So I haven't been streaking. With the walking that is. (Or any other kind of streaking either. :p) However, I HAVE been getting in the occasional 3-miles of walking, probably only about once a week, but still. I haven't given up on this walking streaking thing yet.
I just got back from a brisk 15-minute after dinner walk. Together with walking to work, from work to campus (got a ride back to work from campus), and walking back home, that should add up to at least an hour of walking or about 3 miles. Woot! I've decided that I'm going to break my streak this time, starting today. Yes, yes, my current streak is only 3 days. That just means this is totally doable!
Check back in on Monday to see if I actually break the streak this time.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
3 miles
Well it hasn't quite been a year since I last posted...
This evening I went for a 3-mile walk. A bit more than 3 miles, even. It was definitely over an hour of walking, and I was trying to keep up a brisk pace, although there was stopping and waiting for street lights and cars interleaved with the walking.
Once upon a time, when I lived in the land of castles and lochs and a pretty canal complete with towpath 5 minutes from my flat, a 3-mile walk was...well...a stroll in the park. Most days I walked to and from work. I went on frequent walks with a walking group. I loved walking around Edinburgh. An 8 or 9 mile walk through the Scottish countryside was one of my favorite things.
I'm in a different city now, back in the US. This past year, my walking and general physical activity has shrunk to almost nothing. It's a short walk to work -- a bit shorter even than when I lived in Edinburgh. I haven't been walking. I live close to a park and a pretty campus with lots of trees and brick sidewalks. I've gone walking over there maybe twice. There are multiple hiking groups that I've signed up for. I went on one organized hike back in the spring. Sigh.
So what prompted tonight's walk? Yesterday was a Very Bad Day. Nothing horrible happened, it was just a bad day with my mood somewhere in the vicinity of the bottom of a horrible sludgy pool of muck. I desperately wanted to make today a bit better, and it has been better, at least a little bit. Knowing that getting some fresh air and exercise would help, and since I was already wearing my sneakers, I spontaneously decided to go for a walk after I'd finished my dinner. I intentionally picked 3 miles because, darn it, I should be able to walk 3 miles!
As I was walking, I decided I was going to make that my new goal: to walk or run 3 miles every day. Three miles is a decent amount of exercise, enough to feel like I've done something. To add a bit more challenge, I'm going to keep a count of how many days in a row I can keep it going. When I inevitably miss a day, I'll reset the count and see if I can beat my record. A couple months ago, I joined a gym, so I can't use bad weather as an excuse. I will allow myself to substitute spinning or using the elliptical in place of brisk walking (10 min walking = 10 min spinning = 10 minutes elliptical).
So that's the plan: walk 3 miles everyday. Let's see how long I can keep this going.
This evening I went for a 3-mile walk. A bit more than 3 miles, even. It was definitely over an hour of walking, and I was trying to keep up a brisk pace, although there was stopping and waiting for street lights and cars interleaved with the walking.
Once upon a time, when I lived in the land of castles and lochs and a pretty canal complete with towpath 5 minutes from my flat, a 3-mile walk was...well...a stroll in the park. Most days I walked to and from work. I went on frequent walks with a walking group. I loved walking around Edinburgh. An 8 or 9 mile walk through the Scottish countryside was one of my favorite things.
I'm in a different city now, back in the US. This past year, my walking and general physical activity has shrunk to almost nothing. It's a short walk to work -- a bit shorter even than when I lived in Edinburgh. I haven't been walking. I live close to a park and a pretty campus with lots of trees and brick sidewalks. I've gone walking over there maybe twice. There are multiple hiking groups that I've signed up for. I went on one organized hike back in the spring. Sigh.
So what prompted tonight's walk? Yesterday was a Very Bad Day. Nothing horrible happened, it was just a bad day with my mood somewhere in the vicinity of the bottom of a horrible sludgy pool of muck. I desperately wanted to make today a bit better, and it has been better, at least a little bit. Knowing that getting some fresh air and exercise would help, and since I was already wearing my sneakers, I spontaneously decided to go for a walk after I'd finished my dinner. I intentionally picked 3 miles because, darn it, I should be able to walk 3 miles!
As I was walking, I decided I was going to make that my new goal: to walk or run 3 miles every day. Three miles is a decent amount of exercise, enough to feel like I've done something. To add a bit more challenge, I'm going to keep a count of how many days in a row I can keep it going. When I inevitably miss a day, I'll reset the count and see if I can beat my record. A couple months ago, I joined a gym, so I can't use bad weather as an excuse. I will allow myself to substitute spinning or using the elliptical in place of brisk walking (10 min walking = 10 min spinning = 10 minutes elliptical).
So that's the plan: walk 3 miles everyday. Let's see how long I can keep this going.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
My Fabulous Orkney Tour
This past spring, looking ahead I was fairly certain that this was going to be my last summer in Scotland -- mine was never intended to be a permanent position, and the latest bit of funding was scheduled to run out at the end of the year. Usually I head back to the US for my holidays to visit family and friends, but I decided to do something different this year. Something like taking advantage of the fact that I'm living in Scotland! Something like trying to see more of this fabulous country, like maybe the Highlands! (I couldn't leave Scotland without seeing the Highlands!) Or, looking at the map, what about going to the very top of Scotland!!
A friend of mine (Hi GP!) had a great experience with Rabbies Tours, so I thought I'd see what they had to offer. I wavered back and forth between a couple of their 5-day tours, but finally I decided on the Orkney and the Far North tour.
I signed up for the tour, and although June was shaping up to be an incredibly busy month, I was so looking forward to the trip. Not that I knew anything about Orkney and I didn't have time to do any reading up. I just knew that it was up there at the top of Scotland, and I was going to get to places that I would probably never go to on my own.
The morning June 11 finally rolled around, and I made it down the the Royal Mile (only a wee bit late) where Rabbies buses load up. They do small 16-person buses, so the tours are more intimate than most others. There were only 14 on our tour, plus our tour guide, Karen. It was an interesting bunch: three couples from different places in Canada and the US, a couple from Poland on their honeymoon, two woman from Germany, and four woman traveling alone (including myself). Zeitha and Leslie were both from Australia, although both have ties to Scotland. Jane was from Toronto, but she grew up in Scotland. I would really enjoy getting to know these three ladies over the next five days.
I'm going to do a blog post for each day, because there is way, way, way too much to try to squish it all into one post. But here are a few of my favorite pictures below. The tour, by the way, was incredible and fabulous and amazing and really there aren't enough words! It's trite, but Scotland is so very beautiful! More to come...
A friend of mine (Hi GP!) had a great experience with Rabbies Tours, so I thought I'd see what they had to offer. I wavered back and forth between a couple of their 5-day tours, but finally I decided on the Orkney and the Far North tour.
I signed up for the tour, and although June was shaping up to be an incredibly busy month, I was so looking forward to the trip. Not that I knew anything about Orkney and I didn't have time to do any reading up. I just knew that it was up there at the top of Scotland, and I was going to get to places that I would probably never go to on my own.
The morning June 11 finally rolled around, and I made it down the the Royal Mile (only a wee bit late) where Rabbies buses load up. They do small 16-person buses, so the tours are more intimate than most others. There were only 14 on our tour, plus our tour guide, Karen. It was an interesting bunch: three couples from different places in Canada and the US, a couple from Poland on their honeymoon, two woman from Germany, and four woman traveling alone (including myself). Zeitha and Leslie were both from Australia, although both have ties to Scotland. Jane was from Toronto, but she grew up in Scotland. I would really enjoy getting to know these three ladies over the next five days.
I'm going to do a blog post for each day, because there is way, way, way too much to try to squish it all into one post. But here are a few of my favorite pictures below. The tour, by the way, was incredible and fabulous and amazing and really there aren't enough words! It's trite, but Scotland is so very beautiful! More to come...
Our mascot: A Highland Cow (not a cow wearing a viking helmet)
Flowers at the Falls of Dochart
Glencoe
Gorse on a hill
Me in my twee Scottish hat on the ferry to Orkney
Stroma
Broch of Gurness
Brough of Birsay
Skara Brae
Ring of Brodgar
In St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall
Flowers at Smoo Cave
Real Highland Cow
Along the northern coast of Scotland
Gorse in the Highlands
Just a picture I liked (near Carr Bridge)
In the woods near the Falls of Bruar
New Friends
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