Day 1. UGH!

Ugh! that's the only word for it. Hayden got up at 6 with a "numb ear" as he described it. I got up, checked it out, had him pop a couple Advil and snuggled back down to finish my morning nap. I closed my eyes and went "Ugh! My first walk today." I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, so I tried to think of what route I was going to take.

I love my sleep, and I haven't gotten very much of it in the last almost 90 days. As I lay in bed my mind started to wander from "walk!walk!walk!" to "if I clean the house this am, I might be able to sneak in a nap before Hayden gets home." and as quick as that, exercise this AM was forgotten.

I got out of bed and said "No! Today I am going for a walk!"

Time for breakfast. I've decided to keep track of what I'm eating since according to my lovely adviser, it's about 75-80% what your eating and 20-25% exercise that affects your weight loss.

So with that in mind, I skip over the sugary cereal Hayden and I usually share, and pour myself a bowl of Guardian. We sit down to eat, read a book, and I'm feeling pretty good. Maybe I should have one of those small oranges to keep my sugar up. Still feeling good. Put the second orange back after realizing I don't really need 2. I get Hayden's lunch together, and pop in a fruit roll up for his treat for the day. I've got 1/2 of one in my mouth before I realize I've even opened it.

Hmmm.. this is going to be harder then I thought. I'm going for my WALK.

Wait! should I bring my camera? No... she said not to stop. So no camera. I'm GOING for my walk!

Crap! I should have charged my iPod (well.. Shel's iPod.. thanks baby!)I wonder if I have time to do that before I go... hmm... where is my cord? I think its in the Wii bin. I need to sort through that and pack it anyways... NO!! I'M GOING FOR MY WALK!!

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I'm back from my walk!! Yay!!!

I didn't do an hour. I walked for 55 min, not counting the time walking TO school with Hayden, which I'm not sure if I should count or not.

And I stopped a couple times. I had to. Because my calf muscles felt like they were on fire. But it was only long enough to stop, stretch my ankles and legs and then got back to it.

It was actually cool. and I'm feeling pretty good about it. A little wet because I walked off the path a couple times, but it was cool. I saw a lot of beautiful birds out for breakfast, a totally cool new white water spot in the ravine. I also found another dead animal. Whatever it was has no skin left on it, and some pretty sharp teeth. I think it was either a fox or a small dog. It was curled up as if it had been sleeping, which made me wonder if it was an animal someone couldn't afford to bury, and it made me pretty sad to think about. But... back to the walk...

Will I carry through and do it again? Yeah, I think I will. Are there things I will change? Yeah.

• I'll charge my iPod. I think the music would have made the time go a lot faster.
• I'll change my route a little. There's only so many times you can pass the same house in an hour before they call the cops.
• I'm still on the fence about the camera. I missed some great shots today, and if I had it with me I might enjoy it a little better.

Do I have any tips from my experience today? Just one. I set my alarm when I left Hayden's school. I set it for 30 min, so that if I was walking somewhere far, it would be my clue to turn around and start walking back (so at the end of an hour I didn't collapse in the middle of no where and not be able to get home.) After the 30 min went, I set it to go off at 10 min intervals so I could keep track of the time, and it was a great mini goal t go "10 more min".

Whew.. now time to get down to business for the day.