Final 2022 Outings

Yesterday I went 4 miles, all walking. I'd been out Monday and Tuesday, then Wednesday did other stuff and Thursday was horribly windy.

Today I did another 4 miles, with half-mile runs inserted. I even sprinted the last interval, or at least ran it faster than the others.

How can I describe 2022? The word inconsistent once again comes to mind. This is the lowest number of outings I've had in 15 years, which is not a good trend. I'm thinking about what I want to do in 2023, and a race would be a good start. We have a couple of spring weddings in the family so not sure how a race would fit in, but it's worth a look. Goodbye 2022, and welcome 2023!

Cold Snap

We definitely hit the cold weather mark last week. On Thursday morning the temperature dropped 20 degrees in one hour, and we made it into single digits that night. We also had winds over 30 mph and wind chill below zero. All that to say, it wasn't the most wonderful time of the year. We managed to stay warm and celebrate Christmas with the kids. All in all, a good holiday.

I got an ear infection about the middle of last week, waking up in the middle of the night with sharp pain in my right ear. Fortunately, that was the worst of the pain, although it's stayed clogged up every night since, moving to the left ear last night. I was feeling lethargic and low-energy, usually a sign I need exercise. The sun came out this afternoon and the breeze was okay, so I walked 4 miles and already feel better. I don't know if that'll take care of the ear problems, but it can't hurt.

Christmas Break

I'm off work the rest of this week, which means I can do my exercising during the day when the sun's out. I replicated Saturday's outing with walking and running and the 4-mile distance. It's a cool day again but at least the sun is shining. Not a whole lot of people out. In fact, I think I only saw one other person, and she was walking her dog. The only other people I saw were the lawn crew at the Mormon church, blowing leaves out onto Lake Forest. Wish I could get away with that. I filled two lawn bags with leaves from the front yard on Sunday, which is interesting since my tree doesn't drop leaves. They all belong to the neighbors who don't rake their lawns. I could return the leaves to the rightful owners, but I'm sure they'd just blow into my yard again. Sigh.

Cold Front

It was only about 40 degrees today when I left for a walk. At least the sun was shining and the breeze from the north wasn't too bad. I felt pretty good and decided to throw in some running to the outing. Overall, I went 4 miles and ran a total of half that in half-mile increments. It was nice to run. Walking is fine, but it takes soooooo long to go any distance. Running cuts down on that, not that I'm that fast.

I was also able to get out for a walk on Wednesday of 3 miles. Work has been too crazy the past couple of weeks but that should stop as I have some time off around the holidays. It's supposed to stay pretty cold for the next week but with no work I should have the opportunity to get out more often and in warmer parts of the day.

A Few More

I did manage to get out Tuesday for another walk, this one of the shorter variety at 2 miles. It was another nice day before the rain and work intervened to keep me caged up until today. That's okay, though, since I never mind getting rain around here.

Today was one of those days where it's cooler outside than the temperature. With a little breeze out of the north it kept things interesting until I warmed up. I went 4 miles total, walking, and saw very few people out on the path. I guess the weather kept people from wanting to take a walk, but not me. At least not today.

Midday Sunny Sun

Nice day today, with the temperature in the low 70s. That's a big difference from last week when it struggled to get up to 50 most days. Since I have late-afternoon check-in calls with a customer every day for the next two weeks I decided to get out and enjoy the sunshine during a break in my schedule. It was gorgeous and I actually wore shorts and a t-shirt. Walked 3 miles, hoping to build back my stamina. I did do a bit of walking on Saturday when I went to the Big 12 Championship game, but I wouldn't say I really focused on that as exercise.