A winter walk

I decided to take advantage of a gorgeous weather day today to get a long walk done. It was mild, for the end of December, and bright, dry, and hardly any breeze. I needed to go to the retail park to pick up new specs, and looking at a map suggested it was about 5 miles from home, so I decided to walk it. As it happens, it was closer to 6 miles. I walked there, stopping a couple of times on the way, and then at the shops I had a bit of a wander around and stopped for lunch, before I collected my new glasses and decided to head home. Now, couple of things... I am currently the heaviest I have been for well over 4½ years, and it hadn't really struck home what that actually meant, until today. The 6 mile walk was okay, but after I had wandered the shops a bit, and sat down for a cuppa and sandwich, my feet were telling me they didn't want to walk more. An old familiar feeling of burning soles, just all round struggling with having to carrying my weight - plus, I was finding it harder to keep my pace up. I set off walking for home, but after a mile or so, I just couldn't face the rest of the walk and jumped onto a bus. When the bus reached town and was about to turn the wrong way for me, I got off, and slowed walked a further 2 miles home. I walked 9 miles in total, but it was a struggle for me, and a bit of a wake-up call. On the plus side, it's the biggest daily step count I've recorded since June, and I'm thrilled to see that chart go back into then green!!


Getting home this afternoon, I was pretty done in, and collapsed happily on the couch for a while. With a nap, lol. Part of me started the familiar self-recriminations (how did you let yourself get to this stage AGAIN? How do you think you're possibly going to run a half marathon or two next year? What the he'll are you doing getting worn out walking 9 miles? etc...) but I very quickly stopped myself. So, yeah, it's happened, and it's not ideal, but things feel different: I know I'll get fitter, lose this weight, and just get everything moving in the right direction - I feel really positive about the year to come.

I looked at the list of races I plan to run this coming year, and added it to the list of the ultra marathons I'll be volunteering or crewing at, and already I'm about 14 weekends 'down' for the year ahead!! Wow. Busy year, but I'm so excited about it. I get to start my new training diary and food diary on Thursday, and this afternoon I sorted through my old training diary supplies (stickers, motivational clippings, and so on) and getting sooooo motivated. My sister bought me some awesome stickers for Christmas, including one with pictures of kettlebells on!! (as always, click on the picture to see it bigger) - and even though they're too big for the wall calendar I'll be using again this year, they'll be perfect for using in my training diary!! I know it sounds daft, getting excited about stickers, but honestly, the more focus and time I spend with my training diary on an evening, the more focus on my actual training I'm doing too. It WORKS for me. Also, evenings can be a bad time for me when I'm feeling lonely etc. and reach out for food - so getting back into the 'scrap-booking' side of my training diaries is a great way to occupy myself and keep my hands busy on a night. Feeling so positive right now, and I couldn't be more ready for 2015.