Walk of Shame? No, Stride of Pride!

Photo courtesy Tushar Pokle, licensed CC-BY-NC-SA

Yesterday was a long day.  With little sleep the night before, then the morning in court, then racing to finish work before heading off to volunteer with the Assaulted Women's Help Line, I was exhausted by the time I got home from doing some grocery shopping. 

But I still went out to walk. 

I took a different path last night, walking west from my place through part of the business district and then down past one of the Fairmont hotels that always stands in for the Fairmont Chicago in movies.  There was lots of construction going on, so lots to see as I walked.

I managed to wear the heart rate monitor, but yet again forgot the dongle that plugs into the iPhone to actually track my heart rate (the dongle usually lives on the elliptical machine, for my morning workouts).  So no heart rate checking for me last night. 

I was by myself, so I listened to music, and I found that it was easy to keep up a good cadence to the music, when the song was right. The pace must have been ok.  I walked for 1.5 miles in 27 minutes, which is a better sustained pace than I did with the Nerd last weekend (although on a longer walk).

It was good to get out, although the downtown area is a little creepy at night, and I don't like walking in the dark as much as I used to - - there are predators who prey on the unwary at night in any city, and a woman walking alone with ear buds on can be a tempting target.  I trust that my aggressive stride and angry workout face will scare anyone away, and it must have worked last night, because I was not bothered.

Yet again I felt pretty good after my walk.  A little sweaty, perhaps (OK, a LOT sweaty, it's what I do), but no real foot problems or soreness.  And this time I slept fine, so no real after-effects. 

I have been noticing that my hip joints are a little sore after working out in the morning.  This has been something I have had for a while, and it makes the morning walks to work a little uncomfortable (but not impossible).  I will have to watch that to make sure I am not over-exercising. 

On a positive note, I picked up some new workout wear from Go Figure (online at <gofigurego.com>).  It's a Canadian store that stocks active wear for sizes 10 - 24+, which is good for me, being size 24 right now. 

I ordered a tank top, a short sleeve top, and some fun workout capris, and they are fantastic.  I worked out in my new top and capris this morning and I swear the new clothes made me go faster on the elliptical [grin].  Shipping took a little longer than I am used to, because the company sent my order via Canada Post rather than courier, but the clothes are lovely, and they FIT, which is amazing.  As a woman of size, I suppose I have gotten used to trying to fit into clothes that are simply not made for my size - - this is not the case with Go Figure; their clothes are designed for people just like me.  That made my morning.