10,000 Miles Completed

So after six years, four months, and 15 days, reached my goal of walking 10,000 miles.  Somewhere between boredom and a desire to set up some type exercise program I made up this goal up to give me something to do with my ever longing desire to retire from full time work.  Only problem is, not ready to retire from full time work just yet.  Think it will be about one more year - well that is the current thought on that.

10,000 miles  :)

So after a Garmin and two Fitbits, not sure what to do now as far as tracking miles.  I will continue to distance walk, that is one thing that came out of this - enjoyment from walking, especially long distances.


Next goal....  thinking of rowing 1,000,000 meters on the indoor rowing machine.  Sort of took that up as a lunchtime workout habit recently.  Have 144,543 meters logged so far on the  Concept2 Log Tracking site.  Should be able do this with a year.  Hmmm....

Flat as a Pancake... and Solvitur Ambulando!

Tomorrow is the last day of the year.  I have put this off for awhile – but it is time to check, time to check the balance in my retirement accounts.  As I expected, this year’s rate of return was basically pretty flat (as a pancake).  I do not check too frequently, it is just been depressing to do so in the past few years.  This is a piece of the puzzle for when I can actually retire and it only feels good when the numbers are going up.  Of course that last few years “going up” was not a phrase used too often when describing accounts such as these.   This has impacted all of us and I am beginning to believe this is the new reality. 

On the home (equity) front there’s more not so good news.  We had great neighbors next door, a young couple.  The guy was laid off from his job and it took months to find a new one – yes he was lucky to find a new job – except it was in another state and they had to move.  The problem: they bought their house when the market was still climbing and now it is depressed, the value of their house was way below the amount they paid (mortgaged) for it.  They wanted to rent it and had a three (3) year lease agreement in hand.  But the HOA would not allow them to rent their property (there is something really wrong with this) as the HOA covenants only allow a certain percentage of homes to be rented out at any given point and that percentage had already been exceeded.  The house has been for sale for months.  Yesterday, a man came to the house and posted a bank authorized note basically saying that the house is being declared empty and abandoned.  It went on to say that they would change the locks and…  You get the picture.

Both of these things will have direct impact on when I can retire.  Hoping for a better 2012...

I think I need to get outside and go for a walk…  It really does help me see things differently.

I did go for that walk and it was a good one.  Since it was still morning when I finished I headed over to my favorite, local ‘diner, drive-in, dive’ type place here in town – the Rexall Grill (with counter service : )

So I went in and had, you guessed it:

Solvitur ambulando!

(When I first saw this, had to look it up, solvitur ambulando is a Latin phrase that basically means “it is solved by walking”.  Well for me, it does not actually solve these problems, but it sure does help me deal with them.)

Happy New Year and hopes of a better 2012!

The Beginning

Around mid 2010 I decided to 'get off the couch' and do something.  Through the years, on and off, I had been a runner (never a fast runner, but a runner none the less) but I never stayed with it.  My guess, I just did not like running that much.  So instead of taking up running again, I took up walking, specifically distance walking.  I suppose categorically, the type of walking I do would be considered brisk.  My first goal was to complete the Atlanta Half Marathon by walking (mostly walking with a bit of jogging thrown in) in the 3:30 time limit.

I did check in with my doctor prior to putting together my training program.  I think anyone who decides to get off the couch and begin an exercise program should absolutely discuss this with their doc first.  My doc gave me a thumbs up and I was on my way.  The other part of this get off the couch bit also included altering my diet.  So, combined, this has all been good for all of those blood levels during the annual physical and my weight is what it was as a senior in high school!

The 2010 Atlanta Half Marathon came and went and I did meet my goal.  My goal was two pronged - one was to complete it under 3:30 and the other was to enjoy it.  My time was 2:55:58 and I enjoyed it so much, I quickly signed for my next race.

This is my hobby; I do have a passion for this.

Doing these races/events does take a lot of preparation and that means a lot of time each week putting in the miles.  I have come to the point where I very much enjoy the time I spend doing this.  The mind is very active during the time spent walking/jogging and that is where the idea of doing 100 distance events before retirement came from.  There are so many factors regarding when one retires from the full time force.  Some of these things I do have control and some I do not.  However, I have laid down the gauntlet, have set the personal challenge, and this blog will describe what I go through as I walk to retirement.

As for the 100 distance events, I have decided that any organized race/event will do.  Distances can be 5K, 10K, half marathon, 25K, marathon, 50K,...  It really does not matter.  At this point I suspect the majority of these will be half marathon or greater distance as my current mindset is disappointment when I do a 5K or 10K because they are over so soon.