Sharing the Road

I had my first walk this morning with another person besides my Princess, Erica. I have set up a regular thursday morning walk with us meeting at a park and routes for 5K, 4 miles or 10K. I have two other guys walking with me so far.

As much as I enjoy my lady's company it was fun to walk with someone who hasn't heard all my stories. One of the guys is a horse furrier, I didn't even know horses had fur. But appearantly it's more like a blacksmith. I was able to tell my one and only horse story, horses and I have an agreement, I stay off them and they don't eat me.

I was truely amazed at how fast 4 miles went with other people. I have to say that was one of the easiest 4 miles I've ever done even though we were doing a sub 12 min per mile pace. Both of the guys with me were race walkers all about the same age and just under 12 mpm worked out just right.

Exercising with a spouse, family member, friend or a new friend to be makes the whole experience different. I don't recommend going with someone who is way faster or a lot slower than you unless you agree ahead of time how you are going to do it. When Erica and I go we meet in the middle, I go a pace that forces me to slow down and make it a true "LSD, Long Slow Distance" day. But I push her just a bit more than she would do if she were by herself.

Meeting another person will help you keep that exercise date. At least one day a week you have a plan and you can build the rest of the week around that. If that is your long distance day then you can get that workout out of the way and do your shorter stuff on days when you might not have as much time. Ideally you could meet someone 3 days a week, like every other day and then you have your minimum requirements covered.

Keeping motivated is never easy and as the weather cools and winter comes on it gets harder to get your steps in. Having another person depending on you to get out there can be just what you need to keep your exercise routine going. It also helps you to keep your mind off the chill in the air.

You can find your walking/running partner in lots of ways, ask a co-worker, family member or friend or like I did find them through your health club. Most cities have a running club but very few have an organized walking club. I'm starting my own club and hopefully it will grow.

Thank you for reading, walk/run/rest/love strong.

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