A Neighborhood Walk...

About a month and a half ago, we decided to start walking. Walking walking, not just strolling along like we usually do. Walking with the intent of someday, not too far in the future, running.

I'm not sure what prompted it - the promise of spring, my mom's visit where we walked all over through the snow and ice, looking at the number on the scale post-holiday season - maybe all of the above. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit, but we felt hooked on walking from day one.

We tried and failed at couch-to-5k last year - I think we barely made it to week two. We figured that one of the worst things for keeping up morale is feeling like a failure, so we decided to start a lot slower this time around, with walking. We knew we couldn't fail at walking!

We're lucky enough to live a short walk from the nicest park we could ask for - Laurelhurst Park - it has wide, smooth paths with lots of different routes through the park, flat areas and steep hills. Perfect for walking, and perfect for running someday.

We started walking almost every day in mid-February. I used an app called RunKeeper to track all of our walks on my phone - and to set a goal of 100km in three months. We finished a just month later - we went 60 miles in 30 days! 

It's been so nice to get into a bit of a fitness routine - and not just because we both saw the numbers on the scale drop! Since we started in mid-February, we got to see the park transform into spring. We saw the very first cherry blossoms appear and we feel like we really got to know the park, even better than Sunset Park in Brooklyn (which was only 1/2 a black away).

Of course, like anything worthwhile, it hasn't been a completely easy path - somehow Matt managed to tear a muscle in his leg and our everyday walking got more than a bit off track. He didn't even leave the house for two weeks! (I went alone, but not with the same frequency - someone has to make dinner and clean up after the cats!) Now that he's on the mend, more walking shouldn't be too far off. And regaining health couldn't come at a better time - pretty soon, the weather is going to be perfect every day and we'll want to walk everywhere!