile walks, which is fine, but I don't want to drive for an hour roundtrip to a meetup point only to walk for 30 minutes or so. At the senior center, you'll already have a captive audience. 

I didn't walk yesterday at all. Will try to manage 10,000 steps today. 

Got 10,000 steps in today, most of it in the mall, the rest outside this evening when it got cooler.

It seems a lot of the country is being hit by high temperatures so I'm guessing most of you are taking it easy on the walking. I did 5,000 steps last night after sunset. I walked by the water (Long Island Sound) so there was a little breeze which helped. As a bonus, I saw a great blue heron feeding at the water's edge.

I don't plan to walk this evening.

Walking is fine, now that I can do it again. Wish I could say the same for ME. My GI tract attacked me.  GRRRRR.

mscal: an hour and a half was good esp in one go. I got 12,600 steps in today spread over three walking sessions. It's pleasantly cool out tonight, temp is now down to 67F. It'll be nice to sleep without the a/c for a change, though I'm rather addicted to my fan to keep the hot flashes at bay.

You will be surprised at how easily you can rack up 10,000 steps,by just doing everyday things.

Lazed about most of the day. Ate too much of the wrong foods. But did walk in the evening and did 8,000 steps.

Lena: I'm sorry to hear you are feeling so lousy. I hope the doctors can get to the bottom of it soon and suggest something to give you some relief. Don't be scaring yourself by reading too many research articles on your iBook. Maybe some lighthearted movies would be in order instead.

I went out early this am and walked 11,600 steps according to my pedometer. It took over an hour and a half and I was wiped out for the rest of the day. I don't know if I should do the same tomorrow or if I should give myself a day's rest

There is a great walking track near my house. It's a former rail track that the city reclaimed once the train stopped. They pulled up the track and it's called the Beltline. It is mostly covered by an umbrella of trees so it's shady and going both ways from end to end is about 9 miles but you can get off and on at many spots. There are always people walking, jogging etc. It's flat and the ground is "soft" as opposed to concrete. It's like being in the forest. I think I need to get an iPod and listen to music while I walk. Gotta go to work this am but will try to walk this evening as long as it doesn't rain. The temperature today is high. It's already 80 and will rise to over 90.

Hi Claire. I had a bottle of water with me which I drank during the walk and when I got home I drank half a bottle of a coconut milk with electrolytes. Should I be having the electrolytes while I'm walking?

Thanks for the advice, Claire. Much appreciated

Shocked myself today -- even though my Mystery Ailment is still kicking me, I had rads, got home, passed out for two hours and then ate some fresh cherries, and WALKED! 45 minutes, mostly uphill, too -- I finally did that walk ALL the way up to the top of my hillaceous street thing today. Yup I needed another nap when I got back....but OK I did it. If I hadn't felt like such crap this morning (and it wasn't downpouring) I'd have done my usual "park in the furthest parking lot from the building and walk, no elevators" trick but not today.....well maybe tomorrow, I'll see how I feel. Weather's supposed to be nice; I only hope I won't be exhausted and nauseous.

Way to go, Lena. How many rads will you have?