Sigh...

Saturday:
Time: 1:40:06 - Distance: 6.46 miles - Avg Pace: 15:28/mi.

Calories: 753
Soundtrack: Heat

It's almost enough to make a girl want to stop blogging. See that pace up above? Compared to what I've been doing, that's hopping-on-one-foot speed. But I went to a track in Red Hook on Saturday to calibrate my Nike+ sensor, and what the track said was a mile (four times around lane 5 out of 8) was what my sensor had been calling 1.2. Yikes. And post-calibration, what appears above is what it gave me for my 100-minute walk. Barf. It seems unfair that I should experience a marked drop in self-esteem at having suddenly become a s-l-o-w walker when nothing has actually changed. I wanted to be absolutely sure, since I never changed lanes as I went around the track and previous tests showed more like 1.1:1 rather than 1.2:1, and so I decided to re-calibrate yesterday on our treadmill. I'm going to stick with this one, which said that one treadmill mile was equal to .89 miles as measured on the track. So I'm somewhere in the middle of my two extremes. Either way, my marathon is going to be a good bit longer than I had been thinking. Even if the outcome is temporarily disappointing, I'm glad to have it settled now, because tomorrow is my first day walking specific distances, rather than specific amounts of time. So not having calibrated the sensor would have started affecting how much I was actually walking--not just how I feel about it afterward.

Today:
Time: 50:05 - Distance: 3.06 miles - Avg Pace: 16.19/mi.
Calories: 357
Soundtrack: Food of Love

Today I went up to Rockland County for a walk in Harriman State Park on my way up to the outlets at Woodbury Common. It's snowier in those parts than it is here in Brooklyn, which made for a wetter, puddlier time than I had been anticipating. I also ended up teetering along some rather narrow, precipitous footpaths above rushing water, which kept things interesting. Didn't walk all that far, but it was pretty and different, and that's certainly worth something.

Holly, Jolly

Monday:

Time: 50:05 - Distance: 3.96 (0r 3.56) miles - Avg Pace: 12:38/mi. (or 13:54/mi.)

Calories: 461
Soundtrack: Heat

Wednesday:
Time: 40:05 - Distance: 3.34 (you get the idea) miles - Avg Pace: 11:59/mi.
Calories: 389
Soundtrack: Heat

Christmas in Columbia, Maryland. Yes, it was almost a week ago, but these above are the walks that flanked it. The second one was actually back in New York, and while I managed to avoid Holland Tunnel traffic, it took me so long to wind around it that I only had a few minutes along the Hudson. The Monday walk was on a bike path near my parents' house. Picture something like this on the right, only less green. More cold grey trunks against a lovely blue sky. It was a hilly walk, but picturesque and utterly without the bane of the city stroll: traffic! And Nike+ just shot me this. Good stuff.

A Damp and Drizzly Day

From my dad, the Mother-Goose origin of "misty, moisty morning":

One misty, moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man
Clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment,
And I began to grin,
How do you do?
And how do you do?
And how do you do, again?

Catch-Up

Thursday:
Time: 40:07 - Distance: 3.35 miles - Avg Pace: 11:57/mi.

Calories: 390
Soundtrack: Heat

Saturday:

Time: 45:03 - Distance: 3.69 miles - Avg Pace: 12:12/mi.

Calories: 430
Soundtrack: Heat

Today:

Time: 40:37 - Distance: 3.36 miles - Avg Pace: 12:04/mi.

Calories: 392

Time: 18:59 - Distance: 1.53 miles - Avg Pace: 12:22/mi.

Calories: 178

Time: 16:02 - Distance: 1.31 miles - Avg Pace: 12:12/mi.

Calories: 153
Soundtrack: Heat

I didn't actually go on three separate walks today. It was intended to be one 75-minute jaunt, but I had to stop and divide it up when I got to the end of the first volume of Heat, and then accidentally ended the workout rather than resuming it when I stopped for a moment. The first mile was inside with my dad, on the track at Supreme Sports Club in Columbia, Maryland, where we're visiting my parents for the holiday. And after that, it was out into the misty, moisty morning, as my dad likes to say...I think that comes from some book we read as little ones. But it was indeed alternately foggy-drizzly-rainy.

But the biggest deal of the whole thing is this: my dad and I walked a mile around the track, and then he had me stop and look at how far my iPod said I'd gone. And it said 1.1 miles. So if it is, in fact, always wrong by 10%, then what I think are 12:00 miles are actually 13:12 miles. So not cool. I'm going to calibrate it and have ordered something to hold it more tightly in place atop my laces, but I am not pleased. At least my walks are still for a certain amount of time, rather than a certain number of miles, and so I haven't been inadvertently under-walking. But I thought I was pretty fast. Hrmph. Gonna get this thing figured out.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LEGS?!?!

As I mentioned in "What Not to Do with Your Feet," I got me some sensitive skin. And while she has a great many delightful qualities, this is one I wish my mom would have kept to herself. Over the course of several cold-weather walks, I have been developing blotchy pinkness on my legs. It's become sort of rashy-looking, and when I tried to moisturize it tonight, my thighs screamed in displeasure. Not cool. Just wanted to share. This is not, by the way, a picture of my legs, but one I found that sort of approximates (sans electrodes) what the angry parts of mine look like. I think this person actually had the measles.

Hudson Views

Time: 40:11 - Distance: 3.25 miles - Avg Pace: 12:20/mi.

Calories: 379
Soundtrack: Heat

Tuesday seems to have become Manhattan walkin' afternoon. Hoboken by sunset is really lovely, and I only wish the walkway right next to the water were open the whole way down to Canal Street and beyond. Unfortunately, construction has it closed down partway through the Village, and so there are fences between the pedestrian/bike road and the water. You can see through them, of course, but it's not as picture-perfect as it might be. Ah, well. I timed the walk even a little better than last week, with the ultimate goal of getting back to school just as my 40 minutes were up. Darting in and out of Holland Tunnel traffic was tricky and slowed me down a bit, but overall, a good walk.

Thanks to You

Jen Kipley

Susan Currie
Betsy and Brian Kelder
Heather Glotzer
Willa Cochran
Susanna Styron
Jennifer and Dan Green
David Golaner
Kim Kahn
Jen Clarke
Lee and Susey Burgunder
Carol Sandler
and
Leanne and Jason Greif

have all contributed to my fundraising campaign, and I just wanted to say thanks!

Windy City

Time: 40:05 - Distance: 3.15 miles - Avg Pace: 12:41/mi.
Calories: 368
Soundtrack: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

So that's not really my pace, for the record. See that major dip above? My little doohickey fell out of my laces, and so I had to turn around, walk back, and find it, which luckily I was able to, but it meant that the chip thought I wasn't moving for two minutes, which obviously affected my overall pace. Harumph. Nice walk aside from that, but wicked windy out.

You'll Never Walk Alone

Saturday:
Time: 1:01:51 - Distance: 4.98 miles - Avg Pace: 12:24/mi.

Calories: 581
Soundtrack: Talking to Amanda

My friend Amanda came on today's walk with me--my longest yet. She totally kept up...or maybe I totally kept up...and we ended up with a very respectable pace. It was my first time walking all the way around Prospect Park, which allowed me to discover that from home to the park, one lap around, and then back home, is just about five miles. That'll come in handy when I get to mileage walks rather than time walks. It's fun to walk with a friend, too; the hour went really quickly and it was a great opportunity to catch up. Made me realize how much my mom lost when her close friend and walking buddy moved out of the neighborhood. Amanda's game for more walks in the future; lucky me!

Moonlighting

Time: 45:06 - Distance: 3.51 miles - Avg Pace: 12:50/mi.

Calories: 409
Soundtrack: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

Do I even need to say this? I think that walking late at night contributes to slower times. Duh. I'm proud of myself for getting out there, even if it's getting on in hours and I'd just as soon stay in, but I'm not going to be setting any personal records at 11pm. In other news, I think I may have gained membership to the exclusive club of competitive runners and walkers by crossing the threshold into the world of...chafing! The jury's still out, but there's this spot under my right arm and...never mind, you don't need to know this. It's past my bedtime.

City Girl

Time: 40:08 - Distance: 3.2 miles - Avg Pace: 12:31/mi.

Calories: 373
Soundtrack: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

This afternoon was my first walk in Manhattan. I brought exercise clothes to school and decided to use the time between an after-class appointment and 7:00 tutoring for a workout. Not bad. Didn't have to do a whole lot of waiting at traffic lights, and I did more than half the walk along the walkway next to the West Side Highway. Farther up or downtown or somewhere, there's space to walk along the water that's more Hudson River Park-y. The trickiest part was trying to decide when to turn so that I would end up at school at the end of the walk; it was my first time not doing an out-and-back. I estimated pretty well and finished up just a couple blocks away. And being in the FCI locker room when I don't have to be rushing to class is really nice; I recommend it. In fact, any time you spend lesiurely time somewhere you're usually pressed for time is a treat. And now...time for bed. Sending out well-wishes to my dad's ouchy foot!

Surf 'n' Turf

Saturday:
Time: 40:04 - Distance: 3.34 miles - Avg Pace: 11:58/mi.

Calories: 390
Soundtrack: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

Sunday:

Time: 50:06 - Distance: 4.09 miles - Avg Pace: 12:14/mi.
Calories: 477 - Shins: Like Buttah
Soundtrack: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry

Once again, I decided to move this weekend's long walk to Sunday, as that was the more convenient day to go on a little adventure out of town. I went back to Westchester, this time to try out the South County Trailway. The parking lot was easy to find, and the trail was right there. Great! The part of the Trailway I walked on has its redeeming qualities. For starters, it's paved and pretty much totally flat. And no motorized vehicles. In fact, I don't think there were any non-motorized vehicles, either. But there are some downsides. It's pretty darn ugly. Or, at the very least, not pretty. Most of it goes right alongside the Saw Mill River Parkway, and then, a mile or so in, the Akzo Nobel plant! According to my research, Akzo Nobel makes surfactants, whatever surfactants are, and they also make one heck of an eyesore of a building. Blech. This would have been a smart walk to take with a friend. Good conversation makes for a handy distraction from a hybrid limited-access highway.

What Not to Do with Your Feet

I use my feet a lot these days. I generally get a pedicure once a month or so, and the tootsies have been telling me lately that it's time. There's a place I like near Union Square, a couple doors down from our last apartment, and when I got there on Wednesday, I decided I would treat myself to a spa pedicure. That means extra wraps and scrubs and pampering for the feet, and ideally, a more relaxing experience. Right. The woman was smoothing away a callus on my foot with the pumice stone-type implement, and then...it hurt. "Ouch!" I said. And my foot was bleeding. No kidding. I pay for this?! Ugh. A little later, she put a mask-type substance on my feet and lower legs, and I immediately knew it was trouble. I have pretty sensitive skin (thanks, Mom!), and winter, with its chilly temps and dry air and the additional dryness of forced-air heating, makes it worse. As soon as the pedicurist put the green glop on my legs, I felt the skin prickle, and I knew that when she took it off, there would be red blotchiness in its wake. Again, not relaxing, but this time, not her doing. By the time I left, I wished I'd just gotten a regular old pedicure, which is what I will do in the future. Harumph.

Walked a bunch after school today, just around town, and I mapped it tonight (click here to check it out!). Over two miles! So I've decided that that was my cross-training: strolling with occasional stops for errands and shopping. Done and done.

Adventure to come over the weekend.

Layers

Tuesday:

Time: 35:08 - Distance: 2.82 miles - Avg Pace: 12:26/mi.

Calories: 329
Soundtrack: Potpourri of Shuffled Playlist Songs

Today:

Time: 40:08 - Distance: 3.09 miles - Avg Pace: 12:58/mi.

Calories: 360
Soundtrack: Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink

I've shuffled this week's schedule around a little. Usually my walks are Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, with cross-training on Thursdays. But my first chance to walk on Wednesday was when I got back from tutoring at 11pm, and I just didn't have it in me. So resty Friday moved to Wednesday, walky Wednesday moved to Thursday, and I'll try and cross-train on Friday.

Not a whole lot to say at the moment, as I should be sleeping, but I have walked. It was slow going today, but I got out there. My feet are a little beat-up from being on them all day and from a semi-destructive pedicure I got Wednesday afternoon. More about that another time.

Woodland Adventure

Sunday:

Time: 50:07 - Distance: 4.03 miles - Avg Pace: 12:25/mi.

Calories: 470
Soundtrack: Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink

I knew that it was supposed to snow yesterday. Ordinarily, my long walk for the week would be on Saturday, which was forecast to be clear and dry, but I had to wait for the Time Warner Cable guy to arrive sometime between 10 and 2, and that put a crimp in my plans. The charms of the sidewalks of Park Slope have worn somewhat thin, and so I decided to take this week's long walk farther afield. In addition to a 50-minute workout, I needed sweaters, both of which sent me in the direction of Westchester County. There is a nice, upscale mall there (known simply as "The Westchester"), as well as, I discovered, quite a few walkable trails. When I set off yesterday morning, decked out in layers of walking gear, the destination was the Bronx River Pathway, specifically, what this site calls "the loveliest part of the path," which runs from the Kensico Dam to the County Center. I had info on where there was parking, but when I got there, the road was closed off. Hmm. So I kept driving, and a little bit down the road was a sign for Cranberry Lake Preserve. Sounded promising. Indeed, when I got there, there appeared to be trails, but they were covered in a couple inches of snow. Had I expected that they would be plowed? The road was, though, and so I headed down to where I came in. But no dice--no shoulder. Had I come all this way for no walk? Would it have to wait until I got back to Brooklyn, at which point it would probably be dark? No way, man. What's a little snow? So, with my three layers of pants and two layers of tops, ear-warming headband and gloves, I set off into the woods.

It was lovely! Got plenty of snow on my shoes, but my feet didn't get too wet. Trees, a lake, bright sky...also uneven ground, which is often underfoot on wooded trails and is difficult to see when they are blanketed with snow. In fact, there was one other woman I saw out there, and both times I passed her, I tripped on a tree root. I followed a predecessor's footprints along the path for a while, before realizing that there were colored blazes marking the way, which helped me to worry less about getting lost.

So glad I did this! Adventures are fun. Now if it only weren't so cold out...

The Mindless Margin

Saturday:

Time: 35:03 - Distance: 2.88 miles - Avg Pace: 12:09/mi.

Calories: 336
Soundtrack: Mindless Eating

I decided to switch my Saturday and Sunday walks, because I had an adventure planned for Sunday. So Saturday was just 35 minutes, up 6th Ave to Flatbush and Atlantic, and then back home. I continued listening to Mindless Eating, a book subtitled "Why We Eat More Than We Think." Really interesting stuff, about the psychology of food and eating and portion size and how things like variety or large plates or our assumptions about serving sizes cause us to overeat. It talks about how to use these same tricks in order to mindlessly eat less, using something called the "mindless margin," 100-200 calories a day we can eliminate from our diets without even noticing, and that can lead to steady weight loss. What's more, the addition of these calories--100-200 extra calories we often eat without being aware of it--can cause weight gain whose provenance we can't explain. So I'm playing with some of these ideas. Having tried *diets* in the past that call for elimination of certain beloved foods, I'm particularly a fan of this quote from Mindless Eating: "The best diet is the one you don't know you're on." Word.

Dough!

Wednesday:

Time: 35:07 - Distance: 2.85 miles - Avg Pace: 12:17/mi.

Calories: 332
Soundtrack: Avril Lavigne
Thursday:

Time: 35:08 - Distance: 2.8 miles - Avg Pace: 12:32/mi.

Calories: 326
Soundtrack: Mindless Eating

It's far later than I should be up, and so I'll be quick. I wrecked my lower back rolling out croissant dough on Tuesday, and so I made Tuesday a rest day, uncertain as to whether I'd be able to pick up the lost walk later in the week. Got up early on Wednesday, determined that I was able to stand, and walked off into the sunrise, holding in my abs the whole way in order to protect my back. That worked out okay, although I was a mess the rest of the day. Aleve and a nap in the evening made a huge difference, and now I'm feeling pretty good. Just took a walk that ended after midnight--my latest walk, the day after my earliest. I'm going to try and not do that again...unless I'm in Scandinavia in July. The new audio book is great; more on that another time.

Silly Thoughts

Picture later; I'm e-mailing this one in. So I'm in bread-baking school right now, and we work in teams here to get our various doughs and other tasks done. My partner this week is a guy named Joe with a pretty wacky sense of humor. I was telling him a few minutes ago about doing the marathon with a charity team, and he theorized how funny it would be to compete for a charity that isn't actually a charity. "Like the phone company?" I suggested. "Exactly," he said.

Fundraiser: The Details Are Set

Saturday, January 19, 2008
Brit-Tastic Fundraiser Party and Silent Auction
All proceeds go to Sense - National Deafblind and Rubella Association
7:00pm
446 3rd St #1, Brooklyn, NY

Admission is £5 per person (about $10).
Click here and make a £5 pledge to get your ticket.

Auction catalog is online here.

Got something you'd like to donate to the auction or connections to someone who might?
E-mail me here.

Not a Vampire

Time: 35.05 - Distance: 2.9 miles - Avg Pace: 12:04/mi.

Calories: 338
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I did it! Got out and walked before dark! The advantage to this is the warmer temps--even took my fleece off partway through--and more people around, if you like that sort of thing. The disadvantage is that there are more people around, a lot of them in cars, and so I can't always cross a street when I get to the corner. This sometimes means crossing back and forth in the direction that's permitted by the light until my way is clear in the other direction, and that just looks silly. Sure, I could pause the workout on the Nike+, but it stops the flow of things. Today I tried to trot across the street shortly before a car was coming and got a window rolled down and something yelled at me. I think I like the catcalls better, but it's a close contest.

Southbridge, Massachusetts

Time: 30.04 - Distance: 2.5 miles - Avg Pace: 11:59/mi.

Calories: 292 - Shins: Barely Even Noticed 'Em
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Yup, this is about what the landscape looked like on my walk last night. Booooring! But at least it ended up being safe. You never know when you're the only one on the street in a strange, quiet town. But it turned out to be fine, and I dare say I was among the only people to duck out of the post-wedding festivities for a workout before returning to the convivial fried food fest that was the evening hours. Blech. And yet...yum. Since it's still daylight back here in Brooklyn, I'm going to try and catch some rays and get out for my 35 minutes before the early nightfall of late November. More in a bit.

Turkey Sandwiches, Turkey Soup, Turkey Casserole...

Time: 45:05 - Distance: 3.82 miles - Avg Pace: 11:47/mi.

Calories: 445 - Shins: Better in the Second Half
Soundtrack: Silence and Dad

Well, well, well...my dad may think he walks much more slowly than I do, but this morning, we both had our fastest walk ever. As a result of this and his other recent training (and maybe, just maybe, the travel involved), he's decided to participate in the London Marathon as well! Hooray! He still has to get a definite spot on a charity team, but he's got past volunteer connections to Amnesty International, and so that seems like a good bet. Will keep you posted.

This morning's outing was chilly, but by about halfway through, I was comfortable in most every way. Decided to do my long walk this week today with Dad, rather than tomorrow in who-knows-where, Massachusetts, where we'll be for a wedding. Of course, "long" isn't all that long yet, but it's longer, nonetheless.

Welcome aboard, Papa Bear!

Gobble

Time: 30:05 - Distance: 2.45 miles - Avg Pace: 12:14/mi.

Calories: 286 - Shins: Haven't Fallen Off Yet
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Happy Thanksgiving! Above are the stats from yesterday's walk. I switched around my rest days this week, making Tuesday one of them, so that my dad and I can walk together tomorrow morning. Last night's outing was pleasant--temps have been unseasonably warm the last couple of days (who ever heard of a 63º Brooklyn Thanksgiving?)--and although my pace dipped at the end, I managed to keep up a pretty good clip overall. Still strengthening the shins. There are some shin-specific stretches in The Complete Guide to Marathon Walking, and so I'm giving those a look. I've also just begun to read the section on marathon nutrition, which will hopefully be of some use. South Beach-style diets have been successful for me in the past, but eliminating carbs for a period of time seems antithetical to working out, to say nothing of the fact that I am in school to learn to bake bread. I'll see what Dave McGovern (author of The Complete Guide) has to say on the subject. Enjoy your turkey!

Step by Step

Time: 30:05 - Distance: 2.47 miles - Avg Pace: 12:09/mi.

Calories: 288
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Nice walk, but baby, it's cold outside! And still only November. I suppose that if I walked during the day I could incorporate some sunshine for warmer temps. Nick asked me tonight if I thought I was losing any weight, and I said that honestly, I didn't. Because I don't. Because I'm not. I realize that's not the point, and maybe it'll come, and maybe it won't, and regardless, what I'm doing is making me healthier, right? Right. Although if I'm at the same place that I was when I wasn't exercising, it does make a girl wonder. Of course, now I'm surrounded by bread, and so maybe I'd be in a different, softer, rounder place if I weren't walking. And let us not forget, this is only the beginning.

Life on the Farm

Time: 45:07 - Distance: 3.69 miles - Avg Pace: 12:13/mi.

Calories: 430 - Shins: Decent - Left Knee: Little Sketchy
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

First, I want to thank my most recent donors:

Jean Sandler
Steve & Maggie Greif
Geoffrey Greif
Elizabeth Stoll

Your generosity is hugely appreciated and is helping me to reach my goal. Hooray!

Tonight's walk was my longest ever--Paula told me so--and the pace was quicker than I thought it was going to have been, if that makes sense. That is, as I was walking, I didn't think I was keeping up the sort of pace it turned out I was. So yay for that. The first part of tonight's A, V, M was about markets and agriturismi that Kingsolver and her husband visited in Italy. Such a pleasure, and as I just browsed for a good agriturismo link, I thought, hey, what if we lived in one of those while we're overseas? I don't know if anybody actually spends extended periods at them, but at the least, it was not only a delightful window into Italian food culture, but it also gave me personal food for thought. Nice.

The Missing Lynx

Tuesday:
Time: 30:08 - Distance: 2.48 miles - Avg Pace: 12:06/mi.
Calories: 290
Soundtrack: "Songs to Sing" playlist on my iPod

Wednesday:
Time: 30:05 - Distance: 2.31 miles - Avg Pace: 12:58/mi. (toldja it was a slow one)
Calories: 270
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle


And some purdy pictures...

I did get a Pilates DVD this afternoon, which I tried out tonight for Cross-Training Thursday. It was decent, but it helps to have an instructor there live to kick my butt.

I'll Try Anything Once

You may be wondering where my workout stats and purdy pictures are. I'm trying out a blogger.com feature that allows me to e-mail postings to a special address made just for me, which then publishes them to the World Wide Universe. What better use of the time on the train between home and tutoring? Several of the people around me are snoozing, but I just had an invigorating! walk, and so my peepers are open. For now, I'll just tell you that yesterday's walk was, on average, my fastest ever, due in part to a burst of speed at the end, during which I tried to reach the corner of my street before my 30 minutes were up. I got darn close, and ended up doing what was probably racewalking, but felt like the Road Runner as he jets away from Wile E. Coyote. I think the pace of that quickest moment was 11:19/mile, but I don't feel as though it's anything I could keep up over time--at least not yet. But an interesting experiment. Today's
walk was slow, my slowest in a couple weeks. But I'm okay with that. Some days it's an accomplishment just to get out the door and start moving. I also ventured farther beyond our neighborhood than I usually do during my workouts, and discovered that outside our yuppie
enclave, more men have something to say to a woman walking by in stretchy pants. Nice to be noticed and all, but I don't have much to say back. And that is why we have headphones.

No, Thank *You*.

Below are the names of the people who have contributed to my fundraising campaign so far:

	Tom and Phoebe Styron
	Rose Styron
	Zack Hample
	Mike Sullivan
	Margo Wallasch
	Terry and Wendy Halle
	Jackie & Roger Norden
	Amelie & Bernei Burgunder
	Alexandra Styron and Ed Beason
	Sue & Rick Rizzo
	Allan Hillman
	Kay & Gary Stevens
	Patrick Mulryan

Many, many thanks to all of you for your generosity.

Just a Spoonful of Rennet

Time: 30:06 - Distance: 2.41 miles - Avg Pace: 12:27/mi.
Calories: 281 - Shins: Not Bad
Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

During tonight's walk, Barbara Kingsolver and her family (the authors of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, if I didn't already mention that) talked to me about homemade cheese. The first 20 minutes or so were a continuation of yesterday's audio introduction to Ricki Carroll and a workshop of hers that Kingsolver attended in Ashfield, Mass. After that, 19-year-old Camille Kingsolver talked to me about growing up in the kitchen. A delightful listen, as always.

But this is about the walking. Tonight's terrain was quite flat--considerably more so than yesterday's--and so maybe under those circumstances, last week's 12:07/mile isn't an impossibility. Just gotta keep moving those feet.

Eureka!

Saturday's walk:
Time: 40:08 - Distance: 3.15 miles - Avg Pace: 12:43/mi.
Calories: 367

Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

So the Shin Thing is not entirely behind me, although it did go away yesterday partway through my walk, which makes me think it's a warming-up-type issue. Not having walked in two days (due to Cross-Training Thursday and Rest-Day Friday) causes the parts to take a bit to get cranking. Wonder if there are some stretches I could do before starting that might loosen everything up from the get-go. The end of Daylight Savings last weekend meant that my 4:50pm walk ended in near-darkness. But listening to Barbara Kingsolver talk about locally grown vegetables and the virtues of cooking at home as I walked around Prospect Park at twilight--it doesn't get a whole lot better than that. And I know this is elementary to regular exercisers, but it kind of blows my mind that I find it very chilly outside right now, but when I'm working out, I'm comfortable in fewer and lighter layers than when I'm not. Maybe training over the winter won't be so bad (she says naïvely in the second week of November). As I look at the consistency of my pace lately, it makes me think that something might have been a little off with my measuring devices on Wednesday. 12:07's pretty fast compared to the rest of what I've been doing. But hey, if it's actually possible, I'll see if I can get back down there.

One of the most exciting parts of today's walk was stretching after I got home and finding that...I could touch my toes! I have notoriously tight hamstrings and generally only dangle nearby rather than actually laying finger to footwear. But sure enough--I double checked several times--I had my hands on my sneakers. Woohoo! Benefits galore to this walking stuff!

Never reported on Thursday's cross-training, which was a Magic Circle Mat Pilates class, my first at the Pilates Boutique in Carroll Gardens. The Magic Circle is a piece of equipment that looks like this thing on the right and provides additional resistance during Pilates mat work. Sometimes you put it between your hands, other times between your thighs or ankles. Anyway, the things about the class was that the guy teaching it wasn't doing any of the exercises. He was standing and instructing, and so often, he was moving too quickly. Not I-can't-follow quickly, but we'd-get-a-better-workout-if-you'd-slow-down quickly. So that was frustrating. I don't know that I got a ton out of it, nor that I would take another class with him, but it is close to home and I liked the space, so maybe I'll give it another try sometime with a different teacher. Finding a class on Thursdays, especially when I'm tutoring, can be tricky, and so I think I might invest in a Pilates DVD of some sort. Still waiting to get my bike back from the shop.

Fuschia/Fuchsia: Both Are on Dictionary.Com

Time: 30:08 - Distance: 2.48 miles - Avg Pace: 12:07/mi.
Calories: 289

Soundtrack: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I did walk yesterday (I'm writing this on Thursday), but I fell asleep last night looking for the picture I wanted. I was trying to find one of my Marmot fleece jacket, because I thought it was a good indicator of the weather, but it seems that since no one sells it anymore, there aren't any photos. It's kind of like this one on the left, except that the body is bright pink and the highlights are dark fuchsia. Anyway...the walk was good. Sunny and windy. I had a little of the shin tightness starting out, but it passed. I wasn't sure for some of the walk whether I was really moving that quickly. But the overall pace is looking nice, and at the end Paula Radcliffe (I admit I didn't know quite who she was until I looked her up, but she's hot stuff!) congratulated me on my longest walk yet. Motoring around Park Slope for half an hour is fine, but I may want to explore other environs someday soon. Oh! Important note: I decided to wear some capri-length bottoms for a change of pace. The length was fine, although the material--a thin spandex cocktail--seems to have left my legs a bit pink and spotty from the cold. But the main point is that pants with a seam right up the middle of the crotch are to be avoided for ladies who dress for workouts to avoid panty lines. If that makes sense to you, I urge you to heed my advice. If it doesn't, thanks for reading this far.

And the Winner Is...

Me! Thanks to Sense - National Deafblind and Rubella Association, I have a guaranteed place in the Flora London Marathon on Sunday, April 13, 2008. My job, aside from training like a rock star, is to raise at least £1400 for Sense between now and then. I'd be thrilled if you wanted to sponsor me--just click here to become one of a select group of phenomenal people lending their support.

Nice Talkin' to Ya, Lance!

I wanted to share this with you, because I'm excited about and proud of how my pace improved over the course of the walk. I also input my weight into my nano, and so it's now calculating my calories burned as well. Here are some happy things:

As I continued to move my feet more and more quickly (which is, I learned in my last walking lifetime, how you walk faster--not bigger strides), not a lick of soreness in my shins. Which leads me to believe I just needed to start using them and stretching them and showing them what they need to do for me.

I started doing a little of the classic speed-walking rear-end swing, and it really seemed to propel me forward.

At the end of my 30 minutes, Lance Armstrong came on and congratulated me for my personal best mile time. At the very end of the walk, I was actually doing an 11:52 mile, which is pretty cool. We'll see where I can get to and sustain it, but it's a nice feeling to be at that pace even for a moment.

I think I have a place on a charity team! I'll make an official announcement once I'm sure.

It was raining this morning, and then it stopped. And then I walked.

Sweet Charity

Before today, I had applied for a place on four or five charity teams for the London Marathon--the charities with which I felt the strongest connection. But I realized today that if I definitely want to do this, I should apply to every charity with spots available. I can get behind any worthy cause, and hopefully the people I look to for support during the course of my fundraising will feel the same way. Below are all the charities I have looked into, which means either applying online (in the vast majority of cases), e-mailing for an application, or printing one out at home. I still have 16 more to go if I want to get to the bottom of the charities page, but I'm calling it a night. Honestly, my backside is more tired from sitting on the couch and sending all these e-mails than the rest of me is from my training so far. I know, so far. So hopefully, one of these organizations (or the last 16, which I'll try and finish up tomorrow) will take me on. Because I think I could do some pretty hardcore fundraising.

Update: How cool! I just discovered that people reading my blog can click on the pictures below and go straight to the charities' marathon pages! So glad I didn't try to input all the links myself.