April: Done and dusted!

I rocked the walking in April!

The graphic kind of looks like a thumbless hand,
with one finger pointed up. I'm Number ONE!

Only 1,110 miles to go, and with 245 days left in 2014, that means as of today I need to log 4.53 miles per day to hit 1500. Are you getting tired of me making these calculations and keeping such close track? I'm sorry if you are, but it's really been helpful to set that goal. And while it seems out of reach at times, it really isn't.

So far, anyway.

One hundred sixty-four miles beats every month since I started tracking. Previous high was 155, last September.

I gotta express how grateful I am that, at my age – I'll be 63 this month – I can comfortably walk five-plus (5.66, to be exact) miles a day, nearly every day. The weather kept me from getting out just one day last month.

I only wish I were seeing a corresponding decrease in my weight as I increase the mileage. But OH WELL. It'll happen. I'm confident. And if this is it as far as my weight goes … well, that's just dandy. Because I haven't felt this great in years.

I might take a day off today. Then again I might not. The schedule is pretty full, with a candidate's meeting this morning, a lunch date and another meeting in the afternoon.

But late afternoon is still open. Heh. And we can have quick-to-fix bacon-and-eggs for dinner.

Reassessing the walking goal

So Tuesday I calculated I'd have to walk 4.59 miles/day, every day, the rest of this year to hit 1500 miles. Three days later …

MAKING PROGRESS!

Yesterday was hard, though. I totally could have bagged it. I wasn't feeling well and didn't even want to go. But you know what? Having that goal made the difference.

I have to think that reaching it will make a difference in my health. And whether I do or not, walking as much as I do sure can't hurt. Usually I feel great about it. Yesterday was an exception, and I'll have days like that.

I hope I remember how glad I was to have done yesterday's walk the next time I don't feel like heading out.

I have some design work to do this morning. The plan is to work for a few hours, grab some lunch (the last of the turkey salad) and walk five more. I'm already dressed for it (yoga pants and walking shoes instead of jeans and Chuck Taylors).

NO EXCUSES.

Haven't heard from Joe. I guess he's not taking advice from political underlings like me. But he totally should. Heh.

So yesterday was a pretty good day

Yesterday I logged seven miles walking, 2.95 in the morning rain, from the service station (where I dropped my car off for an overdue oil change) to the dentist's and back, and 4.05 in the afternoon down by the creek with my husband. We managed to make it back to the car just as it began to rain again. We really did pick the perfect window of opportunity.

Today I think we'll be staying indoors. The wind has been blowing nearly nonstop since yesterday afternoon. The temperature has plummeted – it's now a balmy 17°. And it's snowing, but not enough to stick. There's a dusting on the driveway and porch, but I don't expect any accumulation. Should be back in the 50s tomorrow. Maybe this is winter's last gasp. I certainly hope so.

I've walked 178 miles this year so far. I might have to re-evaluate the 1500-mile goal I set for 2014. I must average more than 4.5 miles per day, every day, for the remainder of this year in order to make it. That will be challenging. I could try for five miles every possible day, to give myself a cushion, but there will be lots of impossible days this spring, with a travel schedule that is unusually busy for me.

Oh, well. Not much point in setting a goal if it isn't challenging, right?

We ate bacon-wrapped chicken tenderloins for dinner last night along with a delicious side of mixed fresh vegetables. It did take some time to prep, but once I threw everything in a saucepan it cooked itself down to a yummy concoction that I will definitely do again and again.

Sautéed Mixed Fresh Vegetables

• Bacon grease (or olive oil)
• 1 onion, roughly chopped into large pieces
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 red pepper, sliced and diced into large pieces
• 1 yellow squash, halved and sliced
• 1 zucchini, halved and sliced
• 1 small container fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Roma tomatoes or 1 slicing tomato, chopped
• Sea salt, freshly ground pepper

I had some odd little pieces of bacon left after I put the chicken in the oven, so I cooked those in a skillet and used the grease to sauté the onion and garlic. After a couple minutes, I added the celery and red pepper. Allow those ingredients to soften, then add remaining vegetables and cook on medium heat for about five minutes. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 20 minutes or so – less if you like crisper vegetables, more if your entrée isn't quite done.

This is one of those dishes that you could add just about anything to – black olives would be good, as would fresh cauliflower.

It makes a lot – I'm guessing it would serve a family of four normal people – but my husband and I had no leftovers. Which is kind of sad, now that I have a nice big refrigerator in which to store them!

Hope you both have a great day. I think I'm going to get my crafty on and finish a couple little knitting projects while I begin watching Breaking Bad.

Yes, sadly, I'm the last person on the planet who's seen it.

Thanks, my friends!

Nothing's more fun than publishing an all-about-me post and getting great feedback from wonderful readers like you.

Well. Some things are. BUT NOT MANY! Thanks to the nth degree. You made my day!

Look. Now. Over there to the right. Do you see the little orange-bordered rectangle with the number in it? Do you remember what I'd hoped to do by the end of the year?

I have just completed a thorough search of past posts and I canNOT find the one in which I said I wanted to walk or run 1000 miles by the end of 2013. Somewhere along the line I decided I was going to do just that.

And I'm so close to hitting the mark by the end of SEPTEMBER! I have to do 5.25 miles per day for the next four days.

Apologies if you saw this on Instagram
or Facebook. Chicken tenderloin wrapped
in a slice of bacon and baked until done.
Hands-down, this is our favorite dinner.

Piece. Of. Cake. Chicken.

Heh.

What I did find when I went back through last year's end-of-the-year posts was a promise to do some strength training twice a week. That has been a major fail. I have an excuse this week – I fell last Friday, hard, on a sidewalk and the heel of my left hand is still ouchy, which makes pushups and tricep dips uncomfortably difficult.

But I have no excuse for all the other months I haven't been doing them. I'd rather walk than lift or squat or push. I do like yoga, though, and I'm going to get back to my class tomorrow. It's been three weeks. I predict major soreness on Sunday.

But not enough soreness to stop me from walking. And I think my scraped knee will be healed by Monday and I may – may – actually run those last five miles.

I did it, I did it, I did it!

With one day and two miles to spare, I hit my August goal of logging 150 walking/jogging miles. Yay, me!

I won't be repeating this feat in September. But I don't have to. I'm just happy I was able to hit it for August, even skipping three days due to illness.

Did I say yay, me? I think I did!

The halfway point

This morning's 3.26 mile-walk (the third mile of which was at the blistering pace of 15:03!), I'm officially halfway to my 1000-mile walking goal for 2013.

From my Daily Mile training page.

Not quite halfway into the year, finding myself more than halfway to my weight-loss goal and 500 miles into the walking goal has me feeling Pretty. Darned. Good.

Today is a work day, as is tomorrow, and then I'm off for the third consecutive weekend trip, this time to the National Federation of Democratic Women convention. It's local-ish (in Charleston, WV), so not a long, boring drive, but I'm leaving super-early Friday morning in order to be at the First-Timers Breakfast.

Which I probably won't eat. Heh.

The weather forecast for later today and through tomorrow does not look good at all for much of the midwest and mid-Atlantic. The prognosticators are even throwing out the word "derecho," which strikes terror into the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of us who experienced one last summer.

If you're in the projected path of the storm, stock up NOW on ice, non-perishables and bottled water. LOTS of bottled water. Put some water-filled jugs in your freezer, too, for additional cooling capability.

If you lose electrical power, don't expect it to come back on in a couple hours, or even a couple days. We were without electricity for nine days last year. Had I known, I would have grilled all the meat in the freezer, which we could have then kept chilled in coolers. We had to discard about $100 worth of grass-fed beef. SOB!

Wherever you are, I hope you have a great Wednesday ... stay safe!