Walk On

I used to be able to walk 2 miles and change (a marathon for me) 3x a week through the tarmacked hills and potholes of my office building's rather expansive parking lot without really thinking too much about it. I had a path and a rhythm and a good plan as I often do so much better with a plan, however ridiculous it may turn out to be from time to time. Today, I was barely able to eke out what I would be surprised to discover was more than a quarter of a mile. I forced myself to make it through No Line on the Horizon and Magnificent with a push through to Moment of Surrender (did you expect anything less than U2 to be spinning on my bright and shiny new ipod this week?) Fortunately, the going got better as I fumbled through it, endorphins and adrenaline coming to my poor body's rescue. The decrepit state of my enfeebled frame is wholly due to my own folly and laziness, though I crave a dispensation for Big Life Trauma over the past two years. Time seems to tick past me in the day to day drama of life so that I only understand what's been survived and endured or what's been increased or reduced when I look back on the passing of it. Which is usually more than a tad too late.

This afternoon's exertions reminded me of a few things I hadn't realized I'd been missing:

• Lung expansion - I swear I could feel my blood cells sit up and Hallelujah as oxygen rushed through my pathetically gasping lungs. I know from experience that walking/jogging helps me to sing better, opening up those passageways and all, but as I'm determined to focus on the dictum of small steps, a simple atherothrombotic sample of Handel seemed sufficient for today.
• A warming, pre-spring sun - I always lift my face to the sun as I come around the back end of my building. My preferred mid-afternoon walking time usually lands the sun in the same general place and as I plodded around the corner and swung into that past-the-patio leg, my face automatically lifted towards the light and I smiled. The sun, naturally, smiled back.
  
• Cooling wind on my face - I adore cool breezes and gusty winds, I really do. I have a great fondness for wind blowing on my face and through my hair, sad allusions to bad romance novel cliches notwithstanding. I find it soothing and as I've enjoyed such on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula, Italy's Tuscan hills, and Wales' lofty castles, I'd say it enjoys me as well. Plus, when I'm walking, a good breeze grants particular relief to what can be a rather esthetically unpleasant Kiersty. Which leads me to
  
• Sweating - not a missed event, I can assure you. I don't perspire and I certainly don't glow. Please. I sweat as any proper, full-blown woman does, and boy howdy is that incontrovertible when vigorous walking (even if merely aspiring to be so) is employed. Blow on good wind. Blow on.
• The inspiring taste of water - Having trouble downing those thrice-damned recommended eight glasses of water a day? Go for a walk. Post-walk spring water is ambrosia. You'll dive right into it.

I expect to find more than a few payments for today's exertions in tomorrow's promise. Eh, I'll blow up that small step when it comes.

Now excuse me as I go embrace the glory that is my ice pack.