My challenge for this past month was suggested to me by my friend Noli. I attempted to walk every street in Two Rivers. Didn't seem like it should have been too hard of a goal, considering the population is only 13000 people, right? It was a challenge, let me tell you. First, the weather this month seemed destined to make sure I wouldn't be able to get any walking in on my days off. Then, I faced another vicious enemy: loneliness. I can't tell you how bored I was walking for hours by myself. I spent these hours reflecting on my shortcomings, where I thought I'd be at this point in my life, thinking about how much I hate walking (when really I don't), berating myself for how I rarely finish anything I start, etc. The majority of the days I walked it was cloudy, which always puts me in a sad/contemplative mood, and the days I worked I walked at night, which always made me sad when I looked in people's windows and saw them gathered around their tvs with their families. So anyway, it was difficult spending this many hours alone. Finally, the last roadbump to achieving my goal seemed to be my body itself. I struggled with a sore hip until I got new walking shoes about halfway through the month, and my nose was so runny (because it was so cold out) that my pockets were literally packed with soaking wet kleenex.
I started out with the goal of actually walking the entire length of every single street. I kept that goal until today, when I realized I just didn't have the time. So today and today only I walked on several streets for only one block instead of the entire length. At least I can say I was on every street. Special thanks to my friend Heather from work. She walked with me a couple times these past 2 weeks and it really helped me keep my sanity. Unfortunately, I didn't lose any weight because I just eat too much. I did enjoy getting out and seeing the town after the long, long winter. I only wish I had kept track of how far I had walked, because I'm sure it was an impressive distance. On a related note, we had a fitness challenge at work the past 8 weeks. It ends Saturday (thankfully). I will admit that I hand-picked the other 3 people on my team because I wanted to win really bad- the prize is an ipod shuffle for each person on the team! I have exercised EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 8 weeks, even the days I was so busy at work that I thought I would die of exhaustion. And yet, despite personally putting in an average of 600 minutes a week, my team is 52 hours out of first place. Sadly, we won't be winning those shuffles. But I'm thinking I might buy myself one anyway, after working out so hard for so long. I posted a picture of the map of Two Rivers I used to chart my progress. That's a lot of pink streets, huh?
