walking...

so i'll start by saying... i hate walking!

that being said, it's my chosen form of exercise.

i even quit walking for about 3 months... no exercise whatsoever for 3 whole months. but that was when i was about to quit dieting altogether and that's an entirely different blog.

now, i walk between 3 and 4 miles a day. i usually walk by myself, but it not for lack of trying to find walking buddies. i ask everything i meet if they walk and if they live near i do. i've found 3 friends, so far, that walk with me on a regular basis. well, actually, one of them just quit walking with me. but that's okay because she is working out in the mornings with her husband. she said i inspired her to get healthy again... but that's an entirely different blog, too.

so there are two ladies i walk with two days a week. we usually walk for about an hour. the 2nd lady just started with us last week. i'm very excited to have someone else to walk with. the more people the more dedicated i have to be. no sleeping in. no hitting the snooze. no over sleeping. the more people who depend on me to walk with the more i have to do it.

but when i walk by myself it gets very boring. i have to keep mixing things up. i listen to different CDs, sermons, pod casts, audio books. anything to keep my mind occupied while i mundanely walk through the neighborhood.

i have to walk in different routes because if i walk the same routes, i get so psychotically board.

so i'm all the time planning new routes to walk and looking for new things to listen to.

it's great exercise, though. it builds great endurance. it helps me to be able to walk up three flights of stairs 4 times a day (at work). before i walked, i could barely make it up two flights. it gives me great energy, too.

so it's boring as all get up. it's mundane and monotonous. but its good for me. and it makes me feel good (well, not in my joints and muscles after a long walk). but all in all, i think i'll keep doing it. it's working for me, so far.