here's to walking!

i hate exercise. mostly because the word "exercise" to me connotes all things evil: spandex, gyms, trainers, crunches, crazy people who spend more of their life in the gym than they do with their children. i constantly forget that exercise used to be fun. racing my brothers around the block/school/park on our bikes. swimming laps for hours and hours. playing with my skip-it or just jumping rope with my friends at school.

when did exercise stop being play and start being evil?

last week at our WW meeting, we talked about getting out and moving more. just doing a little of things we loved as children. my leader said "kids don't come to the door and ask if susie can come out and exercise - they ask if she can come out and play. play this week."

i have a hard time motivating myself to go do something active. i don't know why, but i do. but this week i made the effort. i made my friends go for a nice walk last friday. i took my mom's dog for a long walk around the park on saturday. i went to the high school by my new house on tuesday and wednesday and walked laps at the track.

and you know what? maybe it wasn't jump rope or bike racing, but it was exercise. good exercise. i feel better today than i have in a couple weeks. and it was just walking. nothing fancy, nothing gym-related. just walking. and i played - i raced the dog (she won, but i ran for a whole half-block) - something i haven't really done in a long time.