Oh, the places to go!

Mom was able to come over tonight and sit with the six year old for a couple hours, so I was able to sneak one more long walk in before the end of the year. I was so excited!! I was practically running to get out. It's been way to long since I could walk for more than an hour.

My husband and I walked out of the house and he asked where I wanted to go. Everywhere! I want to go everywhere!! Let's go downtown... No. Let's go to Krape Park... No. Let's do a loop through downtown and then out to Highland and then loop around Krape Park... Oh, wait. There's not enough time for that. Maybe next time.

We settled with just a nice wandering walk. If we wanted to turn, we did. If there was a street we had never been down, we took it. If there was no sidewalk, we went anyway.... just more carefully. It was a great way to end the year.

So, Happy New Year's Eve from Pretzel City...

We passed through Read Park as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. Did you know the park has been around since the 1920's?

The ice rink/basketball courts are newer. I love that the Park District keeps it clean and usable. It's are hard to see in the fading light, but there were a group of guys out there playing hockey tonight. That's definitely one way to ring in the New Year. Although, who am I to judge? I am excited about taking a two hour walk.

Read Park also has a skate park. I have not been on it, but honestly, one of these days I am just going to get on it in my street shoes and have fun running up and down the ramps and jumping around like a lunatic. Maybe I will take the 6 year old. She can give me street cred.

I'm grateful tonight for the few splashes of Christmas that lighted our path since it still gets dark early.

I have so much to look back on this year, but I am excited by the road that lies ahead.

I think Dr. Suess said it best:

Total distance: 5.63 miles
Total time: 1 hour 40 min
Pace time: 3.37 mph

Not bad. Happy New Year's, everybody!!

The Stronger Wind

Normally, when I walk, I listen to audiobooks. They keep that whiny portion of my brain busy while I enjoy my walk. You know that part of the brain. It's the part that keeps up a constant monologue of, "I'm tired. I'm hungry. Is this over yet? This is boring." Yeah, that bit. The audiobooks keep that bit of my brain occupied and I can enjoy walking and looking around.

I was feeling a bit crazed after work today though. Frustrated and stressed and no amount of audiobook was going to fix that. Plus, it was cold out... and dark... and windy and even though I was only going five blocks, that little whiny bit of my brain was quite loud. I needed a new tactic to destress and unwind so tonight I tried "walking meditation."

Stay with me now. If you've ever tried meditation, you'll know that it can be very relaxing and helpful and a good way to center yourself. If you've never tried meditation, let me fill you in. It is not really as existential as it sounds. For me, meditation is a time to sit and to stop thinking.

You stop thinking about the conversations you've had with your family that are annoying you. You stop thinking about what you are making for dinner or when you can go to bed. Instead, you sit in a quiet, comfortable spot and think about breathing. You think about your breath going in and out. How it feels. How the air feels on your skin. How your body warms your breath. If you have any other thoughts, you just acknowledge them and go back to focusing on your breathing.

After about 5-10 minutes of this, you get up and it's like your brain has had a break. You feel really good and coping is so much easier. If you're looking to try it, guided meditation is a good way to start. Basically someone talks you through how not to think and keeps you focused on breathing. There's a nice basic one on Yoga Journal if you are wanting to try it.

Back to walking meditation. It's the same kind of idea, but you do it while walking. You stay mindful of your body. Your breathing. How your body balances itself while walking. I have been reading up on this to teach it at a TOPS meeting. (This is my favorite site if you are looking for more information about it.) Tonight seemed like the perfect time to give it a try; a windy, cold, night when I felt anything, but peaceful.

I started walking and thinking about how my body was balancing in the wind. How the wind moved around me and past me. How it pushed at my pants while I was walking. And as I kept feeling the wind, I realized that, even though it was blowing, it had to move out of the way for me. And, no matter how cold it was, my body could warm it up with a breath. Between me and the wind, I was the stronger of the two. That was comforting. I felt warm and relaxed as I got to my mom's house tonight.

I love having another way to take a walk.

Today's Thought:

After Christmas in Downtown Freeport

Tonight my mom stayed with the six-year-old and I finally got to do what I have been wishing I could do for the last 2 weeks. Go for a walk!

I know I walk every day. I walk to work. I walk around work. I walk in front of the TV in the evening. It's been so busy though that I haven't had time for a "looking" walk. The kind of walk where I am not really headed anywhere. I am just walking for the sheer joy of walking with plenty of time to look around.

My location of choice tonight was downtown Freeport. I finally got to look at all the Christmas window displays. I'm glad they are still up.

This is from the Wagner House. I love the sewing machine next to the tree.

I loved all the red in this window display. I thought the Green Bay reflection just added a nice touch.

This was the window from Rock and Rust Antiques. The dress on the left is so cute!

This was a fascinating window that we passed. It was actually the sculpture in the middle of the room that caught our attention. Apparently, they are working on a bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln during the Blackhawk War. This will be the clay sculpture that they use to make the mold for the bronze. It will be so cool to see this progress!

Here's the concept art for the sculpture. The work is being done in one of the empty buildings on Chicago by where Game Pros used to be. It looks like people can stop by any time and there's some historical information up in the room too. If you are walking by, check it out. They are also accepting donations for the completed sculpture.

We ended the night at the Hero Tree in Debate Square. It was beautiful all lit up.

It was nice to get out tonight!

My new walking buddy

My sister-in-law introduced me to a really cool motivational website the other day. It's call Habitica. You create a character. Then you input goals into the system. Habits that you want to work on. Daily goals that you want to accomplish. You can even enter your to-do lists. As you go forth completing your tasks, your character earns experience. You can join guilds with friends. You fight monsters. And, you take damage when you don't complete your goals. It kind of gives a new twist to the concept of accountability. If you aren't productive, neither is your character.

That got me thinking. If there are cool motivational game apps for general productivity, I wonder if there are motivational walking apps? You know, games you can play based on the number of steps you get. Think Pokemon Go, except I don't have to stare at my phone the entire time With a little research, I found a all sorts of cool things! Here's the first I'm trying.

Meet Jeffrey

Jeffrey is my Wokamon. This is a free app that I picked up in the Google Play Store. The idea is that there are these little Wokamon that feed on energy generated by the number of steps you take during the day. With every step, your little friend gains experience to level up. Plus, in your down time, you can click on him and he will explode in a shower of gemstones. You can then collect the gemstones to add bonuses to your character. The bonuses add to the amount of experience you get per step and your little guy levels up even faster.

Between walking to work this morning and some indoor walking this evening, plus a little frenzied clicking while the six year old was going to bed, Jeffrey is already level 93!! I love this! I am looking forward to earning some friends for Jeffrey now while I keep walking. Plus, the app will sync with Fitbit, so I don't have to carry my phone every where with me. I just sync my tracker like normal and then sync Wokamon with Fitbit and Jeffrey levels up like crazy!

I love having friends to walk with. :)

Feeling pretty pleased!

I have to say, I was not sure how the whole walking in place thing would compare to the long walks I was doing when the weather was nicer. I really love those walks. There's so much to look at and think about and listen to. I don't get bored on them. I really expected walking in place to be something akin to torture.

I actually had a lot of fun today! Our house desperately needed a good cleaning and there were three loads of laundry to do and Christmas presents to wrap and my brother's birthday to celebrate, so getting a three hour walk in was just not going to happen. I decided to set a step goal for 20,000 though. That would still require a time commitment, just not a three hour one.

Just running errands and cleaning house today earned me 5000, then I had some time while a cake was baking, so my husband and I turned on one of our favorite games, Madame Fate. This game is so much fun! You find hidden objects, you solve word puzzles, and then there are more complex puzzles to solve. It's great. Plus, time just flies by with it. You start playing and looking for objects and before you know it, two hours has passed. My husband controlled the mouse and I helped look and solve puzzles and started stepping... An hour and a half later, I had done 10,000 steps while playing video games! I could feel that I had done something too. I was starting to ache gently in all the places that I feel it in on my long walks.

I was pretty elated! I'm skeptical. I thought there was no way an indoor walk could compare with an outdoor one. I went to my brother's party feeling really good with only 5000 to go. We enjoyed the party and I was just thinking about how I could come home afterwards and finish my steps when my sister-in-law asked if we wanted to stay and play a board game, Arkham Horror. I'm a fan of Lovecraft. I couldn't say no. It's amazing how many steps you can get in when you are waiting for your turn though. I hit 20,000 before we left their house.

So, goal completed! I definitely think that walking in place is as effective as taking walks outside. I still prefer the outside walks, but I am thrilled I have an option that will keep me in walking shape while outside walks are off the table. Downside is that I can only do it around people that won't get antsy from the constant movement. Huge shout-out to my brother who tolerated all the steps during the game and my sister-in-law who even did some steps with me!

I did not make it to the top of my Fitbit leader board, but I'm OK with that. Some of my friends are getting 100,000 steps for the week. Apparently, I need to step up. :) Walking in place is a viable option though! Watch out, ladies. I now have goals and a plan!

Today's Motivation:

It's taken a while to solve my winter walking problem. Today, I am grateful I didn't quit because I have found an option that excites me. I wonder if I may be able to break the 35,000 steps in a day mark this winter. Hmmmm. Anybody got some movie recommendations?

A weekend challenge

The forecast here in Freeport for the weekend is looking better than most of this week has been. Friday, we have a high of 20. Saturday, a high of 22. And then Sunday, -3. If you don't factor in real feel, these temperatures aren't bad. It still doesn't sound particularly comfortable though for a 2-3 hour walk, which is what I really want to get in this weekend. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this and I have decided what I am going to have to do this weekend is binge watch TV.

I can watch TV for 3-4 hours at a stretch easily. I've got a list of shows I am dying to watch on Netflix. I just need a good dedicated time period. So this weekend I am going to binge watch my favorite shows while walking in place!!

I'm not the first person who has thought of this. LiveStrong actually has some tips on walking in the bedroom. Leslie Sansone has whole videos of walking 1-5 miles in your living room. I'm curious how far I can go during 3 hours of Korean dram-edys.

This weekend should be fun! Now, the big question is... what should I watch?

The real challenge though. Can I get to the top of my Fitbit leader board, by just walking in place?!

Today's Motivation:

Anything is possible. The challenge is just figuring out how to do it.

Walking tour?

I am willing to walk outside in temperatures down to 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit. I have no problems with walking in snowpants, a hat, artic gloves, and the longest scarf I can find. I don't go as fast, but I love walking outside so much I am willing to do it.

When real feel outside drops down to the negative digits though, that is where I draw the line. The last week or so has been rough because it is just getting too could to walk outside. I am having a hard time coming to terms with this. There has been a lot of sulking and wishing I could walk. I have tried to do more strength training, but it is just not the same.

I have found a solution though. I can walk the treadmills at work! I am not sure why I did not think of it before. I decided to walk for lunch today and not only did I get a good walk, but I got to enjoy some beautiful art! My favorite kind of walk.

So here's my "walking tour" of the staff fitness room at work.

This is a mural along one wall of the room. I think it is of Freeport, because I can see the bandshell at Krape Park over on the far right.

I would love to know who painted the pillars in the room. It looks like every side was painted by a different person.

Here's the other side of the sun pillar.

And this is the second pillar in the room. Apparently owls need coffee.

And the other side of the owl pillar.

I love the colors and the style of this one. Anybody know who painted it?

I know all this is a little surprising for a fitness area, but the fitness room at work was not always the fitness room. At one time it was the entertainment area for a skilled nursing unit, so most of the artwork from that time is still there. I wish all fitness areas looked like this though. It would make exercise so much more fun. I enjoyed my walk today!

The weather outside is...

I went out of town to visit family for four days and when I came back, there was snow everywhere! My husband was less than thrilled. He really doesn't do well in the winter. It's cold. It's dark. He has a hard time getting motivated. Oddly, I love winter for all the same reasons.

It's cold: I love layering clothes. I love walking in cold weather because I don't get as overheated and sweaty. I can walk for a lot longer in cold weather than I can in the summer.

It's dark: I love overcast days. I don't have to worry about keeping sunglasses with me at all times. I won't get sunburned. I don't feel required to be cheerful and energetic. I can be cheerful and energetic just because I want to be.

It's hard to get motivated: I prioritize better in the winter because I just don't want to do as much. Instead, I focus on the things that are really important to get done and I end up feeling more satisfied with my days.

So, this morning when I had the option of driving to work or walking, I was more than happy to put on my snowpants, bundle up, and take a hike through the snow.

We even got out for a family walk tonight. My daughter loves the cold and my husband tolerated it for the steps and we got to take a quick tour of our neighborhood Christmas decorations. Here were some of my favorites.

My husband said the snowman needed to suck it up.

Santa, on the other hand, knows how to travel.

I love looking at Christmas lights at night. My favorite part is just seeing lines of light shining through the dark.

At my house, my six year old went for the natural decorating today. Her and my nephew lined our whole porch with snowballs today. Apparently it took them about an hour and a half. Glad they had fun though. 

I am so looking forward to walking this month!!

Today's Motivation:

Bundling up, right down to the snowpants and boots so I can go for a walk in the snow makes me feel like a kid again. I enjoy it almost as much as walking in the rain with an umbrella!