A death in the family and a walk in my future

At the beginning of the month a much beloved family member passed away quietly.  Yes, at long last, my long suffering Fitbit finally synced its last step and went to that great pedometer garden in the sky. 

I knew something was wrong when I couldn't get the little guy to sync.  The Fitbit kept counting my steps, but the steps weren't being recorded anywhere.  I tried all the fixes - - resetting the unit, re-installing the Fitbit connect, syncing through Linux...nothing worked.  Finally I broke down and reached out to Fitbit support, who were characteristically amazing.  Within 48 hours a new Fitbit was on its way to me, and the Nerd now has my old, non-syncing Fitbit for experimental purposes (this brings his total number of Fitbits to 5 - - 1 Zip, 2 Ultras and 2 Ones...not that he has a problem or anything). 

Anyhoo, all of my tracking numbers for June are off because it looks like I have been barely walking at all because I have no steps recorded at all for the entire first week and a half of June, when in fact I was walking a lot more than usual.  Grrrr....!

Which brings me to the walking more than usual.  I am training for the 32 km walk this September as part of the Weekend to End Women's Cancers.  Yes, I was somewhat peer-pressured into it by my new boss in that he invited all of our department to join him in the walk and I wanted to be part of the team.  But it's also a great opportunity to force myself to do some different things, especially since I haven't really incorporated long distance walking into my usual routine. 

I started training last week and walked 3 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles on Thursday, 6 miles on Saturday and 7 miles on Sunday.  Sadly, none of these workouts was captured on my Fitbit, so it looks like I was one giant couch potato last week from a step-counting point of view. 

This week I did another 3 mile walk on Tuesday and the Nerd and I just got back from a 3.5 mile walk tonight.  This weekend may kill me, however - - my training plan calls for a horrifying 12.5 mile walk on Saturday and an 8.5 mile walk on Sunday.  Next week will be easier, but I will be walking for 4 hours straight on Saturday, something I have seldom done (and by seldom, I mean that I have walked that distance precisely once).  I have to confess that I am not looking forward to it, but I am looking forward to the results and to seeing how my fitness increases over time.  It's that thought alone that keeps me pushing to do the training walks.  Well, the thought of my increasing fitness plus the desire not to look like a complete fool in front of 100 people from my new office.  See kids, peer pressure can be a good thing!

Tonight I voted in our provincial election, and I am somewhat distracted by my iPad flashing up to the minute results.  I won't tell you who I voted for, but this particular election was literally too close to call as late as yesterday, and the vote differential now, just after polls have closed, is still a statistical dead heat.  I much prefer a blowout in these kinds of situations, and watching the results trickling in when the numbers are so close is causing me anxiety.  Might be a good time to simply crawl into bed and wait for the election to be over.  I voted though, which is critical, because: i) it's important to exercise your right to vote; and ii) you can't complain if you don't vote. 

So, all in all it was a good week.  I am settling into my new job (which I lovelovelove).  I am two weeks into the new "suck it up and get back on the program" routine, which is gradually paying dividends.  I am two weeks into walking training for the September mega-walk.  And I have a brand new Fitbit, which is not a bad thing.  The little fella keeps me honest, anyways.