The Walking Thread

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Happy Saturday!

I thought I was going to freeze my hands off this morning since DD17 borrowed my primary gloves for her race. I must have been suffering from FOMO because I walked much further than I anticipated when we got home. That’s what happens when I don’t plan…either too short or way long. I ended walking 12.11 miles…not counting the approximately 2.5 I walked in downtown this morning.

All of my pics today are around the race atmosphere.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Hi walkers! I did today in reverse since 1. I went far yesterday and wanted to move past a little fatigue to get in a moderate distance today 2. Wait for things to warm up so I could have temps in the 50s vs the 20s. So, I went to the gym before it warmed up.

I got in 8.05 miles this afternoon. Not the most interesting walk but I took a picture of the fountains down by the Duck pond area. Not the right time of day but that spray on top ends up creating a rainbow effect when the sunlight is just right.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Aaaaand, I also got sunrise this morning!!!

Gorgeous photos!

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Happy Monday! Kind of a quick turnaround on posts, but that's how it is sometimes. I went 6.15 miles this morning on what I am now considering my standard weekday route. So, just shy of a 10k. I was going just over a 10k with my pacing before our version of winter decided to settle in. I know I don't move as freely walking in my parka, but I'm not much better when I'm layered. Both leave me feeling a bit constricted. There's also fiddling with gloves, hats, and my headphones that slows me down. I really prefer wearing my AirPods but the cold zaps their charge so quickly and then I invariably drop one every time I load or remove them from the case because messing with them while wearing gloves and walking fast requires too much coordination. I really should be wearing the earmuff style set in the cold but they don't allow me to flip around between songs as easily and I don't like their sound as much. The struggles

Tomorrow *should* be better conditions. Forecast says just a hair over 60 degrees when I'm scheduled to head out tomorrow morning. So, that's nice and mild. The only concern...rain. We have another cold front moving through tomorrow and light rain is forecast to start about halfway through my walk. I don't think it will be enough to don a pair of water resistant pants but I probably will wrap my rain jacket around my waist as a precaution since it'll be a cold rain should it happen. At least that won't slow me down as much. Trust me...I know our cold is not as cold as some of you (I see posts nearly every day from friends in MN), but getting out there when it's low 30s is still a bigger mental hurdle that 50s-80s.

Got a couple of the moon this morning as I started heading west but also turned around briefly to grab the early phase of sunrise. I wish I had time to mess with my phone to get better pics of the moon. Oh well. Speaking of...I got a new toy for my real camera. It's really for sports purposes but I intend to use it for wildlife as well. We're supposed to hit the upper 70s both days this weekend (little to no chance of rain) and I really want to see how this baby does with wildlife. So, I'm thinking about walking with my camera gear one of the days (camera backpack is more functional, better balanced, and almost as heavy as my weighted vest) and getting some HOPEFULLY better quality pictures.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

*OK, so I don't think my Monday post posted...so back to back posts today. Ooops. Aaaaand, I'm going to have to go back and redo the pics in a bit. More ooops.

Happy Monday! Kind of a quick turnaround on posts, but that's how it is sometimes. I went 6.15 miles this morning on what I am now considering my standard weekday route. So, just shy of a 10k. I was going just over a 10k with my pacing before our version of winter decided to settle in. I know I don't move as freely walking in my parka, but I'm not much better when I'm layered. Both leave me feeling a bit constricted. There's also fiddling with gloves, hats, and my headphones that slows me down. I really prefer wearing my AirPods but the cold zaps their charge so quickly and then I invariably drop one every time I load or remove them from the case because messing with them while wearing gloves and walking fast requires too much coordination. I really should be wearing the earmuff style set in the cold but they don't allow me to flip around between songs as easily and I don't like their sound as much. The struggles

Tomorrow *should* be better conditions. Forecast says just a hair over 60 degrees when I'm scheduled to head out tomorrow morning. So, that's nice and mild. The only concern...rain. We have another cold front moving through tomorrow and light rain is forecast to start about halfway through my walk. I don't think it will be enough to don a pair of water resistant pants but I probably will wrap my rain jacket around my waist as a precaution since it'll be a cold rain should it happen. At least that won't slow me down as much.

Got a couple of the moon this morning as I started heading west but also turned around briefly to grab the early phase of sunrise.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

OK, now that I've fixed Monday...on to Tuesday!!!

Today's numbers look fine. I got out nearly 10 minutes late and still went 6.05 miles but it was a morning on the struggle bus because of several poor decisions.
1. I've been playing with caffeine intake and how it impacts my gym workouts. We're not talking pre-workout or anything like that. I'm talking one mini bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. Well, that little guy helped my gym workout but I was still wide awake around 2am. I was up pretty much every hour, on the hour after that. I even had a bad dream where I was walking in nature, messing with my sweatshirt sleeve at a blind turn, and a juvenile bear bit into my sleeve and engaged me in a game of tug of war. Again, poor sleep and wild dreams.
2. With all of the unseasonably cold weather here of late, I've had to change up my skincare game. My normal cream routine has hyaluronic acid, which doesn't play well with cold and dry conditions. So, I switched to a basic face cream with SPF which is nice and gentle while also providing good moisture. Yeah, well I guess I didn't rub it in all the way and I spent 90% of my walk with a big white glob of lotion on the side of my nose. I'm pretty sure all of the high school cross country girls got a good laugh.
3. I dressed for rain, but it was also in the low 60s. I should have put on shorts instead of my water resistant hiking pants. It didn't rain enough to warrant the pants. Plus I've lost some inches since the last time I wore these on a walk. Everything... even my keys and AirPod case were pulling them down. The pull from my phone was the worst. Not exactly a pleasant experience to have to keep shifting things around because of the pull. My rain jacket came in handy for the first 1.5 miles but was not needed the rest of the way. The rain was also light enough that I could have survived without it. Thankfully, I had on a tank top or else I would have been drenched in sweat for no good reason.

This morning's pics...ducks just before sunrise, a gloomy and gray sky just after sunrise, and more dark clouds moving in towards the end of my walk.