Last week, I signed up for a 10K. It isn't a terribly popular distance in the city, with annual races often being changed to 5Ks or 10 Milers. I can't remember the last time I ran one. So I'm focused on training for that over the next few weeks.
I know the ultimate way to get faster besides practicing is to lose weight. Which led me to think about my 20s and early 30s. Yes, I drank beer. Yes, I worked out. Yes, I ate good food. Besides getting married/eating dinner (yes, they came hand in hand), what exactly had changed? I'm tired of hearing all about how my metabolism is causing me to keep on so many pounds. No, there is something else, because I know plenty of people older than me that are fit. So what was the "secret?" I don't really want to change the way I eat or drink (well, at least not revamp my life). I'm not adding any MLM/Pryramid Scheme to my diet. How are so many of my friends able to do this? I've seen some of their relatives. It's not all genetic.
I'm completely anal and track everything. So it took awhile to think about this. And then suddenly it hit me...my friends with a ton of energy, and their weight issue is that the Medium at J.Crew is too small, where as my issue is all clothes at J. Crew are too small...they are active people. I am not active. I don't like "the great outdoors," hiking and camping are methods of torture, rollerblading is a slow method to cut of your ankles, etc. These aren't my ideas of fun. My idea of fun is hanging out on a patio, drinking a nice beer, talking to D, and playing with the dogs. And I have gotten really good at this level of fun.
When I mentioned this to my friends, Dl and S, they agreed. And it's true. Dl walks to work. S will walk to Starbucks for a morning coffee. They both work out, but they don't count things outside of the gym as "working out;" it is just something to get them to where they are going. My friends DLS love to hike, when they aren't running. My beer buds M and JF walk and bike, respectively. M uses his feet as his mode of transportation to a lot of places. Even as much as I think Crossfit is a cult, it is a lifestyle that many of my friends embrace, and it isn't going to the gym. It's a social thing for them.
When I said this to Dl and S, Dl said to pick a sport that wouldn't count as a sport but as fun. I picked walking. Mostly because it is easy, and doesn't require a lot of prep time.
I have used the excuse that Atlanta isn't a walkable city for far too long. I used to walk Guinness (RIP) an hour every day, and 3 on Saturday (hmmm, I think we got part of the answer to what changed). So I mentioned to D (not Dl or DLS) we should walk to Krog Street Market to get a beer. Or walk the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail. He agreed. Because we wanted to take Lompoc, we decided to walk the Eastside Trail. Of course, we did drive to it (We didn't think she had 6 miles in her). But it was something new to do. I didn't take my Garmin, I didn't wear my heart rate monitor. Hell, I didn't even see what time it was when we left. And all of that caused my heart rate to rise, but I resisted the urge to plug in.
It's a pretty nice trail. It is concrete, so I'll never be able to run on it. Judging from listening to how hard some people "pound the pavement," I'm willing to bet that thing has caused many shin splints. It was crowded for a Saturday after 10am (I do know it was after 10 and before 12 that we went). Lompoc enjoyed herself. We saw how quickly you can get from Old 4th Ward to Midtown... We were both pretty shocked how fast it was to get to the
Murder Kroger. To get to Woody's Cheesesteaks seemed a little longer (that was where we turned around).
On the way back we stopped at the dog store to let Lompoc have some water. Of course she pulled us into the store and 10 minutes later and $10 poorer, we left. By then I was having some technical difficulties. I was wearing jeans and sneakers. My jeans had begun to sag, so my thighs were rubbing on the crotch seam. My thighs are now jean-chub-rubbed pretty raw. But even still we kept going. We stopped at
Ponce City Market and looked at the directory. Maybe another day, since Lompoc was with us. We did get back to
Krog Street Market (we parked near there), and grabbed Lompoc some water and us 2 beers. According to Map My Run we walked 3.85 miles, which I did log for my shoes...but no calories or anything.
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| Lompoc at KSM, relaxing |
It was nice to get out and answer some questions I had about the Beltline.
Sunday, we decided we would take McMenamin to the petstore to buy food. We remembered, however, before leaving that walking to the store to buy a 25 pound bag that we would have to carry home might not be the best idea. So we drove there, walked 1.6 miles around Grant Park, and then bought the food. McMenamin enjoyed his walk.
So November is my favorite month. The weather is finally cooling down, there isn't 90% humidity, and a lot of the allergies have died down. So here is to trying to get a more active lifestyle. I don't really have an excuse not to walk to some places. I run all over the place, so even saying "that area is sketchy," when I ran by it 2 hours prior doesn't really stick.
I have mapped out walks to all of our favorite local watering holes.
Eventide Brewery is 1.7 miles.
East Atlanta is 2.8.
Krog Street is 3.5.
L5P is 4.5. We might Uber that one.
Oh yeah...and before we did all the healthy lifestyling, I did run 5 hilly miles. . And I ran up NEMESIS HILL. I hate that freaking hill.
