Well, after 9 months of walking, biking and exercising, I didn't achieve my goal: to walk one mile without stopping. And while I thought I'd be more disappointed, it's actually OK. I'd said it before, but the challenge sort of morphed into something else and became less and less about the actual distance I walked. It gave me a reason to really focus on why it's important for me to exercise.
So, in the end, the furthest I could walk without stopping was about .6 of a mile. Which, isn't much further than what I started at: .5 of a mile. But that's OK. I like to think that within that .1 of a mile, I got healthier too, so it's not all about the numbers.
You're probably dying to know how the cruise was, right? Well, I'll give all the details in my other blog, but for this blog's sake, I'll fill you in on how the 'exercise' part went.
When we got onto the ship in Miami, we took a tour of the on-board amenities, including the gym. I had every intention of going to the gym and taking advantage of the treadmills that had a great view of the ocean off the ship's AFT. But, sadly, that did not happen. I got too caught up in taking naps, going to shows and reading by the pool to care about exercising.
That's not to say I didn't exercise though! On our first excursion to Samana, Dominican Republic, we went on a mini hike to a beautiful waterfall. We had to walk on this narrow, muddy path to get there, and I have to say, it was a test of my strength and endurance! We had to go down small muddy embankments, cross a stream with some questionable man made stepping stones, and cross big rocks! With the help of some locals, we walked probably half of a mile, and once we got there, boy was it was beautiful and worth the hike! We were basically in this canopy of beautiful, luscious, green trees and the river the waterfall continued into was this clear creek. I loved and wish we had been able to spend more than 15 minutes there.
Our second excursion was snorkeling at St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. I was excited, but had no idea that just getting to the catamaran was going to be an excursion all on it's own. We had to walk down the pier, past THREE massive cruise ships, just to get to our catamaran, "The Cat." If you've ever seen these ships, you would know how daunting a task it was for me. I thought we'd never get there! But snorkeling was really fun, once I got past the panic of having to breathe in the mouthpiece.
Overall, the week was great. Our ship was huge and it took me a while to get my barrings. And boy, did we walk a lot of stairs! Our room was on the 10th deck, the buffet and pool was on the 12th, the theater on the 6th, the lounge we liked on the 13th, and the customer service desk, the big screen on the 7th, and the gangway on the 4th. We made it a point to take the stairs everywhere we went, no matter how many flights it was, and I am pretty sure were able to burn off all the calories we ate and drank! Neither of us gained an ounce on the trip!Anyway, now that the cruise is over and my original goal not reached, the question remains: what do I do with the blog? This is where you come in. I could keep the blog going, and chronicle all of my exercise experiences, I could quit the blog, or I could continue on my quest to walking a mile without stopping. Or I could do something entirely different.
So, readers, what do you think? What should I do with "Kelly's One Mile Challenge?"
