Walking New York

My wife and I just returned from a wonderful vacation Back East.  We attended the wedding for my niece in scenic Narragansett, enjoyed an emotional tribute honoring the twentieth year of my father’s passing in rural Exeter, then hopped a train in quaint Kingston for the hectic mania of NYC.

During all of the above, my wife, embracing a new fitness kick (hmm, wonder where she got that idea from?), meticulously kept track of all of her steps, using a pedometer.  Now, I’ve used pedometers for years, but since I walk basically the same route just about every day, I seldom use one anymore.  My loss, by the way, as I still feel they are an excellent tool for not only tracking results, but to assist in motivating, inspiring, and celebrating vital fitness gains and successes.

Since we spent the majority of our time together, I was able to piggyback her step results as if they were my own (except for my morning two-mile walks, from which I added 4000 steps to my daily tally).  The goal, by the way, is to shoot for 10,000 steps a day.  One mile is approximately 2000 steps, so 10k is roughly five miles.  Depending on your size and how fast you walk, you can burn around 100 calories per mile.  Add this 500 caloric burn to the rest of your non-sedentary lifestyle, and you can easily see how counting steps, using a pedometer, and walking every day can assist in losing weight and living a healthier, happier, better life.

  

I am thrilled to report that my wife and I were able to exceed 10,000 steps most days during our two-week getaway.  Shuffling through airports, racing from car rental agency to train stations adds up!  We averaged well over ten thousand steps per day, which was a big help in balancing all of those extra vacation calories one consumes while away from it all.

But it was while visiting the Big Apple, traversing endless city blocks, that we amassed historical step results.  Both days we were in the city we tried to walk to as many destinations as possible, eschewing taxis and the subway, often challenging each other to take one more step, try for one more city block, before yielding to fatigue and hailing a yellow cab.  More often than not we amazed ourselves by doing just that and congratulating each other on our results.

Both days on Manhattan I exceeded 20,000 steps—a very good thing! We stayed at a hotel on 57^th street.  My wife was going to spend a day shopping at Macy’s down on 34^th street, while I wanted to prowl the aisles of one of my favorite book stores that was in the financial district.  After breakfast, we took off toward downtown with the goal of no taxis or subways unless we were really beat.  

Walking twenty city blocks isn’t that difficult, so I was still fairly fresh when I dropped my wife off at Macy’s.  But my bookstore was another fifty-plus blocks—at least an hour of more walking!  I decided to walk until I was too tired to take another step, then hail a cab.  The weather was overcast and humid.  My head was covered in sweat.  I sucked down the last of my water.  I was parched and in need of napkins to mop my damp brow.  I ducked into the first friendly shop I found, bought water and grabbed a handful of napkins.  Rehydrated and patted dry, I continued my trek.  I was crazed, determined not to give in; I stepped in a pothole, twisted my ankle, blistered the soles of my feet, yet I continued onward.

Why?

The only reasonably response was to echo what the mountain climber says to those who ask why he climbs that mountain—

“Because it’s there!”

Huh?

Overlooking blistering feet, a sweat-drippy skull, near-dehydration, and cluelessness as to where my bookstore actually was, I found myself at the site of where the twin towers once stood.  The place was alive with activity.  Thousands of tourists gawked and stood proudly where those behemoths once guarded lower Manhattan; while men at work did their thing in trying to rebuild what misled cowards tore down.

Me?  I was both emotionally taken by where I was and exhausted at how I arrived there.  I asked someone who looked like they’d know what I needed to know, and was sent back uptown toward my bookstore, sweaty, beat, and proud to have walked so far in one of the great cities known to man.

I enjoyed a few wonderful, air-conditioned hours of book shopping, continuing to accumulate steps on my wife’s pedometer, far exceeding any previously recorded steps for one day in my life, no doubt.  The moral of this story, is that you can stay fit while on vacation, no matter where you are, be it traveling the endless city streets of Manhattan, or the gorgeous beaches of Maui, the wine country in Europe…or right down the road from your house.

The secret is finding the good in the moment, while on vacation or when doing that thing called life we all must do every day.  365.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike

Looking For Good In One Very Bad Year

I hadn’t planned on writing an end of the year post, certainly not while December was still in its early stages. But, more often than not, life gets in the way of many of our best laid plans. And, sad to say, death does too.

2008 has not been a good year. For me, personally, and for most of the world, it seems that this year is one for the books in terms of bad news.

My wife and I, like millions of others (dare I say, billions?), have seen our net worth reduced by numbers too large and ugly to put into print. Yet we both remain employed, still have the wherewithal to earn decent livings, and are thankful for that. But millions of others are unemployed, and from all the forecasts things will certainly get worse before they get better.

But even though those are big challenges to overcome, it’s only money, right? At least you have your health…right?

2008 has been a trying year health-wise for me. My left shoulder began acting up early in the year, to the point where it needed to be surgically repaired, and still is far from one hundred percent. Yet I am thankful that the rest of me is okay. But that’s just me. And it’s only a sore shoulder. Things could be worse.

What if that sore shoulder turned out to be something bigger? It’s not, but, again, that’s just me--I got lucky. Sadly, my brother and his new bride did not.

One of my best memories of this past year was being asked to participate in my brother‘s wedding. In a year often filled with gloom and doom, this joyous event was a nice respite from the darkness. Yet for all its happiness, that day had a foreboding shrouding the event. My new sister-in-law, a lovely bride and the sparkle in my brother’s eye, was sick. They pushed up their nuptials by several months to accommodate her illness. Life and its paradoxes. 2008, that dreadful, yet wonderful, year.

They remain deeply in love and are hanging in there, both doing all that they can to make the best of their situation, doing what we humans often do when facing adversity: persevere, deal and cope, live life.

Life.

And death.

The reason I am writing this post today is due to having to fly Back East in a few days to attend a funeral. My step-father, one of the kindest, nicest men I have had the pleasure to meet, and a wonderful companion for my mother over the past eleven years, succumbed to illness and age on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor invasion. This is significant given that he fought in that war, returned with a wound and a determination to live life to its fullest every day. Which he did for eighty-eight years. My entire family are better people for having known him. And my mom? She’s tough, a survivor. But recovering from losing your love, that person with whom you share your daily existence, takes time.

It will take well into next year, and possibly the next, to fully recover from the many loses felt during this trying year. And that is what this post is really about, what livelife365.com is all about.

Living your life
Every day
Every way
Not letting anyone (or anything)
Stand in your way.

In memory of my step-father, in honor of my mother, with love to my brother, his wife, and the rest of my family (especially my wife and my son [Happy Birthday, Kiddo!]), and to all those who lost someone or something dear to them during this troubling year, I offer you my latest song, "livelife365":

Now playing: livelife365

I hope this inspires you, as it does me, to live your life to its fullest every day. And while 2008 has not been one of the better years in recent memory, it has been a year in your life. Good or bad, it’s your life. Your year. And it should be remembered for that.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike