Monday Challenge

Sunday has been a day off since I started this insane journey, unless I had missed a day during the week and needed to make up some miles.

Ever since my daily standard has gone from four miles to five, Saturday has become either a "light duty" day or another day off, depending on how much walking I got done during the week and what our schedule is for the weekend.

So, when Monday rolls around, I usually feel like I could run a marathon. I can't, obviously, but the healthy 20-year-old with good knees that's buried somewhere inside of me thinks she can. All of this means that if I'm going to do something crazy and extreme, it typically happens on Mondays.

Well...except last week when I needed to walk to Kim's and it was only 28 degrees when I left the house in the dark at 7:00 a.m. That was extreme and not on a Monday.

This morning I had to take Jim to the airport, which meant it was later when I got out to walk. The temps had climbed to 49 degrees, so I wore shorts for the first time in a few weeks. Walking in the cold means wearing layers which makes it harder to get the job done. I wanted to see how well I could do being back in fewer layers, with less extra weight.

On top of that, I had time today. I didn't have to squeeze the walking in between or before or after anything else. So I thought, hey...
*it's warm
*I have less extra weight in clothing
*I have time
*the legs are fresh
*why not get crazy and try for 10 miles???

I did 10.25 miles by the time it was all over. It took me 2 hours and 42 minutes, with 18 minutes of that being jogging and the rest of it walking. (My previous best had been seven miles.)

And for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was really pushing myself again. By the time it was over, my back muscles hurt like they hadn't hurt in weeks...the legs were about as powerful as cooked spaghetti...each landmark was a welcome sight...I was having to talk myself through each step. 

When I finished, I got in the car. When I tried to get out again, I could barely stand. I've stretched, I've taken a hot shower, I've used my foam roller to roll out the muscles, and my legs STILL hurt with every step. So do my hips and my glutes.

But dangit, I walked 10.25 miles!