Day 11 - An Update on Our Miles Together

So I've been missing in action for the last two days. Sunday, day 9, was clean up day around our home. Hurricane Matthew took out two trees and dropped about twelve thousand sticks and small limbs that had to be gathered up. Maybe a slight exaggeration but it did seem like that many at the time.

A Tree down and part of our fence.
Thankfully Hurricane Matthew didn't cause us too much damage. Others didn't make out as well so we feel fortunate.

And then Monday, Day 10, there's really no excuse for not writing other than I went dress shopping which always causes a great deal of stress for me. Oh, for a personal shopper who would just deliver the perfect mother of the groom dress to my door...

The way my brain works is to either go back and try to make up the days I missed or to just forget the whole Write 31 thing and quit. I've decided to do neither and just start on day 11 and move forward. So here goes...

Miles Together Update

In my first post for Write 31 I wrote about how every year my husband and I set a goal to walk together during the year. (Day 1 - Walking Together) For 2016 our goal is to walk 600 miles. Now it's very important that these miles have to be walked together. We don't count any walking that we do individually because the goal of spending time together is just as important (maybe more important) than the actual walking.

As of Sunday, October 10 we've logged in 542 miles! Yippee! We're way ahead schedule with only 58 miles to go and a little over two months to finish. We can't allow ourselves to become complacent and we hope to finish the year with many more miles than just 600.

How have we gotten to this point?

1. We are committed! We both recognize the importance of this project to both our relationship and our health. 
2. Keep a log. We both use Map My Walk app on our phone to track the miles plus John keeps a log on an Excel file. We can see at a glance where we're at.( Day 3 - My Favorite Walking App)
3. Motivate and encourage one another. There are days when I don't want to go and days he doesn't. As long as we're both not in a funk on the same day we can motivate the other. Keeping an eye on the goal helps to get moving.
4. We try to make it fun. Geocaching is a great activity to get you moving and finding new places. (We're Not Lost We're Geocaching)
5. Make it interesting. We both look for new places to walk. State Parks, the beach, zoo, historic neighborhoods and cemeteries are all interesting and usually free. (An Outdoor Walk Through History)
6. We do a lot of walking while on vacation. In May we went to New York and walked the Great Saunter, an event that takes you 34 miles around the shoreline of Manhattan. (The Great Saunter - A Walk Around Manhattan)
7. We reward ourselves. Our reward is usually travel related but we've been know to burn 500 calories on a walk and then stop for ice cream. Hey everybody needs a treat once in a while!

Whether you have a walking partner or not setting a goal is great motivation. Keep a log, make it fun and interesting and give yourself a reward for a job well done! 

Your body will thank you.

For the month of October I'm going to be writing everyday mostly about walking. I hope I might encourage someone to get outside and take a walk!