A race against time

OK -- I'll try not to go on and on about my virtual challenge, but I'm loving it. DH thinks I'm obsessing because I talk about it every day. And some people that I talk to think that the four of us are in a race against each other. NO - we're only in a race against ourselves. I have another challenge where I'm walking across Canada. Each day my FitBit transfers the miles that I've walked to the map. Since M lives in Vancouver and that's where I am right now (having started in Victoria), I thought I'd share my position on the map with you. She lives in Burnaby and I made sure to wave as I walked through!

Me against my pace marker

M - here's a close up of exactly where I am.

My exact position on the Cross Canada Walking Challenge

Now here's the thing. I set an aggressive pace - I must go back and look at what the daily mileage was, but the goal is to walk across Canada in two years. It's a total of 5,184.2 miles over two years. Just did the math - yikes. That equals SEVEN miles a day. My average in the past has been about 6 so it is a stretch to do 7 - EVERY DAY for 2 years. I was away last week and walked about 4.3 miles each day. Let's just say that it's no surprise that I'm about 15 miles behind. Both in this challenge and the one that I'm doing with the Quilt Posse group.

The virtual challenge that I'm doing with the other is to walk Route 66 in one year (that's MY goal). The total distance is 2,280.3 miles and that works out to 6.25 miles per day for one year. I've got to ramp up my walking each and every day to meet those goals.

So you can see - this is NOT about winning or being in front of the others - this is about keeping up to the aggressive pace that I set for myself.

On that note, I've already been to the gym and walked for 2 miles. What I need to figure out is how many steps is 7 miles. I might have to back off that Cross Canada pace a wee bit. I'm thinking that 15,000 steps should equal about 6 miles. Doable for me in a day, but 17,000 every day???  That's a bit of a stretch.

However, I've changed my habits significantly over the past year and not just because of these challenges. I used to use my car to do all my errands. I'd save them up and then take a trip to the mall, then the library, the bank or whatever else needed to be done.

Now, I walk EVERYWHERE - well almost everywhere. And do I group up those errands? I do NOT. I'd be happy to walk to the mall every day to get one new thing or drop off one book each day at the library or deposit one cheque a day at the bank. Then turn around and do it again the next day. I like walking in my neighborhood and I like getting the exercise. If I only go for one thing, it's easy to carry.

So when I saw that I need more liquid calcium this morning, I was thrilled even though I had been to the mall yesterday because it means I need to go to the mall again. It's all about rewiring the brain. I don't need a fancy gym membership to get in this kind of exercise. It's just plain walking in my neighborhood. Although as I mentioned, I was at the gym this morning. I need to get some serious miles in to catch up!

What about the time you say? Well - I'd rather be in great shape, getting my fresh air, and checking out the things around me than sitting at home watching TV or sitting in front of any kind of a screen. I consider this time an investment in my future. I see what happened to my Mom and I refuse to let that happen to me. She became complacent about moving around and has pretty much lost the use of her legs. Her balance and level of security of walking unaided are totally gone. I WILL NOT let that happen to me.

Good habits developed now will continue into my future. And if it's too icy outside - well, I can go to the gym or like I did last week - I walked the halls of the hotel and up and down the stairs to get the distances in. It's all about using what you have available. And if someone sees me walking the halls of the hotel? Who cares!!! I sure don't.

I suggested that our Quilt Posse go to LA once all of us have arrived virtually! Wouldn't that be a hoot.!!!

Speaking of walking in my neighborhood, I'm walking the girls in the woods behind our house. OH boy - we had rain - a lot of rain on Saturday. This is what we had to walk through. That's very unusual for January!! Normally this would be frozen over, but nope - we had to wade through it. Thank goodness for rubber boots. I don't even wear winter boots anymore - I just wear rubber boots. I love them as I can grip the icy surfaces way better with my toes through the thinner soles and so far so good.

The path goes through the water

We didn't have to walk through this puddle, but it's amazing how much water had accumulated in one day.

Water that accumulated from one day's rain in JANUARY

I think it was last year or the year before (It was December 2016) that I posted about all these page-a-day calendars that I've acquired over several years. I pulled them out the other day. This needs to be addressed. So I went through the EIGHT calendars (most had been used for the first month or less).

Page a day calendars

I found two that of them match the dates and days of the weeks as this year. TWO. One I know was from 2003. Not sure about the other one. I put the others away and I'll deal with them next year to see if any coincide with the dates and days for 2021. Not that it really matters as I don't rely on them for the date. But I'm a Virgo and we do like some order.

Two Page-a-Day calendars for this year

Both of them are just pictures. I should be able to manage to read the Dog Shaming caption and glance at the MC Eischer photo and then throw the pages in the recycling. I think I can manage that. It takes less than one minute. Both of them are currently sitting on January 15 - ready for tomorrow. If I find anything interesting in the MC Eischer one, I'm putting it into my inspiration journal.


I also found this tote bag that M bought me. Ritter chocolate is my FAVORITE. Yep - I still eat chocolate, almost every day. BUT I have four squares of chocolate NOT the entire chocolate bar. With all my mileage, I'm entitled to eat chocolate. Now the tote bag is hanging in the room downstairs with all the other tote bags. When I need a tote bag, I can grab this one. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being as organized as I am and can't wait to get the rest of the place cleaned up!!

Tote bag made from chocolate wrappers

Actually, I don't think it was made from wrappers - it appears to be laminated fabric where all the packaging was printed. I've tried most of those flavors, but not all.

Here's my quilt that I finished the backing for the other day. It's now moved into the "to be quilted" pile. I'm super excited about that!! One more bites the dust!

A quilt top, backing, and binding now moved to the "to be quilted" pile

So what did I walk to the mall for yesterday? Why yarn of course!! I wanted to buy ONE small ball of the cotton yarn so I could make the Swifter covers. Shoot - all they had were the big ones. I thought long and hard before I bought the big ball. What I don't use, can be made into dishcloths on the next road trip. To be even more environmentally friendly, I didn't get a bag, but just tucked that ball of yarn under my arm and walked back home.

Ball of cotton yarn

Now I can make several of the darn Swifter covers as I think we have three of those Swifters in our house. That's a job for next Monday or that would be an excellent thing to do in the evening when I'm listening to my audiobook. If I don't have something in my hands - I'll fall asleep.

Well - as usual, there's a whole lot that needs to be done today so I'd better get started.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!