Another Walk To Kandahar

March 1st!  A good day for new starts.

February 1st was a good day for new starts too and that's when I started walking to Kandahar - again.  But this time it wasn't to meet Dan's battalion on its way home.  Dan is already home and so is his battalion. This time I resolved to walk at least a mile every day in the hopes of covering enough miles to get to Kandahar and back - to support the troops who are still there.

Of course I'm well aware of the health benefits of daily walking.  And I'm walking for my health too.  But the thing that will keep me from missing even one day of walking is the thought of the men and women 'over there' making the sacrifices and facing dangers to support a country fighting for it's democracy, for women's rights, and for freedom from terror.  And coupled with my walks will be my prayers that they all come home safely.   I intend to walk and pray until they do.

This cartoon that was in the Sunday paper week before last, really said it all for me.

I'm hoping to enlist as much help as possible - or as many people as possible - to walk and remember those troops and maybe say a prayer for them.  And while we do, let's don't forget the mothers, fathers, spouses, children, siblings, and friends who have no choice but to remember every moment of every day that there's danger over there and sacrifices being made for the freedom of an entire population and freedom from terrorism worldwide.

I'll keep the records if you'll send me your miles for the week every Sunday.  And I'll do my best to keep everyone updated on our progress.

Please...for your own good...and so we don't forget...let's get moving to support our troops.

P.S.  I highly recommend streaking.  I wrote about the pros and cons here.  Don't get me wrong, we love the marchers (walking the most you can whenever you can) but we adore the streakers (overcoming every obstacle to walk every day)!!!

To Streak or Not To Streak

On July 9th I joined a group whose goal was to run (or walk) at least a mile every day with the premise being that you can always find time to do at least a mile if you just let go of the reasons to skip it.

Prior to joining this group, I had walked 20 days in March, 16 days in April, 0 days in May, 0 days in June, and 2 days in July.  It's easy to see that I started out pretty motivated and I was even able to carry a lot of that motivation into April, but when travel and other focuses got in the way, I let it go completely.  I never forgot that I should keep moving hence the two days I walked in July prior to streaking but it was easy to let other things get in the way of what I knew I should be doing.

But starting on July 9th, I completely embraced the premise of the streak.  You can always find time for a mile.  And I always did.  A couple of times I forgot until late in the evening but always remembered in time to get it in.  When I was sick (really sick) I hated it, but I managed to trudge at least a mile every day and when I felt better, I was glad that I'd persevered.  One night we were at Four Winds Casino and wonder-of-wonders we were both winning.  But I hadn't walked yet so we cashed out just in time to get that walk in (and actually brought home a little money for a change).  My son-in-law while driving from the Des Moines, Iowa area to Indiana stopped at a Wal-Mart and walked in the parking lot until he had his mile in.  Where there's a will, there's a way.

I started getting up in the morning and thinking about when the best time to get my walk in would be.  And it became not only motivating in itself, but I've started to see tiny little tangible results.

It wasn't results like that that I was looking for when I started.  I really tried to keep walking because I believe that as we get older, if we don't keep moving, we soon won't be able to move.  I suspect that one of the secrets to longevity is to keep active.  And even if I'm wrong, the years that I do live will be better years if I'm able to keep moving.

And now there's a brand new focus for us streakers.  We're going to try to walk to Kandahar where Dan (my son) and his battalion are currently deployed.  And I'm looking for team members.  You don't have to walk to Dan or his battalion.  There are lots of guys over there you can focus on or you can focus on all soldiers and every time you walk you can picture yourself meeting them halfway or part way or all the way and returning stateside with them.

Ideally we'll get far enough so that when they're on their way home, we'll all walk as far was we need to (within reason) to meet them at their house.  We're looking at finishing this streak sometime in January or February if we're lucky but maybe a little later if we're not.  (It depends on when they re-deploy.)

I hope I can get a lot of people to join me because we're going to need to cover a lot of miles.

And I realize there are more difficulties for some people than others.  I'm lucky to have a treadmill so not only can I walk no matter what the weather conditions but I can clearly see my distance which I then log into my computer.  I'm lucky that I have a pretty good history of walking so a mile wasn't a problem for me.  All I had to do was convince myself that I could do it every single day.  Right now I'm trying to shout out to everybody but most particularly to our friends and relatives who are about our age and haven't done any walking and don't have a treadmill.

How about this - walk around the block when it's fine outside and mall walking when it isn't.  Or how about walking around your house until you log at least a tenth of a mile (about 250 steps) - every day.  Or a quarter of a mile when it gets more comfortable for you.  Those tenths and quarters will really add up if enough of us do it.

And if you really truly can't do it every day, give us what you can do.  If you were able to go out on Wednesday and walk 2 miles but that's it, we'll gladly take your two miles.  I encourage streaking because it worked so well for me but that doesn't mean it will work for everybody.  If you're a new walker or runner, give the streak a try.  You might be surprised.  But for some of our more experienced movers who go to the gym a few times a week to #getyourmoveon, please share your miles.  We need them.  So if you're just trying out this walking thing and daily is really overwhelming, we'll happily take what you manage to do every other day or a few times a week.

Just turn in your distances to me and I'll tally them and share our totals with other team leaders.  You can email me (maryhibner@comcast.net), call me (219 879-3008), or leave your weekly totals on Facebook - just be sure to tag me.  Our current streak started on the 4th of July (I was late starting) and ends on Labor Day.  That means this streak or distance tallying will start on September 3rd.

So come on and join us.  You know you always meant to get your move on.  Can you think of a better time to start?!!!