What I Learned from Walking 100 Miles and a Message You Need to Need to Take In

 

One hundred miles. One hundred miles. It's a lot. It's daunting. As Running Daddy said it's like walking from our house to Richmond, VA. In mid November, my friend Shannon said she was putting together a group for the Running on Wine and Christmas Cheer one hundred mile challenge and asked people to join her. The challenge was to run/walk...whatever 100 miles between December 1 and January 31. Challenging, but kinda doable. I thought about it for a minute, but didn't overthink it and signed up. Here is what I learned from walking 100 miles in two months and why you should get your health and fitness in check if you have not done so already.

Why I Did This

My main reason for signing up for this challenge was that I thought it was a Good idea to start in December and be involved in a fitness goal leading up to the Christmas, aka eating and drinking, season. Even though there were no Christmas parties, there was still a lot of yummy Goodness around to eat during the holiday season. I figured, why wait until January 1, when I could start December 1 and help offset any eating and drinking and head into January in Better shape?

The other reason why I did this, is because I could. I have talked about my health challenges here before but honestly about 10 years ago I couldn't take a walk in my neighborhood for fear that my legs would give out and I would not be able to get back. The fact that I am physically so much stronger due to new lupus treatments and actually have the ability to take on such a challenge is what really made me want to do it.

How I Did This

Looking at one hundred miles as a whole is very daunting. When I started,  I was worried that I would get to the final week and have to walk like 30 miles to hit the final goal. I talked to Running Daddy about it and tried to break it down.

The main thing was that I had to really use my weekends wisely. I figured if I could walk 3 miles on Saturday and 3 miles on Sunday, that would bookend the weeks and give me six miles right there. Then if I walked 2 miles two to three times per week that would help me get me to the 100 miles based on my weekly mileage.

I got caught up on my podcasts on my walks and I am proud to say that Stormy did 94 of the 100 miles with me. It was a really Good way to break up the day and I used my former afternoon commute time to get in my walks.

Shannon created a really helpful chart for us to check off and I also put my mileage into a spreadsheet, which is something that Running Daddy does.

What I Learned

I actually learned a lot from this challenge. The first thing I learned is that walking 10 to 15 miles per week really helps reshape your body. I am not sure that I truly lost a lot of weight doing this, but my clothes definitely slipped on Better. I also learned that if I want to stay a certain size and fitness level, walking 10 to 15 miles is Good way to keep where I want to be. 

This challenge also helped me break down projects in general. It really taught me that when something looks daunting when you look at the big picture, figure out a way to break it down and come up with a plan.  I actually finished a whole week early by breaking down the challenge into weekly and daily goals. 

My Message to You

My Besties, I have a message for you and it may be one you don't like at first. That message is that if you are not incorporating some type of fitness into your week, you need to start now. You may think you don't need to, you may not want to, you may have every excuse in the book but you need to find some type of fitness to add into your week in case the unthinkable happens.

I have seen how having your body in Good shape matters. Our dear friend started a fitness journey about three years ago. He was in Good shape to begin with, I mean he was our head track coach at Hockey Guy's elementary school, but he worked hard to train for our school's 5K. He then added in the same kettle bell program that Running Daddy does, joining the 6 am crew.

In early September, Coach N got unthinkable news, he had cancer. He was fit, he ate well, he didn't smoke, and he wasn't overweight. Cancer found him anyway...in a pandemic. One of the things that Running Daddy and I discussed when Coach N got sick was that thank heavens he is in such Good shape at this point. 

It gives me great Joy to tell you that Coach N finished up his cancer treatments last week and a bunch of us went over to welcome him home in a physically distant way. One thing Coach N has mentioned frequently is that he felt really strong during his treatments. His doctors told him that because his heart and lungs were in such Good shape going into all of this, that is why he felt so strong despite the aggressive treatment plan. Coach N told me that I could use the exact quote from his doctor that things were going so well for him because he "was so strong to begin with."

My message to you is that no one thinks they are going to get cancer but you want to make sure that you head into the unthinkable with your body and your mind in the Best shape possible. Having a weekly fitness routine will help do this. 

Besties, find something fitness wise you love and start now. You don't have to run a marathon, but to be truly healthy you need to move your body multiple times per week.

***Please note, that I am telling Coach N's story with his permission and I actually had him review this part of the post before publishing.

For my next challenge, I am going to do a Lenten challenge. I am going to try to walk 40 miles in 40 days and try to incorporate a faith based activity into this challenge. If you want to join me, leave me a comment below. I think I am going to set up a Facebook group to help track our progress and keep each other motivated. Still working out the details but looking forward to this next challenge.

Feel free to leave your biggest fitness accomplishments in the comments below too. You never know when you could inspire someone else.