How far did you walk today? I thought about that question when we were watching a movie about the Oregon Trail this morning. For most of us a couple of miles, maybe even 5 or 6, is a good walk. Now imagine walking 15 to 20 miles every day for 5 or 6 months straight. By the way leave your fancy running shoes, water bottles, ipod, gps and power bars at home.
I don't know about you but I am soft, too soft. 10 years ago Judy and I participated in the Disney Marathon. We speed walked it. 26.5 miles later I sat down and couldn't get up. The next day I could hardly get out of bed. If Judy hadn't dragged me the last couple miles I wouldn't have finished. I know today I could not even walk a half marathon.
It is amazing that whole families walked from Independence, Mo. to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Yes, they had a small wagon pulled by either Oxen or Mules. The wagon was for all of their stuff. So they walked, and walked, and walked some more. All in search of a better life. These days I get upset if the internet is too slow, or if we park under trees and our Direct TV dish won't work. This afternoon we drove across the corner of Idaho in just a few hours. They walked for days. And when they weren't walking they were cooking or feeding livestock or fixing their wagon so that tomorrow they could....walk.
So where does that leave me? About a month ago I wrote a footnote on a post about an upcoming 30 day challenge. Well life got complicated and I didn't get back to my plan. I have lost 35 pounds since January and want to lose another 15 by the end of the year. So I am going public. I will share with you twice a week whether I have gained or lost weight. And I'll tell you how far I have to go. And at the end of the year I'll even tell you my starting weight and my ending weight. I am doing this to give myself an added incentive (embarrassment). It's one thing to tell you I had a "good" or "bad" weigh in, it's another to put the actual numbers out there. Your job is to help keep me honest. So every Tuesday and Friday you'll get an update.
Until later.
6 comments:
You are brave, John. I wish you well in your weight loss endeavor!
Good for you. Your strategy of a weekly report is a great one.
We are soft these days. Many of us anyway. I started a weight reduction plan then stopped also over the last quarter. I'm trying to work my motivation up again. Good for you for making the public commitment!
Way to go Dad...huge applause to you and Mom (so much better when it's a team effort). Also, because of this challenge, I will not be allowing the children to send you their Reese's PB Cups from the Halloween buckets (they've already mentioned sending them in the mail to you :)
We loved our visit at the interpretive center. When thinking of their day compared to ours we do have it easy.
Good luck on your continued weight loss. I was thinking I should go for a walk today but that is as far as it got. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Travel safe.
That's great Dad! Looking forward to seeing you at Christmas and seeing how far you've come. It's hard to go public and make the commitment. I've started working towards better health as well, so you are not alone.
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