I hope it's okay to join you folks in the gym logs. I'm not doing weights, and I'd rather die before walking into a gym. My exercise room is the great outdoors, and my equipment is a quality pair of walking sneakers, a pedometer, a pair of binoculars and a bird book.

I started walking seriously about 3 weeks ago. It started with a 45 minute evening walk down to the creek to watch the deer at dusk. It grew into 45min to an hour at lunch, and an hour to 90 minutes in the evening. This weekend I'm adding an early morning walk, since I'm up at 5 am anyway. This has blossomed into a new found passion.

It was measurement day today. I've lost another inch on my waist - no surprise since my pants are loose. Gained the same inch back on my thighs, but that's likely due to all the walking.

So far this week I've walked 27 km, or just a few feet under 17 miles. It's amazing how the distance adds up!!

My treats for the week were:
- a proper pair of walking sneakers from the sports store. Wow what a difference they make. Much more comfy than my old running shoes. The soles are actually curved to help with impact and to rock your foot properly on the steps.

- a walking pedometer, that clips on your waist and measures how far you walk. Freedom finally...I don't feel compelled to walk the same old routes that I have already done by car to measure the distance.

- the next twinkle in my eye is (I can't believe I'm saying this) real exercise clothes. I finally feel comfortable enough about my body to get a couple of pairs of bicycling style spandex shorts or leggings. So far I've been doing my lunch walk in my work clothes ( a little dressed down) and would prefer to do it in other clothes. This week I discovered we actually have a locker room with showers in our building. Egads..I'm becoming one of the exercise junkies that flood out of the building at lunch time!!

On the serious side, the lunch time walks have done more than given me some exercise. It's a marvelous break in the day. I'm no longer dragged out after lunch. It's easier to focus, and the afternoon seems to go by so much faster now.

What I'm most thrilled about is that walking time has been designated as no smoking time. It seems silly to be hoofing along puffing on a smoke, and it's even sillier to light up afterwards. While I haven't quit, I've added almost another 3 hours a day that is smoke free. Quitting day is likely not that far off.