I thought I wasn't going to make it

I've walked around the lake twice before. But today, I thought it was going to be the end of me.

My legs. They hurt. A lot.

I think part of my problem is I go too hard too soon. I know I need a few warm up minutes. I know this. Yet I go full tilt straight out of the gate. And the path I walk is hilly. So not only am I hoofing it for all I'm worth I'm also having to hoof it up several hills. I had to stop a few times to stretch my calves. My gosh they hurt. And tight.

I think next time I'm going to do the walk in reverse: start where I usually end. That gives me a bit of time to get going before tackling any hills. The way I've been doing it there is a hill right at the beginning. I'll try that and see if that helps any. And next week, once payday hits, I'm either getting new sneakers or am going to go find some inserts for my current shoes (on C's suggestion - thanks!).

Yeah, it hurt and it sucked but I kept going. I wanted to stop (and I probably should have) but I pushed on. The second lap around I paced myself which seemed to help with the tight calves. It hurt, but I did it.

I'm taking tomorrow off. For one, after the hurt I went through today I'm giving myself a break. And for two I'm donating blood for the first time tomorrow morning. So, I'll get up have a healthy breakfast, get ready to go meet a friend who is going with me (this will be her second donation), then I'm off to work for the afternoon/evening. Friday morning I'll go for a walk again. But tomorrow, I get a break.