Mandarin Ducks

I am proud to be Canadian today (and most every other day as well).

I watched some of the hockey game yesterday but ended leaving during the second period to walk with my daughter and Katie. We drove to a nearby park that is quite huge. I have lived near this park for the last 5 years and have never visited – Why? I have no idea but I’m going back. It is huge and quite a bit of it has paved pathways. Even the bathrooms (those that are open this time of year) are heated and clean. Anyway, it was a very lovely day, very warm and sunny and a perfect day to get walking. We walk pretty slow (for me) but I need my daughter to get stronger and I don’t want to push her, make it painful for her, and her give up before we even get started. So we averaged about 20 minutes a mile, and walked 5 miles. She did speed up towards the end as her knees and feet stopped hurting so I think a good warm-up is in store for her.

In a couple of weeks I am going to find a 2for1 or half price shoe sale and get us fitted for the proper shoes (mine are worn out). I’m waiting 2 weeks because I’ve got a podiatrist appointment on the 16^th and I want to see what he has to say before I invest in some expensive walking or running shoes. I currently have orthotics and I still experience pain in the ball of my foot so my Dr. recommended this new guy as he is a runner as well as a foot specialist and since I like her and she recommends him, I’m game to give it a try. Anything is better than foot pain. And as for this foot pain, one of the Bikram Hot Yoga positions, you have to do a squat on your tippy toes, basically my knees are pulled up, and I’m balancing on the balls of my feet, or rather on the flats of my toes. Hard to describe really – but it was near impossible for me at first and when I do it, still to this day, my left ball of my foot crunches. It was painful in the beginning and although it still hurts, it isn’t as bad so I know the Yoga is working out whatever scar tissue I have in there. It’s breaking it down. That’s my thesis anyway but will ask the new foot dude in a couple of weeks and see what his professional opinion is.

My calories have been pretty good all weekend except Saturday. I worked out for quite a bit on Saturday morning, 40min NRLo4W, 20 Min Ab Jam, 40 Minutes of treadmill walking. I burned up quite a few calories. Then we were invited out for dinner at some friends house. I’m 100% sure that the meal was pretty high calorie but it was delish and quite frankly I didn’t care. They don’t eat like I normally would eat but she is learning, she provided a plate of steamed broccoli with the rest of the dinner. They aren’t big on veggies. The main course was an Italian dish with spaghetti (which I normally don’t eat – in fact I rarely eat pasta),  lots of Olive Oil, butter (real stuff), clams, mussels and I’m not sure what else. And of course they served bread as they are big on bread, and although I normally stay away from the white stuff, I did have a small piece that night. But we had a very enjoyable evening of visiting and our dog had a wonderful afternoon playing with her big brother. They live on an acreage and it is a great day of running around for her – it totally wears her out completely. 

Sunday I ate pretty much on plan and as I mentioned above, I walked for about 1h45m with my girls. And as I posted yesterday, I measured and took some photos.  They aren’t photos that I would willingly post on a blog but you know once I get to where I want to be, I just might. The “fat” ones are disgusting but they sure do show a visual NSV when I do a comparison.

Today, I am Yogi-ing after work and then once I get home and dry my hair, I will be going for a walk with my daughter (and pup). I didn’t sleep well last night, blasted headache all night, so not sure how long we will walk but it is again a very lovely day and it should be a nice way to end the day.

I hope everyone has a good blast off to the new month and has a fantastic day!

Sandra

I did not take this picture but found it on the National Geographic website (it showed in my iGoogle and so some of you may already have seen it) but the colors in it express how I feel today J