An Exercise in Resolve, Month 12

Spent first week of December in Ethiopia and, while I was not on a regular exercise schedule, did naturally get some substantial exercise in on a number of days. It bears mentioning that I draw a distinction between being "in garrison" and "in the field" and make no effort to work out or stay on any sort of schedule while I am operating in the former environment. I rather operate under the assumption that the field can present its own challenges and that it is prudent for me to keep my resources in reserve while out and about. As usual, entries in quotes are adapted from my Twitter posts. 

December 1-7: Spent the first week of the month visiting my brother in Ethiopia and then travelling back to the U.S.! As noted, did not try to maintain a regular exercise routine but walked most days and ended up hauling a substantial load on at least one of them. 
December 8-9: Spent two days visiting my daughters in Northern Virginia on my way back to Texas from Africa. Did not get in much exercise at all and, being exhausted from my trip and on a different time schedule, actually slept about half the time I was there. 
December 10 (Thursday): No walk; first day back home after my trip and spent the day getting caught up on things, recovering, and getting ready for our d-Infinity Live! show on "Hacking, Cracking, & Data Jacking."
December 11 (Friday): Two-mile walk with a medium load. 
December 12 (Saturday): Got in a 0.6-mile walk with at least a light load. 
December 13 (Sunday): Two-mile walk with a medium load. 
December 14 (Monday): "Two-mile walk with a medium load; getting back to an exercise routine now that I am back from Ethiopia. Warm and sunny here in Texas Hill Country!" 
December 15 (Tuesday): "Two-mile mid-afternoon walk with a medium load; a bit stiff and achy but pushed through. Low 70s here in Texas Hill Country — great for December! 
December 16 (Wednesday): "Got in a two-mile walk; knees and shoulder a bit achy so took just a light load and skipped the backpack. Sunny and cool here in Texas Hill Country! 
December 17 (Thursday): Quick, 0.6-mile walk up to the mailboxes; always hustling the day I have a d-Infinity Live! show and rarely have time for more than that. 
December 18 (Friday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 
December 19 (Saturday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 
December 20 (Sunday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

December 21 (Monday): "Got in a one-hour twilight hike with a light load on the bluffs west of the Devil's Hollow here in Texas Hill Country!" (An image from this walk appears below.)

December 22 (Tuesday): Probably walked two miles with a light load. 

December 23 (Wednesday): "Two-mile walk with a light load; knee a bit achy so did not carry more or go too fast. Cloudy but warm, bright, and 80 degrees here in Texas Hill Country!" 

December 24 (Thursday): Walked just 0.6 miles, up to the mailbox to see what may have come in last-minute before Christmas! 

December 25 (Friday): No walk, due to holiday activities and laziness. 

December 26 (Saturday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

December 27 (Sunday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

December 28 (Monday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

December 29 (Tuesday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

December 30 (Wednesday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

December 31 (Thursday): Probably walked between 0.6 and two miles with a light load. 

An Exercise in Resolve, Month 10

October started off with perfect walking weather, bright and sunny but also cool and breezy much of the time! We hit every extreme after that, from a triple-digit heat index early in the month to driving rainstorms toward the end. Entries on the daily list below in quotes are taken from my pertinent personal Twitter posts and several of the italicized entries mid-month are for days when I know I walked but did not annotate the distance (and in retrospect it all runs together). 

October 1 (Thursday): Walked 0.6 miles with a light load. 

October 2 (Friday): Walked 1.2 miles with a light load. 

October 3 (Saturday): Walked two miles with a light load. 

October 4 (Sunday): No walk but mowed a section of the lawn. 

October 5 (Monday): Walked 0.6 miles. 

October 6 (Tuesday): "Walked 2.5 miles with a light load. Bright and sunny but not too hot here in Texas Hill Country and very pleasant for some outdoor exercise!" Also mowed the lawn for about 20 minutes and swept the upper patio and so ended up being pretty beat! 

October 7 (Wednesday):  No walk; was on the road to Wimberley to do a presentation at the library on my new San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country. 

October 8 (Thursday): Walked just 0.6 miles with a light load; got immersed in Skirmisher personnel issues and did not make it out until just before dinner. 

October 9 (Friday): Walked about 1.5 miles around downtown San Antonio, to and from our hotel to the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center, then dinner, and then drinks. 

October 10 (Saturday): Did not walk too much but loaded things into and then out of the convention center and made three trips between it and the parking lot.  

October 11 (Sunday): Walked 1.2 miles with a light load. 

October 12 (Monday): "2.2-mile mid-afternoon walk with a light load. Wondered why I was dragging until I learned we had a 100 degree heat index here in Texas Hill Country!" 

October 13 (Tuesday): No walk; was on the road and then passed out until after dark when I got back. 

October 14 (Wednesday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 15 (Thursday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 16 (Friday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 17 (Saturday): "Managed to get in a two-mile twilight walk with a light load. Has finally cooled down a bit here in Texas Hill Country!" 
October 18 (Sunday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 19 (Monday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 20 (Tuesday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 21 (Wednesday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 22 (Thursday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 23 (Friday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 24 (Saturday): Had to skip a planned hike to the Devil's Hollow with visiting Brendan Cass due to heavy rain, but managed to get in a c. 1.5 night hike together to the local haunted 19th century Bremer Cemetery during a lull in the weather. (A time lapse image by Brendan of me standing by an ominous tree in the graveyard appears below.)

October 25 (Sunday): Got in a quick 1.2-mile twilight walk with a light load. Cold and damp after yesterday's storm and feeling like fall here in Texas Hill Country!" 

October 26 (Monday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 27 (Tuesday): Walked between 0.6 and 2+ miles with a light load. 

October 28 (Wednesday): No walk, on account of spending first half of the day cleaning the house, picking up Diane at the airport in the afternoon, and stopping for dinner on the way home and not getting back until after dark. 
October 29 (Thursday): No walk, on account of being on the road, getting Hepatitis B and rabies vaccinations, and needing to get ready for my weekly "d-Infinity Live!" show. 
October 30 (Friday): Walked just 0.6 miles, to and from the mailbox, and did not go further on account of rain. 
October 31 (Saturday): Walked two miles with a light load. Wanted to end the month on a strong note! 

An Exercise in Resolve, Month 9

Started off the month well with a new route that includes walking up to the mailbox, down to the end of the cul de sac, and then past the house far enough to bring myself up to an even 2 miles even by the time I am done. In general I carry a light load consisting of my shoulder bag, containing a camera and other gear and weighing about 6.5 pounds, and a 1.6-pound walking stick (although I usually don't carry the stick up the mailbox so that my hands will be free for anything I pick up there). Managed to make relevant Twitter posts some days and have included those here, minus any hashtags they might have contained. 

September 1 (Tuesday): "Two-mile twilight walk w. a light load; another breezy evening here in Texas Hill Country. Saw a herd of c. 20 deer on the lot behind mine."

September 2 (Wednesday): "Late afternoon 2-mile walk between teleconferences; running on a little more than 3 hours sleep and kept a sluggish pace."

September 3 (Thursday): No walk; got lazy and disorganized and ran out of time while trying to get ready for my weekly show. 

September 4 (Friday): Walked 0.6 to 2 miles with a light load (know I walked but did not log and do not remember how far). 

September 5 (Saturday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 6 (Sunday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 7 (Monday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 8 (Tuesday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 9 (Wednesday):  Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 10 (Thursday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 11 (Friday): Walked 0.3 miles up to the mailbox; started raining halfway there and was a torrent by the time I got there. Diane drove up and rescued me before I had to walk back in it. 

September 12 (Saturday): Got in a 2-mile mid-afternoon walk. Bright and cloudless but probably only in the mid-80s. 

September 13 (Sunday): Mowed lawn for about 30 minutes instead of taking a walk. 

September 14 (Monday): "Two-mile sunset walk with a light load ... Relatively cool here in Texas Hill Country and was able to keep a decent pace!" 

September 15 (Tuesday): Walked 1.2 miles with a light load (on top of a visit to Costco, which always involves a bit of walking in itself). 

September 16 (Wednesday): "Walked two miles with a light load in between late afternoon rain showers! Cloudy but bright and about 90° here in Texas Hill Country." 

September 17 (Thursday): Walked 0.6 miles with a light load and then spent about 20 minutes mowing the lawn. 

September 18 (Friday): Late afternoon two-mile walk with a light load; in the 90s here in Texas Hill Country but briefly had a cool breeze and some cloud cover.

September 19 (Saturday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 
September 20 (Sunday): No walk; was feeling lazy and unorganized and just failed to get one in. 

September 21 (Monday): Walked between 0.6 and 2 miles with a light load. 

September 22 (Tuesday):  No walk; was out doing errands during the day. 

September 23 (Wednesday): Was on the road early in the day, and managed to get a little walking in as a result, and then got in a late afternoon 1.2-mile walk when I got back. 

September 24 (Thursday): Felt kind of off most of the day but stuck it out and got in a two-mile walk -- figured it would not be an auspicious start for the next year of my life to blow it off on my birthday! 

September 25 (Friday): Walked just 0.6 miles up to the mailbox; torrential rain hit when I was going to walk and by the time it was done I could not go further before nightfall and did not fell like walking in the dark. 

September 26 (Saturday): Walked two miles with a light load. Was warm and I had eaten sort of a sub-standard lunch and so I was pretty played out by the time I got back and glad to eat dinner right away.  

September 27 (Sunday): No walk! And no good excuse; was just working through on things and did not make good enough use of my time. 

September 28 (Monday): Walked 0.6 miles with a light load.  

September 29 (Tuesday): "Managed to get in 2.5 miles w. a light load ahead of hitting a 100-degree heat index here in Texas Hill Country! Longest walk this month." 

September 30 (Wednesday): Walked two miles with a light load (with a break in between going to the mailbox and finishing the rest of it). Pretty hot for September but glad to have finished the month on a strong note! 

An Exercise in Resolve, Month 2

Was pleased to have achieved my goal of exercising outside every day, rain or shine, every day but one in January! For me that means walking a distance of from at least 0.6 miles on my worst days (i.e., just up to the mailbox and back) to as much as 3.25 miles on my best day, and generally with some sort of a load that might include a walking stick, messenger bag, and/or backpack and has thus far weighed up to 23.5 pounds total. February has, unfortunately, been a very stressful month and everything has been much more of a struggle. For the most part, however, I have largely managed to match the frequency if not the intensity of my walks. 

February 1 (Sunday): Walked 2.5 miles but, as my hips were hurting and I wanted a break for them, left the backpack behind and carried only about 8 pounds. Diane carried her daypack but was unhappy with how it felt. 
February 2 (Monday): Walked 2.5 miles with full load of c. 22 pounds. Diane switched over to a full-sized pack and was pleased with how it felt. 
February 3 (Tuesday): Pretty cold and wet and pushed off the walk until fairly late and then just knocked out a minimum walk of 0.6 miles to mailbox with c. 6.5 pounds. 
February 4 (Wednesday): Cool and gloomy but good weather for walking and got in a 2.5-mile walk with about 22 pounds. 
February 5 (Thursday): Walked our regular 2.5-mile route with about 22 pounds. 
February 6 (Friday): Were on the road, did not get home until after dark, and did not get our walk in! (But did get some incidental walking in the course of our errands.) 

February 7 (Saturday): Walked up to mailbox, 0.6 miles, with about 6.5 pounds. 

February 8 (Sunday): Walked c. 1.5 miles, about a third of it through woods and over rough ground, with about 8 pounds of weight. 
February 9 (Monday): Walked 1.8 miles with about 8 pounds of weight. Warm and sunny! 
February 10 (Tuesday): Another beautiful day! Walked 0.6 miles with about 6.5 pounds. 
February 11 (Wednesday): Walked 0.6 miles with c. 6.5 pounds. 
February 12 (Thursday): Walked 1.8 miles with c. 7 pounds. 
February 13 (Friday): Walked 1.2 miles with c. 22 pounds. 

February 14 (Saturday): Walked 0.6 miles with c. 6.5 pounds. 
February 15 (Sunday): Walked at least 1.2 miles with at least c. 8 pounds. 

February 16 (Monday): 

February 17 (Tuesday): 

February 18 (Wednesday): 

February 19 (Thursday): Walked 2.5 miles with c. 9 pounds. 

February 20 (Friday): No walk. 
February 21 (Saturday): Walked 0.6 miles with c. 6 pounds.