Losing a part of me

I set out on my walk today to see if I could come close to Thursday’s record-breaking walk. I have been happy that I have been able to not only crack the 7km ceiling that I seem to have had in Dallas, but do it a few times, and with gusto. In fact, breaking my distance record Thursday was a real milestone for me. Would I be able to match it?

• Distance: 15.56km (13.02km)
• Duration: 2:40:02 (2:08:09)
• Average Pace (Min/km): 10:17 (9:50)
• Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m34 (9m40)
• Steps: 19.3k (16.3k)
• Calories burned: 1,871 (1,571)
• Elevation gain: 76.5 (66.6)
• Average cadence (steps per minute): 120 (126)

I certainly was not breaking any speed records today, but I shattered all my previous distance-related marks. I was only able to break the 10m00s mark for three separate kilometres, which was disappointing. For the first couple of 10+ minute kilometres I made the excuse that because there was no sidewalk, I was walking on grass. Leslie has a better theory though, that I am essentially starving my body, and she is probably right.

We had lunch at Panera Bread Company, and I had a salad with chicken. I also ate the roll that they gave me with it, which I probably should not have done, but which also probably fueled the last five kilometres of my walk. For dinner, Leslie and the boy are preparing a pasta salad, which Leslie knows is not on my diet, but it is something that he helps to prepare, and he is excited to ‘cook’ for me. I am not depriving him of that. No, I should not be eating pasta, but I should also not be disappointing a seven-year-old boy who wants to show off for his new step-father. I expect that the near-1900 calories I burned during the walk will more than make up for whatever I eat this evening.

Once again, I know it doesn’t count… but I got onto the bathroom scale after my shower, and was down more than two pounds from this morning. It was nice to see 310.8lbs on the scale… even though I never count weigh-ins at 6:00pm! Hopefully tomorrow morning the scale will be equally nice… but it is a lot to expect a weight loss of two pounds in a day… even with the monster walks!

I will not be walking tomorrow, for several reasons… not the least of which is that I need a day or two to recover from today. Monday I am flying to California, so while I started October with a bang, I do not expect the next three days to be nearly as impressive.