Weekend review

Getting 10,000 steps a day has been a challenge this week. I have been rearranging my schedule like crazy to make sure that I have walking time. I have even been getting up at 6:30 am so that I can get out and walk for half an hour before getting ready for work. That in itself is a feat because I do not do mornings well. I have goals though!!

Saturday came and I was thrilled. I would get to sleep in AND still have time to get a walk in the morning before my planned activities for the day! At 8:30, I rolled out of bed thinking happily about my audiobook. (Yes, I am listening to The Martian for the third time. Don't judge.) Then my phone rang. It was my mom asking me to come over because she thought there was a bird in her chimney. She was terrified and needed someone to catch it. At least, she was pretty sure it was a bird. Or it could have been a bat which is "just like a bird only uglier."

So the morning started out at my mom's house with donuts because if you have to spend your Saturday morning catching a bird, you need fuel. There was no bird after all, but by then Saturday had already began and the walk had to be postponed.**

I never did get a walk in during the day today. I got a lot done. I even got to go to a corn maze, but I still ended up 5000 steps short this evening. So at 8:45 at night, I put in my earphones and told my husband I was going to go around our half mile block... five times. Whoo! Not super exciting, but I did it.

So here's a summary of the week:
The Good: I got at least 10,000 steps in everyday this week and even did some stretchy band exercises a couple of nights.

The Bad: I could not stay within calories for the life of me. Have you ever heard of Michaelmas. I hadn't, except in Pride and Prejudice because that's when Bingley shows up at Neatherfield for the first time. Apparently, it happens at the end of September. My sister-in-law actually celebrates it. She makes a big harvest feast and the kids read the story of St. George and the Dragon. I can't tell you how good her apple crisp is... and apple pie... and stuffed mushrooms... and, yeah. Not one of my finer weeks.

The Exciting (!): After yesterdays post, I am totally in love with walking tours now. My problem with pushing myself to pick up the pace is that I have a tendency to focus on the ground. Walking tours get me looking up and looking forward. I am already planning out next week's route!! Hoping for 6-7 miles at the same pace. *fingers crossed*

Goals for next week:
* Keep up the 10,000 steps a day. - I keep thinking about increasing my daily total to something like 15,000, but I think that is just going to stress me out. If I hit 15,000 great, but otherwise, I shall be happy with 10,000. Especially, if I do some strength training 3x this week.

* Stay within calories 4 out of 7 days this week. And really, that would actually be an improvement.

* Keep working on the time management thing. The 1-3-5 rule has been helping my life immensely. We'll keep going with that.

Today's motivation:

My friend, Sarah, was my motivation today. She's the one who got me started on this whole thing. I love that I could call her tonight when I needed to walk two and half miles at 9:00 at night and she didn't bat in eye. She just started telling me about her day. I love her!

** Side note: There is actually a history of birds falling down my parent's chimney and then getting out into the house, so the bird story is actually not as crazy as it sounds. The whole problem could be solved if birds could only take off like helicopters!... Or be smart enough not to fall down a chimney in the first place.