About a month and a half ago I started a walking program. I went from almost zero steps a day to over 10,000 a day. I will be the first to admit that doing it that way was not smart. I should have gradually increased my steps each day until I reached 10,000 but that didn’t happen and I paid the price. My right foot started hurting and each time I even thought about walking I wanted to not go because I was going to experience pain on each step. I called my son and told him about the pain. Told him that I really didn’t know what to do and that I might stop the walking program altogether. He immediately said that he had experienced similar pain in one of his feet so he went to a Podiatrist and the doctor told him that he would need either cortisone shots or surgery to relieve the pain. He opted for cortisone shots and the pain went away. He suggested that I see a Podiatrist. I balked and thought that I didn’t like either one of those options and that I would wait it out and hopefully it would go away. Well, the miracle of miracles it did, in fact, go away and I didn’t need to visit a foot doctor. Thank god. Now that I am consistently doing my 10,000 a day with no pain I am totally engulfed in the walking program. So when I was staying with Marti in Durham, CA I found a bike path and determined the route that would yield 10,000 steps…then to Phoenix, and again I quickly found a route including yet another bike path that achieved 10,000 a day easily. In Brentwood, there was the Country Club Loop which was perfect and now I am in Manayunk, PA with Nanci and I have found a local high school football field with a track and I do anywhere from 8 to 10 laps, and get my steps in. All is good…well maybe not ALL is good. There is this paranoia associated with “The Walk”. At Marti’s the only problem was that one day two elderly women passed me on the bike path and left me in the dust. I was shocked. The older one of the two was setting the pace and I couldn’t keep up. Bummer. Marti said to not think about it…stay in your lane…do your own thing…your own pace, etc. I got over that brief encounter. Next, there was Jeff’s in Phoenix. No issues there…no elderly women to worry about…just me and my pace. When you are doing this and there are no outside influences like fast-walking older women it helps you build confidence. The next stop is Robert’s in Brentwood. Again no negative issues, nobody blowing by me, rarely even saw the same person on my walks. Now we are in Manayunk, PA at the Roxborough High School football field and the track. Now I have serious paranoia. I go to the track, on foot, each day. Nothing eventful either going or coming. The stuff that I am going to share happens on the track. The first day, a woman, literally ran around the track, she is lapping me every lap I take… it is pathetic. It is so unsettling that I am actually thinking that maybe I should start jogging. Then there are the people who just jog. Just jogging even at a very slow pace makes me look like I am standing still so they lap me every other lap. Again very disconcerting. Finally, there are the walkers. I watch them, I see their slow step pace and I am still having a hard time keeping up. They are not lapping me but they are still faster than me. I watch them walk and can’t believe they are faster than me. Oh well, I will still plan to stay in my lane, do my thing and not let this bother me.
The other day I passed a woman…elderly…she had on shoes that were probably athletic although not clear that they were. She was in street clothes and wearing a broad-brimmed hat and had on a cardigan. All she was doing was walking on the street. I go on to the track and low and behold she ends up on the track and passes me. Come on…she looked like walking was an afterthought. She wasn’t dressed for it and was carrying some papers while doing the “walk”, but the worst part was that she was way faster than me…now that did make me feel bad. It was a blow to my self-esteem and confidence. I did actually jog for half of one turn around the track. Stopped after that and realized that I wasn’t going to let her affect my program. By god, I was going to continue my walk at a snail’s pace and that was that. I do believe that someday soon I will alter my effort to include at least part jogging to make me feel better and get my cardio up for part of the walk. Who knows maybe in time I will jog all the way around the track, lap after lap…also that will probably happen when pigs fly. No matter…I have decided that to each his own. Whatever I do is fine and whatever they do is also fine. Maybe I will start listening to faster music on my Air Pods. That might cause me to pick up the pace. I want to end this with the following thought. A few months ago I was literally sitting around all day watching TV. Now I spend well over an hour every day walking. Some people say walking is the perfect exercise…what it does for me is make me feel better about my daily life. I feel like I am accomplishing something positive and at least during that time I am active and helping myself stay healthier. I cannot help being competitive…I do think about the walkers and joggers that I share that track with and can’t help comparing my pace with others. I am resigned to doing what I can and at a pace that I can live with. The results will be the results and at the end of the day, it provided some material for the blog. Be active, be well, be healthy and enjoy your life…also consider a soundtrack for your life. Music is a great partner.
