My daily walk

To start my training, I have been walking to and from work steadily this week (steadily meaning two days in a row so far!) I have an iPhone 3G which serves as my music source and, at times, my pedometer. One program, Path Tracker, allows me to share my path with others, and I plan to use it to map the 3-day walk next August in the Chicago area. For now, it's just mapping shorter paths, such as my walk from work this afternoon here.

Starting a good habit again

This morning, my first day of fall classes, I walked to work. Work is 1 1/2 miles in each direction, and is a slow but steady start for my training. The trick with walking to work on the first day of classes is that I usually wear a suit that day to give me the feeling of being ready. (Even professors need to psych themselves up!)

Wearing a suit is not compatible with walking 1.5 miles in each direction with a 10 pound backpack and Nordic walking poles. On the other hand, making excuses like "I can't walk today because I have to dress up" is not conducive to making good habits to last the rest of my life.

My solution: I packed my suit and hosiery in the computer backpack and wore shorts and t-shirt to work. This actually worked very well, and will give me the advantage of having a suit ready at work in case I don't feel like packing my work wardrobe in the backpack one day. I felt a little strange dressing out at work, but I've fixed up my office so I can do precisely that. I even have facial wipes and makeup so I can freshen up. Now I'm ready to teach classes, and can change back into my shorts when it's time to walk home.

A single step?

I started training for the 3-Day walk this morning in a small way -- by walking to work, 1.5 miles, with my Nordic walking poles. I used to do this every day, but then my mother died in December and then all the excuses to not walk started popping up: "It's too cold", followed by "It's too hot", and the ever famous "I need five more minutes of sleep". All the excuses to eat the wrong foods followed -- actually, there's only two of those: "I deserve this ice cream bar", and "I'm stressed".

I suspect that anyone reading this (with the exception of those three blessed individuals in the world who can eat everything and not gain weight) can identify with this situation. Welcome to life as an overweight American in the 21st century. But it doesn't matter how understandable my rationalizations are, nor how easy it is to follow my all-too-human biology and choose leisure, sugars, and fats -- the result is that I have gained weight and lost physical fitness.

To be truthful, I have always been overweight, except for the times (like now) where I am obese. I will probably always be overweight. But there was a time in my life when, as one of my students put it, I could "walk up a wall and not get tired". And that was the first time I started training for a 3-Day Breast Cancer walk.

For anyone not familiar with this event, a 3-Day Breast Cancer walk is a fundraising event where individuals raise over $2000 for the privilege of walking 20 miles in a day, and then turn around and do it again for two more days.

Why, in Heaven's name, would anyone do this? I can think of many reasons: As a rite of passage -- I turn 45 next month, and I want to do something phenomenal to celebrate the fact that I made it this far. As a testimony to the power of a dream -- the dream of pushing oneself past one's comfort zone. As sacrificing oneself for a good cause -- I know many women my age and younger who are surviving breast cancer, and some who have not survived it. If I can do something audacious like raise $2300 (this year's goal), then I'll do it. And, selfishly, as a way of getting back to that level of wellness I never thought I could achieve.

I took my first step this morning -- actually, about 3000 steps according to my pedometer.