100 miles in 100 days

Last week I started walking again.  Now I don't mean I had been off my feet or injured or anything like that, just I had had a few months where I had not been walking for exercise.  All that changed last week because I had signed up for the UK Race For Life in aid of Cancer Research UK.

As I was preparing I began a few shorter walks last week.  A friend of mine who has been running for the last couple of years posted sometime last week that she had run 2 miles that morning and that meant 2 down 98 to go for the 100 miles in 100 days challenge she was setting herself.  So I wondered and I pondered and I decided to go for it.  This summer I shall be walking 100 miles in 100 days.

because our summer is different than for my American friends, I am counting my start date as my first practise walk on Monday last week.  That means day 100 will be Tuesday 28th August which is the day my 17 year old goes back to college (6th form, not university for my American friends).

I am logging my walks at MapMyRun using their app for android phones.  As long as I am not somewhere ridiculously out of sight of the satellites it uses for gps I just go into the app, set it to start recording and it records where I walk and how long it takes until I tell it to stop.  Brilliant!

Ignore the fact it has last Monday marked as a run, I hadn't worked out how to set the app to record a walk.

So, you can see, I'm on day 9 at the time of writing this post and my total so far is 9.91 miles, or almost a day ahead of myself.

You can see the longest walk was Sunday and that was the 5km of race for life.  It was a very warm day but an awesome one!  I finished in 1 hour and 3 minutes, a pace of just over 20 minutes per mile.  I was very pleased with that, especially for such a warm day.

Come back soon for more posts on my walks.

You can check out the sites I link up to over in my sidebar. Before you go, why not check out my recipes index page, or my craft projects index page, I am sure you will find something there to interest you.

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Thursday 13 - 13 pools I'd love to swim in one day

13 pools I'd like to swim in one day

1. OK so I don't do the whole Casino thing, but the pool at the golden Nugget in Las Vegas is AMAZING! A HUGE shark and marine life tank sits along one side of the pool and their new waterslide takes you in a tube right through the tank! AWESOME!
   
   
2. The Blue Lagoon Natural hot Spa in Iceland.
   
   
3. The incredibly HUGE pool at San Alfonso del Mar in Chile. It holds the current Guinness record as the world’s largest crystalline water pool, with an extension of more than one kilometre in length, eight hectares and 250 million litres of water. Hard to imagine? We are talking about nothing less than the equivalent to 6,000 familiar 8-meters-long pools.
   
4. Any of the pools at the Atlantis in the Bahamas.
   
   
5. which includes another water slide through a shark tank
   
   
6. as well as smaller, private pools
   
   
7. I'm not sure how I feel about infinity pools, I reckon they freak me out a little bit, but some of them are just amazing, because of the views and I reckon that given the opportunity I would have to just get over any fears and go for it.
   
8. The pool at the Hilton in Auckland even has a window on the end.
   
9. And WOW, what about the pool at the Quincy in Singapore. YES, that is the pool!
   
10. Then there's the Al-Bustan Palace in Muscat
    
    
11. If I ever get into scuba diving I reckon I would just HAVE to try out this pool at the Nemo diving centre in Brussels.
    
    
12. A bit closer to home is the Sanctuary Spa in London with their famous swing over the pool.
    
13. And for 13, well, I couldn't find another dream pool, so why don't you suggest one. What's your favourite pool?
    
    

If you want to read more Thursday 13 posts, head on over to Thursday 13 by clicking on that banner at the top of this post!

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What I Learned this Week

What did I learn this week?

This week I re-learned just how much I enjoy swimming, and just how much exercise it is too.
One of the local gyms was offering a Christmas special that I had treated myself to. A 12 day membership for £12, to be used before the end of January. With the snow we had and everything , I left it until this week to sort it out.
I knew with a 12 day membership there wasn't much point in getting used to all the machines etc and then walking away, so I decided I would just swim.

It has been a long time since I have been properly swimming, and even then it was "messing about in a pool" type swimming, not doing it properly, up and down the pool.

The first day was HARD! Good grief, I had forgotten how much effort it takes to move this body through the water. But I kept going. By the time I got a few days in I was into a routine. It's a 20metre pool that is the same depth throughout, I swim for two lengths then walk for one. That one of walking allows me to get my breath back a little, and means I am still moving rather than just standing at one end of the pool.

Oh and I also learned something new! Do NOT go to the pool at the gym at the time the aquafit class is finishing, assuming that all those people will be getting out of the pool and it will be fairly quiet. Oh indeed do not do that! They all stand there in the pool, in big groups, talking! arrggghhh, that means those people who want to swim are squeezed into much less space or have to keep going around them! And believe me they were still there after half an hour! So today, rather than going straight to the pool after a morning appointment, I will be coming home and going later, because I do not want to deal with that again.

My 12 days finishes on Thursday and my intention is to make a Thursday 13 post with all my DREAM pools that I would love to swim in one day. Please pop back for that.

If you want to participate in What I Learned this Week, head over to the website by clicking on the image at the top of this post.

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Spark People

I promised a blog post on Spark people, to someone who read my blog late last week. sorry I didn't get it done at the weekend but here it is anyway.

I LOVE Spark people, but I accept it is not for everyone.

if you are already used to being around a computer, being part of online communities and so on, you should at least give it a go.

Spark People at it's most basic is a site that allows you to log all your food and your exercise. Many many food items are in the system, already logged and the nutritional values there for you, but if they're not in the official list, you can check items that have been entered and shared by other users. And, of course, you can enter and share things yourself as well.

You can track a huge range of nutritional details, not just the usual calories, fat and fibre. For instance, I also track calcium, sodium and potassium. You get to choose what you track and the system will calculate it all for you, so if you have particular dietery needs it is an excellent tool.

The system will suggest your calorie level based on how much you want to lose how fast AND your predicted activity level, but you can adjust that yourself as well.

The fitness tracking has the largest range of activities to choose from I have seen on any similar website.

All of this is FREE.

ALSO there are message boards, that allow you to get advice from other members, share situations and so on.
OR you could join teams, which offer similar things to the message boards but within a specific group of people. There are all sorts of teams.
Teams based on

• amount you need to lose
• occassion you are losing for
• age
• location
• faith
• hobbies
• career

All sorts of them, and lots and lots of them, you are sure to find something that fits your needs.

AND you can Blog within Spark people too. You have a "spark page" that you can set up how you want it, and there are emails and things to sign up for too.

ALL of this is FREE

Attached to Spark People there are other websites. There is a diet site for teens and a healthy living site for pregnant moms AND a recipe site where you can either find recipes or enter the ones you are using and get the nutritional values for them.

ALL OF THIS IS FREE!

And no, I am not getting paid to write this post.

I started with Spark people may last year. Since then I lost 34 pounds. Life got away from me a bit sometime around September and I finally got myself back into gear again at the beginning of this year. So, yes, I have put some weight back on, and no, I have no intention of giving up. I am currently at 26 pounds down from where I started, and that's OK. I will learn from this period of time and never allow myself to get that busy for that long again.

How much more do I want to lose?
It's not abotu a number, it's about being healthy and feeling so much better than I do now (I have a number of weight related health issues). According to the doctors I probably have another 90 or so pounds to go. I seriously doubt I will go that far, I don't think I need to. But yes, I do still have a long way to go and I have every intention of getting there.

If you are going to sign up at Spark People, please use my Spark name in the "where did you hear about us" bit. WahZoe. If you click on the link below to sign up it will fill that in automatically for you.

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Thursday 13 - 13 walks I would like to attempt

13 walks I would like to attempt

Click on the image to go to the web page (most are pdf's) for that walk.

1. Nescliffe Nonsense
   
   
2. Nescliffe Nonsense 2
   
   
3. Bloody Battlefield
   Explore the site of a brutal battle fought between King Henry IV and the rebellious
   Harry Hotspur six hundred years ago.
   
   
4. The big walk at Ellesemere
   
   
5. Acton Scott Amble
   
   
6. Wagoner's Wander
   
   
7. Rectory Wood and Field
   
   
8. Wats Dyke Walk
   
   
9. Wrekin Hill Fort
   
   
10. Around the Wrekin
    
    
11. Reynolds Way
    
    
12. Adstone Walk
    
    
13. Any of the Geocaching Walks at the Shropshire hills Discovery Centre
    

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Weight Loss

Yes, I'm still hanging in there as far as the weight loss is concerned, but I have to admit to having had a bit of a lazy week this week. I was lazy with my food choices, not awful, just not the best either.
I was lazy by allowing myself to have too many days at the top or over my calories range.
I was lazy with the amount of exercise I did, burning considerably less calories than I would like to.
I was also lazy with drinking my water, only managing 500ml on one of the days instead of 2 litres, but not hitting the 2 litres on at least 3 other days.

Oh and it's T.O.M. Consequently the scales did not move in the right direction when I got on them a couple of days ago.

BUT I am back on track today! I WILL do this, I Will Not give up! I am determined!
I have lost 30 pounds since may 25th! I have moved 4 notches on the belt I had to buy to hold my big trousers up. I have no intention of giving up now.

How will I do this?
It's the easiest answer in the world and at the same time it's the hardest answer in the world.

Eat less and move more! Not one or the other, both together, no quick answers, no clever tricks, potions, pills, or gimics, just the long hard slog.
How is that easy?
Knowing this is not about any particular gimic, means I KNOW what I need to do.
How is that hard?
Unless your head, your soul, your spirit is in the right place then you will never succeed at this? I watched a clip from an Oprah show where she had on past winners of the Biggest Loser. Some of them had kept the weight off and some of them had put on most if not all of the weight that they had lost. One of the guys who had put the weight back on said to her that at the end of the show he might have been a thin guy on the outside but he was still a fat guy on the inside, in his head.

So, the easiest answer and the hardest answer all at the same time.
If you're looking for help in that area, head on over to Spark people a free website that allows you to track your food and exercise along with getting support from teams and other message boards.

This post is being submitted to "I am Blissfully Domestic". Please head on over there to read other people's posts.

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I NEED to get Organised Part 2

OK, so I'm not totally and utterly and completely disorganised.
I do still manage to do some things.

I Menu Plan - Every week, or two weeks I make a menu plan, and on the whole I stick to it, particularly the last couple of weeks. I do an online grocery shop a couple of times a month and top up shops in between.

I have just got back on top of tracking what where and how we spend. (need to work on bringing some of the outgoings down a bit, but on the whole it's not too bad.)

I manage to track my food and water every day over at SparkPeople, stay a reasonably active member of a few teams over there, workout at least 5 days a week, track that on Spark, blog on Spark about 4 times a week and so on.

I have also been managing to spend time with my hubby, both on weekly date nights and frequent evening walks.

The rest of it though, I need help with.

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I NEED to get Organised!

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Get organised I mean. And stay organised? And work out what your priorities are? And give adequate time to those priorities?

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

I used to be able to do it. I used to be able to spend adequate time with my family, keep a reasonably OK home, spend time building relationships, spend time building my online relationships and fulfilling online responsibilities, eat reasonably healthily, spend time with God, read, journal daily, keep up with my work commitments (admittedly only ever part time) etc etc
I used to be able to do all of that, then I started to suffer wtih the symptoms of sleep apnoea and did less and less as I got more and more tired, culminating in a period of time where I was taking 2 - 4 hour afternoon naps on a daily basis and still feeling totally and utterly tired the whole time.

As you can imagine, housework, organisation, all of that stuff fell by the wayside. Even regular time alone with God did too. I just did not have the energy to do all the stuff.

So, in January this year I picked up a CPAP machine and since May I have lost 28 pounds in weight. The result is I have far more energy than I can ever remember having. It's awesome, amazing, wonderful. But for some reason I have been unable to get back into the organisation, lots of things are still being left undone, many times I find myself killing time at the computer screen, just finding something to do, when there are so many other things I could be doing, and yet still, somehow convincing myself that I NEED to be doing what I am doing right at that moment.

SO, how do YOU do it?
How do you organise yourself, your time, your housework, your spiritual life, your relationships, etc when you are completely out of the habit of organising and appear to have lost the skill!

HELP!

I've thought about going back to Fly Lady - but I'm not sure if I can stand the way I sometimes felt bullied on there, or if you can get the reminders at times appropriate to your location, rather than just in American time.

I've thought about re reading my Kathy Peel Family Manager book and seeing what I can work on from there, but I never managed to get the rest of the family to take the family meetings seriously and it always petered out after just a few weeks.

There are many many organising websites out there.
I KNOW I can't do this alone. I KNOW I need some help, I'm out of the habit. So where should I start?

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13 reasons to lose some weight and get healthier

You may or may not be aware that I have started to work on my health again.

There are a group of women at church who are drawing together soon to really work on the spiritual and emotional reasons for our weight. That hasn’t happened yet but I cannot afford to wait!

Here are 13 reasons for me losing some weight and getting healthier.

1. If I lower my weight I will be able to lower the severity of my sleep apnoea and hopefully, eventually get off that blasted machine!
2. If I lower my weight I will be able to improve the condition of my feet, particularly my fallen arches, and therefore I will be in less pain in my feet.
3. If I lower my weight I will put less strain on my joints, thereby reducing the pain in my knees.
4. If I lower my weight I will put less strain on my muscles, thereby reducing the pain in my lower back.
5. If I lower my weight I will reduce the size of my boobs and therefore get rid of this nasty rash underneath them that has appeared this week (it only happens in hot weather, but I’d rather it didn’t happen at all).
6. If I lower my weight I won’t get out of breath so easily and will be able to walk up a flight of stairs without having to rest when I get up there!
7. If I lower my weight and do some serious work on my tummy, I will be able to wear underwire bras sitting down without the wire digging into my rolls of fat.
8. If I lower my weight and work on my thighs, I will be able to wear a skirt without my legs chaffing on each other.
9. I want to be able to buy a swimming costume without having to worry about those underarm rolls of fat, flopping over the top of the sides.
10. To not have to worry about even getting too big to shop in the high street “fat lady” stores for clothes. And maybe even, one day be able to go back into the ordinary clothes stores!
11. To be able to work in our new veggie garden without my back killing me!
12. Because I want to be around for as long as God has planned for me and achieve all that He has for me to do.
13. Because I AM WORTH IT!

If you want to read more Thursday 13 posts, head on over to Happy To Be At Home by clicking on the Thursday 13 banner at the top of this post.

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