Note to Myself, Really

Let's see, about four times per year for the last twenty years...that would make this approximately my eightieth attempt to begin a walking program. They say eightieth time is the charm, right? But I've got a good somewhat solid (with the exception of that one week) month of walking under my belt now, and I think I'm over the initial start-up hump.

I began my walking program in September by rising at 5:30 and marching downtown in the dark, and I still do that if I can't squeeze in my walk after I drop the kids off at school. As long as I'm getting to bed fairly early, I like starting out super-early while the rest of the neighborhood is still tucked in. Sure, I stumble down the block bleary-eyed at first, but who really cares how you look at 5:30a.m.?

And all this early morning business has helped me realize a great nugget of exercise wisdom. Thou Shalt Make Time for Exercise First Thing or Thou Shall Certainly Not Exercise. My mind will get in the way and come up with all sorts of good reasons and excuses why exercise would be best accomplished tomorrow.

Another benefit? I don't have that nagging "oh I should exercise today" guilt. It's already checked off my list. Done! One less thing to feel crappy about!

And yet another benefit? Healthier eating choices all day long. Why undo that excellent morning walk by eating junk? It's just not worth it. I don't want to feel sluggish and tired, I want to feel energetic and vivacious.

Okay, one more benefit, and possibly the hugest: better mental health all day long. I have read time and time again that exercise gives you a mental boost similar to taking prozac (only cheaper and healthier) but I guess I never really stayed at any of those 79 other walking programs long enough to begin to reap the mental health rewards. It's true. When I exercise, I can count on not feeling down in the dumps. When I don't, it's pretty much a guarantee.

Wait, wait, I've gotta mention my awesome website find that helps keep me motivated. It's called MapMyWalk.com and I find it to be a very cool tool. They've got a google maps interface that allows you to quickly and easily make a map of the route you have walked, letting you know how many miles you have walked. You can even enter your start and stop times and weight to determine how many calories you've burned. And the training log keeps records of all this for you. I love it...it thrills me to see my calendar page filling up with walks and exercise logs.