Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Random thoughts while walking

I told myself a while ago that if it broke 35 degrees outside, I would go walking. Well, it was about 41-42 degrees, so I figured I better get my fanny out there and hit the track.

While I was out there, some random thoughts came to me - they usually do while I am walking, especially when I am the only one out there. Here is what was running through my head today...
  1. Next time I go out walking, I better remember to charge my portable XM Radio receiver first thing in the morning. I didn't realize that it held a charge for so little time (I charged it last week - thought it might work more like a cell phone battery - NOT!). So, I walked with my earbuds in and no music. *roll eyes here* Well, it wasn't bad though...it was like my usual walks: quiet and peaceful. That is why I go out and walk the two miles anyway, right? Peace and quiet.
  2. Apparently the University cannot figure out how to drain the track properly - they put in an astro-turf section in a quarter of the field last summer and since then, the water pools everywhere. One of the drains is even half out of the ground. Can you say it was WET out there?!?!?! That's okay - I got my new walking sneakers dirty last week walking in the snow anyway - I figured the pools of water would wash some of that off (it did - smarty me!). So, you are probably asking: Did she play in the puddles???? You betcha!!! It was great - like I was playing mudpies in my old backyard when I was only 5 years old. Talk about getting back to nature... It was kinda neat, though, to watch the pools randomly streaming and pooling and streaming again in various spots of the track- random, yet calming to watch (minus the rocks of calm stream or a high waterfall).
  3. I think the loud, repeating quacking of the Canadian geese means, "You mean to tell me that freakin' beotch is out here walking and disturbing our meal again??" Every time I rounded the last quarter of the track, the huge flock (and I mean huge - like 50 of them!) of geese would start their loud, nasty quacking and would shift direction away from me. I think they were high-5'ing each other when they saw me leave the track. Better start wearing a cap outside or else I am going to get pelted when they fly off... EWWWWW!
  4. Two miles just doesn't take that long anymore - I am out of the building, walking over to the track, walking my two miles and back in forty-five minutes. Maybe, when it is not as wet outside, I might lengthen the walk to 2 1/2 or 3 miles...
  5. Sometimes, when trying to cross the street to get back to my side of the campus, people are actually willing to stop and let you cross. Usually, even though there are clearly marked cross-walks for the University population to cross at, the cars going flying by and rarely stop to let the pedestrians have the right of way (if they do, you usually get "the bird"). Some nice student did today for a change - which was nice, but I won't get used to it.
  6. Lastly, I realized that my fits of anxiety are starting to get a little less now... I have stayed consistently on .25 mg of Xanex at night ever since 1-2 weeks before my appointment with Dr. McC on February 15th and even with that low dose, I am constantly oversleeping my alarm in the morning (I can't tell you the last time I did that). When I do, I don't find myself freaking out like I was before - I just hop in the shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. If I am a few minutes late for work, no one asks "What happened? Why were you late?" Not sure why they would ask anyway, since no one ever shows up before 8:30 am except for me. I still am getting the achy-skin feelings toward the end of the day, but even that is subsiding some now and is not as frequent... If I keep this up, maybe - just maybe - I can start cutting back on the meds and consider those three little letters again (I mean TTC...shhhhh! Don't want to talk too soon!). We shall see... Maybe summertime might be a nice time to try...
Now, I have to see if I can manage to sneak out tomorrow when I am home and Chris is at nursery school.... HeeHee! Supposed to be a lovely one tomorrow and no way I am going to miss that!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

And I was just saying to my husband that I missed the "civility" of back east, because everyone here in California is so rude and selfish! Getting the bird for trying to cross the street? - good grief! I guess it's time to take the rose-colored glasses off when I think about "back home" (Philly).

So glad to hear that your anxiety is lessening.

Anonymous said...

Philly certainly wouldn't be deemed civil. Plenty of times I jumped across the hoods of cars when they came too close to me as I was crossing the streets LOL

psst - keeping fingers crossed that you continue to make great strides and can add those three little letters back into your vocab. But if you drop back down in the valley for a day, week or even a month, just remember the mountain is right there and you've already climbed it once.