mission: accomplished

Well, I guess I'll come right out and say it. I walked a mile! The funny thing is, it sort of snuck up on me. I went on a walk/hike this weekend at the coast near my grandparents' house with Josh and our friends Nicole and Timothy and Nicole's brother Eric. We walked a bit on the beach, along a small stream and then up and around part of the Oregon Coast Trail. It was a really leisurely walk and a beautiful one too! I didn't even think about how far it was until Nicole said she was pretty sure we walked at least a mile. So I checked my phone, mapped our course and sure enough, I walked just over a mile!

I have to say, when I realized it, I cried! It has been two years since I started my challenge to walk a mile, and I wasn't really sure how long it would take me, or if I'd even make it. But now that I've reached my goal I am so proud of myself.

On our "mission: accomplished" hike!

To tell you the truth, I think I need to give credit to the elimination diet I recently completed. I blogged about this a lot on my Kelly's Sustainable Life blog, but Josh and I started an elimination diet about six weeks ago with the goal of "getting healthy." I was suffering from pretty severe acid reflux, fatigue and acne, and was fed up with trying medication, so I decided I'd try the diet to see if any particular foods were the culprit. And while the diet was challenging, I was able to identify the foods that were causing my problems and either drastically cut back on eating them or cut them out completely.

Now that I know how great I can feel, I have no doubt that my diet was preventing me from meeting my goal. It makes perfect sense to me. I was "addicted" to eating  a lot of grains, added sugar and dairy, which made me feel sluggish and sick even though they tasted fantastic. But now that I have largely cut those foods out of my diet, my body doesn't have to fight to digest them, and as a result I feel better.

I have an appointment with my nutritionist this week and I am beyond thrilled to share my accomplishment with her. I didn't say this in my original blog post about the diet, but she was pretty convinced that with the right diet, my CMS symptoms could disappear. I was skeptical (and still am for the most part) when she said that, but now that I have been eating better and exercising more, I completely see where she was coming from. Of course my CMS cannot be cured with food, but the healthier I am, the stronger I will be, and as result, I can walk further.

Meeting my goal doesn't mean my one mile challenge is over. It just means I need a new goal!

Ideas?

Green and Go

Hooray, summer is here! Well, sort of. I guess three days of sunny weather in a row is supposed to be enough before the rain starts again?

Anyway, this weekend Josh and I started a fun new tradition that will not only get us exploring our new city, but will also help me with my goal of walking a mile.

It's called "Green and Go," and it was started on Sunday when Josh and I were scheduled to volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank stocking the shelves. Apparently I got the date wrong so when we arrived, nobody was there. So there we were, sitting in NE Portland at 9 am on a Sunday, awake and ready to work.

So my clever husband got on his phone, picked a green spot on the map and suggested we visit that park. That park happened to be beautiful Kelley Point Park. And at that moment we decided we wanted to visit as many parks in the Portland metro area as possible by randomly pointing at them.

We had never heard of the park and just decided to explore it, and I am happy we did. It was absolutely beautiful and completely peaceful. If you've never heard of Kelley Point Park, it has a 1.1 mile paved path that runs along the point where the Willamette and Columbia rivers. You start off walking under the trees with views of beautiful Columbia River. Then, as you follow the path to the left you start to head inland where you will find groups of picnic tables, clearings that would be perfect for a game of bocce ball, and lots of birds for bird watching.

Our visit to Kelley Point Park was the perfect way to start the summer, and it reinvigorated my desire to keep working toward my goal of walking a mile. All of the rain this winter made it a challenge to get out and walk, so now that the summer is here and we have so many great places to visit, I really think this is the summer I'll meet my goal.

April 13: Solo Walk

Today I walked another mile! I returned to the Willamette Valley Medical Center track by myself and really enjoyed it. It was another beautiful day (although quite windy) and there really was no excuse NOT to go walking!

So while I walked a mile again today, I had to rest more than yesterday. This time, I only made it 1 1/2 laps before I had to sit, and then I had to sit after every consecutive lap. So, it wasn't as good as it was yesterday, but I still did it.

One thing I need to keep in mind is that while I couldn't do what I did yesterday, it was still beneficial and I still walked a mile. I have found that to be the biggest mental obstacle I have. I get discouraged when I can't walk the same distance as I did the day before, but really I need to get past that. There are so many factors throughout the day that affect how I feel and how far I can walk, and I can never control them so it's the same every day. Things like what I ate and when, how much I slept the night before, how stressful the day was, what workout I did in the morning, how much did I rest before I started walking, and on and on. So really, I need to stop being discouraged when I can't walk the exact same distance without resting two days in a row. The fact that I walked another mile is still great and it means my goal isn't too far away!

So, in summary:
Miles walked: 1 (approximately)
Rests: 3 (once after 1 1/2 laps, second after 2 1/2 laps, third after 3 1/2 laps)
When: 40 minutes (4:40 to 5:30)
Where: Willamette Valley Medical Center public track
Weather: Sunny, mid 60s, wind
Walking partner: iPod (This American Life podcast)

*Note: Even though Scott says it is, and so does the hospital web site, for some reason it just doesn't seem long enough to be a 1/4 mile track! So I walked the very perimeter. :)