Kyellan

I keep trying to journal. I can never keep it up for longer than a week... no idea why. It just ain't for me, I guess.

Guys, I walked FOUR POINT FIVE miles today. It was a lovely walk along an ambling road with nice hills. I think that road will be a good one to practice for Scotland. Tally: 15.82 miles

Just along the local roads, mostly. One of them is moderately traveled, but there's plenty of gutter for me to step off into when the cars come by. It varies the surface a bit, too. Today I walked over to the nearby shopping plaza to drop off absentee ballot applications for the wife & I, and then up and around through a local quiet neighborhood. I've really been enjoying it. Sometimes I almost want to bust out into a jog, but I've been keeping myself from doing it. Just stick to the walk. It's exactly the right amount of exercise. Though, I did get to order my emergency bike kit, so once that arrives, I'll be able to get back out on that too, which will make me happy.

Ended up being not much here. A coworker in RI got slammed; we got some stiff breeze and a bunch of rain. 2.6 miles added today. Running Walking (ha-ha) tally: 11.32 miles.

Peace Talks is very good. There's SO MUCH going on. And I'm super psyched to get Battle Ground next month!!

3.23 additional miles yesterday, since we've got the edges of a tropical storm rolling in today. Running Mileage Tally: 8.72 miles.

Took the dog on a 2.20 mile hike today. Not exactly a barnstormer, but still active time outdoors. Running Mileage Tally: 5.49 miles. 10% of the way to the goal!

I suppose technically the challenge starts tomorrow, but mine started today! I put 3.29 miles on the board in 55:47. A good starting line for this rather ambitious goal.

I added another 3.28 miles yesterday as a practice/distance gauge for hitting that mark consistently in August. Puts me at 8.54 miles for zero week. Guess I'm not taking it as easy as I thought, but the walking has actually become easier these days. It's quite pleasant, even on the very hot days. Pretty sure I'm heading out later for my first 5k of August. Got to start out strong!

Dude, sup. Nice to see ya. I fight panic attacks myself, so... yeah. Can't offer much but sympathy and solidarity. Anxiety fucking sucks. Here's a pleasant landscape for you.

Here to follow along, and to offer a song by my favorite Japanese band...

Yeah, we're very much about recognizing our individual needs in our household and doing our best to accommodate them. It suits us all pretty well so far. Thank you, senpai I always appreciate your kind words and encouragement.

Got dat goal up there. 50 miles in a month. It's a good starting point for building up to doing 75 miles in a week when I walk one of the Highland Ways in a few years Edit: oh right, and this week I've put 3.07 miles and 2.19 miles on the clock, giving me a zero-week total of 5.26. I'll be taking it a bit easier this week, in prep to go hard in August. Still gotta keep moving though!

Okay, so, in keeping with the spirit of simplicity, I've got one primary goal for this challenge. I'm going to walk 50 miles in August. This means that I probably have to do 5k, 4 days a week. That would put me at about 51 for the month. I might mix it up a little: throw some bike miles on there (once I have my repair kit) at the same 3 biking: 1 walking ratio that I used previously. There will probably be some dog hikes in there too. I went back and did the calcs: last month I put around 42 miles on the clock, which is good. That should make 50 a bit of a stretch, but an attainable goal. My long-term plan is still (in a few years) hiking one of the Highland Ways with my daughter, once she's old enough, so I'm going to have to throw in a few all-day hikes somewhere in the future to make sure I'm building the longer endurance as well. I figure kiddo should be at least 5-6 or so before we attempt something like that, so I've got some planning time. Plus, assuming we can get past the damn COVID thing, I've got a trip sketched out for next year anyway that is time-dependent, so it has to come first. Other than that, I've decided against actually tracking calories. I'm going to focus on keeping on what I'm doing, meals-wise. The high-fiber, non-meat lunches, two meals/day and just generally trying to cut back around the edges is the plan for this challenge. I'll re-examine at the end of this one and see if I really need to log calories, or whether I can manage this on my own. So: eat better and walk 50 miles. I think I can do it. Current Progress [❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚] 15.82/50 miles 31.64% complete

The last two months have been insane, and yet I have slowly begun to take control of myself back from the brink of madness. There's not really going to be much "challenge" here, I don't think, so much as "keep doing what you're doing" kind of stuff. I'm back here because I miss you all; you're super cool, and there's no better place on the web for support. So, here's a little update on where I'm at: 1) Life: I'm now a 1/3rd partner in a small games company called Tumbledie Games, LLC. We're developing the RPG I mentioned a couple months ago, actively playtesting (some of it live on Twitch) and working on refining our rulebook into something amazing. I'm hosting, recording, editing and producing a weekly RPG discussions podcast called Threat Dice, which is some of the most fun I've ever had on the Internet. I'm even doing interviews now, with my partners and other random people on the internet... it's been so much fun. Kiddo is 19 months old and doing pretty well despite the isolation. It's good, I think, that's she's young enough not to know any better. We don't have anyone nearby who's able to quarantine like we are, so it's basically just the three of us and the dog, but it's okay. She's probably going to be one of those kids that does better with adults than kids her own age, but that may have been the case anyway. She's a bright and happy toddler and honestly, working from home (indefinitely right now for my company) has kept me closer to her than I ever thought possible, so I'm really glad to be here for all of these amazing things happening in her brain. 2) Food: Half of my meals are now vegetarian, which I'm pretty happy about. The pandemic has driven wife & I to de-emphasize meat, since it's harder to keep, and try to get at least a portion of protein at all our meals from legumes and other sources. I don't think I see a need to go 100% veggie, but the changes I've made are doing better things for my brain and body. I started an experimental backyard garden. I have cucumbers, heirloom amethyst beans, and sweet corn sprouts actively growing right now, and I'm planning to add some spinach and kale in the shadier spots of the garden soon (they grow quick, so you can plant them late). It's by no means a smorgasbord, but I'm proving to myself that I did not inherit my mother's black thumb and may have a chance of growing more things in future years. I have ceased purchasing things that make me weak. I'm using a cup of hot chocolate at night (relatively low cal) to kill the sugar cravings, and overall it's working fairly well. If I want something more, I have to make it, and I'm so busy that I'm not super inclined to do that. By the way--brownies made with almond flour are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Still loaded with sugar, but at least they contain a little protein? All of this has contributed to my feeling better about life in general, and causing my weight to inch back down again. There's more I could do, and I'm taking it as a slow shift, focusing on eliminating one piece at a time. This has been difficult, but is working, so yay. 3) Exercise: I bought myself a standing desk riser for working at home, so I now stand 3-4 hours out of the day instead of sitting the whole time. I'm achieving a walking goal of 10 miles per week (about 2.5 miles on 4 days), just down the street in my neighborhood. I'm going to get a couple of the things I need to get my mountain bike tuned up so I can take that out again during the summertime and maybe see a few more roads than just the same 1.25 mile stretch over and over again. All in all, things are OK. Need to just keep soldiering on. The "challenge" is: 1) Walk 10 miles per week (I'll re-calibrate once I get the bike tuned up) 2) Two meals a day: 1 vegetarian 3) Don't go insane You all are great. I'm here to cheer!