Leaping Around The Swamp, State of the Fitness

Awareness of the outside world. Virtual medal benefits The Leapfrog Group, a health care safety organization.

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Daily Walks

Early last month, I undertook an outing among the general public. Since I have the exposure level of a toddler at the beginning of day care, I spend the rest of the month under the weather. (Not Covid. I tested. Just garden-variety grot. Which is still with us. But I digress.)

I got out for a walk each day, sometimes in the morning with horses, sometimes later in the day, although, for a while in there, the walks were pretty short. [Walking Virtually NYC]

Monthly 5K & Medal Motivation

Walk location, Montevallo: Ebenezer Swamp. More pix, AL.com: Ebenezer Swamp: an ecological gem in Shelby County, 2012. Medal, Virtual Strides: Leap Day Virtual Run.

Medals are silly.

Medals work, at least for me.

Back in January, I missed the IRL race. I wondered why bother with a 5K walk on my own. What does it help? What does it prove? I know I can do it. If I want to get fit, there are so many other exercises that would benefit me other than more walking. As I said last month, I came down on the side that movement is good. Having that dangly bit of metal gave me the little extra boost to get it done. [Month of the Dragon]

This month, I could have talked self out of it easily. The thermometer had taken a nosedive. I was still (still!) recovering. OTOH, I had run out of month and I had a medal dated 29 Feb. If I hadn’t walked yesterday, I’d have to hold onto the thing for four years before I could use it again. It would not be my best walk, but it wasn’t going to send me into a relapse.

Walk went well. No down segments. More enjoyable having things to look at. Note, the tracker said 5K when I hit the finish button. Dunno where the 4.9K came from. Plus, it’s 4.99K on my phone. For the record.

Other Exercise

Tai chi. Stretching.

Trying to work in a second exercise session each day. Obviously the project took a hit this month.

Logistics

When I signed up for the NYC Virtual medal, I was planning on using it as a way to record 5Ks. It wasn’t working. Getting to 114 kilometers was going to take forever at 5K per month. I knew that when I signed up. More importantly, the set-up wasn’t motivating me, vide January. [Step By Step]

So I’ve gone back to 5K virtual medals. For preference, attached to an IRL run, but that is not always possible. (Maybe if I were getting horse show bling, I would not have my head turned by the shiny. Funny how it always comes back to horse shows, or lack thereof. But I digress, again.)

Current plan. Daily walking & weekly biking posted to NYC virtual, then resume Mississippi River virtual walk. Each 5K gets its own medal.

Onwards!
Katherine