National Blog Posting Month

Introduce yourself!

How long have you been walking for fitness? How often, and where do you like to walk? Have you competed in any events? How did you get started?

Permalink Reply by Wendy D Mitchell on November 4, 2007 at 7:26am: Hi Margie. I used to walk a lot and then life kinda got in the way. As of this morning, I'm back! I figured I'd use my extra hour today (I'd just like to take this opportunity to say again how much I hate Daylight Saving Time.) to get back in the groove. Of course, I got started an hour later than I need to start to get into a habit that won't make me late for work, but I attended a party last night--tonight I'll be back to an early bedtime. I did three laps around our neighborhood--which was long enough to play through my Dixie Chicks playlist. Tomorrow, I'll be better prepared with a slightly more energetic playlist.

I'm not sure I want to ever compete (and I can say with confidence that I'll never go down the path Zoot did!), but I'm definitely going to aim for the shorter Walk For The Cure next year and maybe the three-day Walk For The Cure the year after that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margie Klitch on November 4, 2007 at 7:36am: Cool Wendy, and welcome.

I've done one Marathon (last year), and attempted another this year (long story). For me it isn't "racing," but an event. I always do the MS walk, I think this last time was my 10th year!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by srah on November 4, 2007 at 7:47am: I've been walking for a little over a year, wearing a pedometer and tracking my stepcount at WalkerTracker. I think I'm going to do my first 5k on Thanksgiving morning!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margie Klitch on November 4, 2007 at 1:11pm: Cool site, srah! I've been wearing a pedometer for a few years now, and keeping my daily count on a spreadsheet (OCR, eh?). I can tell that some days it's undercounting my steps, but it's a great tool (and when I'm out on a walk, it's usually fairly accurate).

5Ks can be great fun! One of my girlfriends wants to do a "Turkey Trot" this year. I'm usually busy cooking the turkey in the morning, so I'm going to have to figure out how to manage that; it really isn't a good enough excuse because it doesn't take all morning.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by srah on November 4, 2007 at 1:52pm: When I first proposed it to my family, I thought it would be a good way to get us all out from underfoot while my mom was preparing Thanksgiving dinner, but now she wants in on it too! So we'll all go out and do our Turkey Trot, then come home and cook/get underfoot when we're done.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margie Klitch on November 4, 2007 at 3:32pm: I'm thinking maybe I can get the bird in the oven, do the walk, and still have time to do the rest of the meal. We'll see... last year we ate at our son's fiance's family's, so maybe I won't have to bother with making a turkey that day at all. We haven't really planned that day yet. In the past the kids (mine are 17, 19 and 22) have camped out at the Best Buy to be early in line for the "Black Friday" bargains.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Toni on November 4, 2007 at 12:48pm: Hi, all, I'm Toni and I used to hike a lot more than I do these days. I have a bad ankle (an old break and osteoarthritis) and need to get over the fact that I probably need to wear a brace when I walk long distances, but the brace stretches out my shoe and makes it fit all funky and wah wah wah. For some reason, I'm letting that stop me. I'd like to reconnect to the outdoors; before I had kids, I solo hiked a ton in all kinds of weather. I do hike with my family whenever possible, but we've hardly done any this year. So, maybe reading your blogs and joining this group will light a spark under my bum.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Margie Klitch on November 4, 2007 at 1:07pm: Welcome Toni!

My daughter seems to be prone to sprained ankles, which kept her from persuing volleyball in high school. I'm glad we got her a brace and that she wears it for hikes.

Apart from the "fast and the furriest" fun 5K my daughter (17) and I did in April, I rarely have hiked with my family. I have a core group of girlfriends that work in the same business park I do, and I walk at noon on the city bike trails several times a week with them. We walk all winter, unless it's really blustery, icy, etc. Fortunately we have lots of beautiful sunny days in winter, since we're on the downwind side of the Rockies.

When I walk long distances I wear larger shoes because the feet swell.Maybe you can get shoes a size (or maybe only a half size?) larger and wear those? I don't know.

When I did my first (and so far only) marathon last year up in Estes Park, I saw a gal from Wisconsin walking in a fracture boot! She didn't finish... I couldn't believe she'd even consider it!

If you go back a few postings in my blog, you'll find links to some of the photo-albums of my walks this year which I've posted on tabblo.com

If you're OK with "short" walks, that's always a good way to start!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Toni on November 4, 2007 at 1:23pm: Hi, thanks for the warm welcome & the ideas, Margie. I appreciate them. My goal is to go walking three mornings this week and to do one hike, weather permitting. I'll be sure to blog about it and post pics when I do. I look forward to checking out everyone's blogs, too.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cerys on November 4, 2007 at 1:31pm: I can help with the shoe issue- when I started walking long distance I used the regular hiking boots that I already had, but once I started walking seriously with the ATC I put up the cash and bought a pair of regular army marching boots (they cost about £40 from a surplus store), and oh my god, the change was amazing. They lace up halfway up your calf, so they have extra support pretty much built-in, and a brace wont cause it to fit badly (I walked 50 miles in two days wearing as much strapping and bandaging as my physiotherapist Mum could put on my sprained ankle and still have it fit in the boot!). Those boots lasted over 800 miles of walking, and they probably had another thousand in them, had they not been left outside in the rain over winter.
If you've got a spare £80 or so, buy a pair of Magnums (again, army surplus. These guys know what they're doing when it comes to practical footwear). The only problem with standard army boots is that they have to be broken in- magnums don't have that problem. You can put them on and be ready to walk 25 miles straight away. I know walkers who swear by these boots, they're that good.

Sorry if I sound like some crazy army surplus sales-person! And good luck getting walking again!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Claire Rachael Pitt on November 4, 2007 at 1:55pm: Thanks for that info! Would you say they are for all types of terrain? Up mountains?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cerys on November 4, 2007 at 2:04pm: Well one of the guys I know who says he "couldn't live without" his magnums is a paratrooper, and one of the others is a navy seal, and both types of boot I mentioned are standard-issue for the British army, so even thought I have no first-hand experience on how they'd hold up to mountains I'd guess that they would do!; ▶ Reply to This