April 17, 2011

Making progress

If you've ever put a 1000 piece puzzle together without doing the edges first, then you know how I do things.
I roam all over the place, getting things done, but it's usually not what I started out to do. Yesterday, I started out to do the curtain rods in the kitchen, and ended up taking most of the morning because I did so many other things too.
I have many plans and will do them as I get to them, but I don't know when.

I am probably going to be unemployable soon. I feel as if I'm losing my hold on reality.

Despite how I feel, I've made some real progress this past week and I plan to take advantage of the warmer weather to continue to make progress.

When I was fat, hot weather was horrible. My layers of insulation made me overheated all the time. Walking around in nice clothing was a disaster. I was always too hot.

When I got married in 1976, I weighed 155 (5'7") and was active all the time. Working up a sweat felt good because I was comfortable getting a workout. As I gained weight, I didn't have to work as hard to work up a sweat. When I was my heaviest, I sweated all the time, and was out of breath most of that time.
Now, it is a mixed bag because age has been factored into the equation. I am not as fat anymore. I don't sweat as much, as before, but I get tired much quicker than when I was younger. I can forge ahead if I can get some sugar into my system.
I keep hydrated, and it now takes quite an effort for me to work up a sweat. I do get winded, but can keep going for quite some time. I still haven't tried jogging but am getting closer. I walk along at a very brisk pace compared to before.
I walked with a friend on a rail trail this week, and we measured about 3 miles round trip. But, he strolls rather than exercises. So, all in one day, I walked with him, cut the lawn, and then took a second walk of about a mile at my much faster pace. The next day, I crashed. I took a two hour nap in order to start feeling alive again.

But, I am making progress. Today, I took a drive, and stopped off at Muddy Run State park in the southern end of the county. They have a rather large lake. It is very shallow, and they have boat rentals. I found out today that they have Kayak rentals so I spoke with the owner and got enough information to know that I should be able to rent one and be reasonably sure that I won't drown myself by trying my hand at it. There is enough of an area that I can paddle around and still be close enough to the dock in case I get tired. If I want to go for longer trips later, there is plenty of space to do that too. He estimated a round trip at a leisurely pace should take about an hour and a half. It is very scenic too. My wife and kids have rented an electric rowboat there many times.
I wasn't sure how I would feel about going there again because there are so many memories. I can see my two dogs walking with us across the bridge, over the water to the trail. I remember walks around the lake with my wife, although we never quite made it all the way around in one trip. We walked different parts of the trail every time we went.
Muddy Run was a good place for us to stop to use the restrooms and sometimes get something to eat after a nice, long southern drive on a Sunday. We took the kids to the nature center there many times, and fed the geese and ducks too.
Today, after I spoke with the owner of the boats, I went to the other end of the park and took a walk up the hill. It was pretty steep and the few extra pounds I have slowed me down. My jeans are too tight now too, so they really felt uncomfortable and hindered my progress. I got a bit out of breath, but I pushed on to the top. Then, I took my time coming down and around to where I started. The wind was blowing and it was chilly, but the bright sunlight made the day very pleasant. I much prefer looser pants for walking and look forward to when I can wear my shorts again.

This coming week is the Easter holiday, and my bus driving week will be kind of strange with different schools having different schedules. One school has school next Monday due to a snow make up day. The rest are off. I will take advantage of the time off by trying to get more work done on the house as well as getting more exercise.
My diet is back on track, although I still have to become a bit more strict. I cheated a bit this weekend.
Let's see what happens....
Life is good!

1 comment:

Larraine said...

Kayaking! I have been wanting to try that for a while. Let me know if you were comfortable in one of those things. I saw Ruby on Style and she fit in one, so I'm guessing I can also!