Walk This Way...

I started walking again the other night.... after dark, so it's not so blessedly hot. My husband and I had begun walking around the track at the local high school, but we got out of that habit when we started going up to Mayberry.... and now school has started again, so the track is always filled with students.

I've found that I just can't stop exercising. I've been in the exercise mode for so many years now that when I stop, my body just sits back and works against me. "No exercise this week? Well, fine..... but just wait till you try and zip up those pink capris that you love so much!"

Without a doubt, I have to exercise, and walking --- walking fast --- is the best thing to do. As best as I can measure, I'm speed-walking about two miles every night, and I will slowly work that up to three or more miles. If I were walking any faster, I'd be jogging. By the time I come into the front door after my walk, I'm dripping wet from head to toe. (Another reason to speed-walk after dark--- no ones sees you sweat.)

I used to take Gracie with me when I walked for exercise, but she's getting older now and I don't want to rush her along so I can walk faster. She goes for a long walk with my husband every morning, but he's not walking fast... he's strolling around the park with Gracie and handing out dog biscuits to all the dogs he sees along the way. It's more of a social stroll for both of them, rather than a work-out.

But this body of mine needs the work-out... and needs to eat salad, salad, salad. "The Big Salad," as Elaine (of Seinfeld) would call it. When I make a salad, I put everything in there.... at least three or four kinds of lettuce, carrots, chopped up eggs, chopped nuts, tomatoes, sliced peppers, dried raisins and dates and cranberries, green peas, chunks of tuna or salmon, sunflower seeds, grated cheese.... and whatever else I have on hand. (Excluding chocolate chips, of course.) Top that off with a bit of balsamic vinegar and you've got a meal fit for a capri-queen who's trying to maintain a size 8. And it is a meal.... lots of crunch, and takes time to eat, so you can't rush through it. I also know all the restaurants that have great salads on their menu... we even found two restaurants up near the cottage with delicious salads.

When I was in my 30s, I was happily maintaining a size 6, and sometimes a size 4 would fit, depending on the clothing. Since I've passed the Big 5-0, the size 6 has slowly made its way to a size 8. And that's as far as I want to go. I absolutely refuse to get back into the double-digits and reach for size 10s. No way... no blessed way. I've worked too long and too hard to stay in shape. This shape.

So it will be speed-walking after dark.... and salads for lunch and for dinner. The 50s are so cruel.