Downtown Freeport: A Walking Tour

I had a great time walking tonight! It was about 60 degrees and a little overcast with a nice light breeze. I had been planning to take a long walk tonight and had mapped out a simple route this morning - just a there and back path down one of the main streets in town. Not terribly exciting, but it would get the job done. I changed my mind though when I started walking. It was too nice a night to just walk. I decided to sightsee instead and headed towards Historic Downtown Freeport.

I love Freeport because the town is small enough that I can walk just about anywhere, given enough time Plus, the town has been around since 1827, so there is some beautiful architecture here. Tonight, I got pictures of some of my favorite places that I passed while walking.

This is a church that stands in the middle of the Piety Hill Neighborhood. I am not exactly sure why it is called Piety Hill, but I know from the where I am standing to take the picture, I can see at least 3 churches. This one really stands out, but there's a beautiful brown stone building across the street that always reminds me of a castle. I will have to get that one on my next tour.

This is the Wagner House. It was formally the Wagner Printing Co. and was built in 1903. Apparently, it was the first company in Freeport to have electricity. It was recently renovated and is now a venue for weddings and events. I have seen pictures of the inside, and it looks amazing! I just love that you can still see the old paint on the building.

This is the second and third floor of one of my favorite buildings on Main Street. It was a dance hall at one point and also a business collage. Now the first floor is jewelry store and the second and third floors are an antique mall/consignment store. My family and I have spent many hours wandering around there. There's so much to look at, plus the third floor still has the old ballroom with a balcony for the band and remnants of the business collage that you can see. 

This is not an old building, but my daughter's favorite part of downtown. This metal rooster sits outside her favorite restaurant.

She loves to go to This Is It Eatery for the macaroni and cheese, but I really like the burgers served on pretzel buns. And, the deep fried Oreos are awesome! Had to be included on my walking tour.

Sadly, I am not sure what is in this building now, but it catches my eye every time I am downtown. I think it used to be part of City Hall, but don't quote me.

This is the Masonic Lodge in Freeport. A lot of community events are held here from dance recitals to concerts, even the High School Prom. There is still an active Mason Lodge here as well. I remember dancing there as a candy cane in the The Nutcracker when I was 8.

This lovely lady is one of four statues that stand around the old Freeport Public Library. The library is undergoing renovations and you can see the weather has not been kind to her, but I still think she is cool!

And here is the old Public Library. It was donated by Andrew Carnegie and is the library that I grew up with. There is a new library on the other side of downtown now. It is nice, but this one will always be my favorite.

Total walk time tonight was 1 hour 34 minutes and I walked 5.19 miles with an overall pace time of 3.45 mph!! Woot! Goal is 4 mph, so I'm getting there!

Today's motivation:

My motivation to walk today was the act of walking. It was a crazy day at work, but none of that mattered when I started walking. By the end of the walk, I felt fantastic! The stress was gone and the world was a happy place again.

So, walking is good! Get out and walk. And, feel free to post your pictures in the comments below. I would love to see where you are walking to!

Status: Survived

I was recently listening to a speaker who was talking about trees. The whole message can be found here, but I'll do a quick summary. He commented that, during seasons where conditions are ideal, trees grow at a normal rate. But, during seasons where growing conditions are NOT ideal, trees slow down there growth and devote their efforts to those things necessary for survival. In life, it is good advice for us to slow down a little and steady the course when conditions are less than ideal.

Now, I said in the last post that I would let you know what I thought of the 1-3-5 time management method. I love it! Today was one of those days when I just needed to conserve energy and survive and this plan is perfect for that. I only have ONE big thing that I want to get done during the day. I can work on the moderate and small things as I have time. If I don't finish them though, it's not the end of the world. They can be moved to days that are less busy and stressful.

Wednesdays are my worst days. Work is busy, I am home for a couple hours, and then I have to go to another meeting in the evening that usually lasts a couple hours. I just don't have time. Oh, the bliss of only having one thing to worry about. It really helped my stress level today and I actually got almost everything done on my 1-3-5 list, including getting 10,000 steps in today!!!

I think my favorite part about this method is that I am ending the day and I am not berating myself for not accomplishing enough. Sometimes, we say things to ourselves that we would never say to anyone else. I would never tell my friend, "What! Really? You didn't get six things done AND make dinner AND take care of your kids AND go to your meetings AND exercise! You must be lazy, you slacker."

NEVER! I would never say that to anyone. I would be pointing out the amazing things they did accomplish during the day. So, if I would never say that to anyone, why should I say that to myself?

Only one thing. I only needed to accomplish one big thing today and I did more than that. And I survived the day. And I can start again tomorrow ready to accomplish even more. And, I don't hate myself tonight. I call that successful time management.

Tomorrow, 10,000 steps again and staying within my calorie count for the day.

Today's motivation:

This is Sarah Tubert and she is amazing! She is signing a song from "Hamilton" the musical. Not only is the song inspiring, but she is so cool to watch! I cannot watch this video without wanting to be better, to try harder, to do more. To be as cool as Sarah Tubert... and Alexander Hamilton. :)

Time? Time? Who's got the time?

I started working on time management today. Last night, I made a list of the 5 most important things I had to do today. I even planned out how I was going to fit those things into my day. So this morning, I got up and started working on my list.

I did get my 10,000 steps in today, and I managed to fit my stretchy band routine in while watching "Nobly, My Love" tonight. I love that I can combine non-walking routines and a little TV time! I also got 4 out of the 5 things on my list done... more or less. The problem is I don't feel like I accomplished a lot.

I am not sure if I just made my list too broad or I am still trying to cram too much into my day, but I think I feel more stressed trying to manage my time with a top five list than I do when I just have a nebulous cloud of to-do's floating around me in the air. I kept worrying about my list at work and how I wasn't working on it. And then when I was working on it, I was worrying about how I wasn't getting things done fast enough.

With a little internet research, this is what I am going to try for tomorrow:

The 1-3-5 Rule

The idea is that you have ONE big thing to do during the day, THREE moderate things, and FIVE small things. I think I can do that. At least, I can wrap my mind around this to-do list better. I'll let you know how it goes.

Today's Motivation:

The real reason I am trying to manage my time... because all I really want to do is curl up with some knitting and a good Korean dram-edy, even if it's just for a little bit.

The Week in Review

To sum up the week:

1. I have a crazy plan to train for a Disney race... that I will walk... at a 4 mph pace... sustained... for long periods of time! Yikes!

2. There is only 1 Disney marathon and it is earlier in the year than what I had planned on so I am now going to do a Disney Challenge which means doing a half marathon and another shorter race on two consecutive days.

3. I may still try for a marathon in November though.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS WEEK

The Good: I am now walking way more than I have in a while. It's been so much fun. I love walking to work everyday. I love finding ways to fit walking into my day. I love trying to be more active and my 6 year old does too because now I am more active with her!

The Bad: I am finding I have to manage my time better now. Extra walking and activity means less time to do other things (like sit on my butt and watch TV). While that sounds like a good thing, I am having a hard time giving up the TV/mindless internet time. So, the things that I really have to do are getting pushed to the side to make room for walking and the interwebz. I need to work on some time management this week!

The Ugly?: So, the downside to exercising more is that I have been feeling hungrier. Which means I have been munching more, making my diet pretty ugly. I have been tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal. (UserID: AmeliaBearhart - feel free to friend me). It helps. I would actually eat more without it. It's kind of my reality check to keep me from justifying overeating because I am exercising more. Obviously, it doesn't STOP me from over eating, but it does give me a reality check.

So, goals for next week:

1. Walk more than 10,000 steps a day, everyday.

2. Get a long walk in at least one day this week. (5-6 miles)

3. Start fitting in some other types of exercise - pilates, yoga, stretchy bands, swimming, whatever sounds good. I should stay balanced.

Today's motivation:

  

When it comes down to it, whether I succeed or fail, I tried and I am loving the new mistakes which only serve to make me better. Here's to a new week.

Making plans

After writing my first entry, my friend Sarah corrected me. Apparently the Disney Princess race is a half marathon, not a marathon after all. I was actually a little disappointed when I heard this. As impossible as it sounds for me to complete a marathon, I kind of want to now! I have been thinking about it so much and assessing where I am and where I need to be and making plans about how to get there that now, I just want to do it!!

I voiced my disappointment to Sarah and she has come up with a great back up plan. We are now going to do the Glass Slipper challenge. That means doing the Enchanted 10K on Saturday and then the Princess Half Marathon on Sunday bringing us to a 19.3 mile total by the end of the weekend. I am totally up for the challenge. Still not quite a marathon, but I may have a solution to that as well.

I need some proof of pace time for these races which means I am going to need to do some races while I train. My husband is originally from Indiana and one of his friends has been asking us to join him in the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon for the last few years. I think 2017 may be my year! That means, I have till November to get myself in shape and up to pace time and I could do my first marathon!!

The last few days have been spent doing a lot of walking. No formal training yet. Just a lot of walking and assessing. I found out I can keep up a pretty steady 3.25 mph pace for about half an hour which is how long it takes me to get to work. I have been feeling pretty please with myself. I already increased my pace time, now I just need distance. So today, I went for a four mile walk feeling sure I could be done in at most an hour and a half.

I started out at a pretty fast clip and I was done in about an hour and a half... but it kicked my butt. I was practically dragging myself home the last half mile. I could still move the rest of the day and even went swimming with the family, but if it had been any longer, I don't think I would have been able to move.

So, I'm starting to think about interval training again. Not running intervals, but mixing intervals of speed walking and regular walking to build up my endurance for long races. The Disney Princess weekend is in February, so that gives me about a year and a half-ish to prepare. Happily, the Disney website has possible training programs. I think I am going to start out with the 6 month Marathon training program for beginners. (You can find a link to it here.)

I'm going to be doing a LOT of walking.

Today's motivation:

I have been listening to The Martian while I walk and I am loving this book. I love it so much that I have already heard it once and immediately started it again because I didn't want to stop listening to it. Seriously, all I want to do right now is listen to this book. This is TOTALLY my motivation to get out and walk because that means I get to listen to this book! *sigh* I actually kind of wish I were walking right now.

I'm going to do a marathon!

My friend, Sarah, called me a few weeks ago and told me that she was going to do all the Disney races in 2018. ALL OF THEM! The 5Ks, the half marathons, the full marathons, and which one was I going to do with her. I said, the Princess because it was the first one I could think of and didn't put much more thought into it... Then I got a text from Sarah on Monday reminding me to start training.

So I am now training for a marathon. My goal is to walk the marathon. I have tried interval training and after about 2 weeks my knees were constantly hurting. I have also lost about 30 lbs this year while walking, so if it's good enough for weight loss, it's good enough for a race.

I currently walk at a rate of about 3 mph, which isn't bad, but not good enough to keep pace time at a Disney race. If I walk that at the race, I will get picked up by the bus pretty early on. That would solve the problem of how on earth I am going to complete a marathon, but somehow solving the problem by not finishing sounds like cheating.

Pace time for a race is about 3.75 mph or a 16 minute mile. So, I need to pick up my pace. My goal is to increase my pace to 4 mph. That way if I lag a little during the race or stop to take pictures, I won't fall behind too much.

My training plan for this week, is just to start walking more. Like I said, I lost about 30 lbs by walking and eating right, but I kind of took the summer off. I don't do hot weather well and it's been busy. I have maintained the weight loss, but I definitely have not been hitting the 10,000 steps daily that I was. So, I started walking to work again this week, which is about 1.66 miles. And, I am trying to add a walk in at lunch time too (about another 1.5 miles).

Just making a mindful effort to walk faster, I have picked my pace time up to about 3.25 mph. I think as I lose some more weight, picking up my pace will be even easier. At the beginning of the year, I was about 120 lbs over the high-end of my BMI. So, I still have some excess weight I can shed. That starts to solve the pace problem. Now, I just have to figure out how I can maintain that pace for a crazy long amount of time.

I can do this. It'll be fun. If I am walking 4 mph, I can finish a Marathon in... 6.55 hours. Huh.

Time to do some more thinking on this. And more walking.

I have walked to work for the last 2 days after not walking to work all summer and I am feeling a bit tired today.

Today's inspiration:

Or in my case, walking. :)