July 02, 2020

Penny Pincher Walk


I planned on writing my July "to do" list today, but I have been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to think about my list.

I woke up at 6:00 and felt really good. I slept through the night from 12:00 until 6:00! That's a huge improvement for me. And I know exactly why it is, too--Jerry's first day back to working on midnights was yesterday, so I had the bed to myself. When I woke up at 6:00, I was surprised to see that I actually felt energetic.

I saw the list on my nightstand for my Cookies Summer Challenge, so I decided to pick an item from the list and go out for a walk. I chose the "Even Split Walk", where you walk 3+ miles with each mile time being within five seconds of each other.

When I went outside, I saw that the fish flies were bad again. I thought they were done hatching, but I was wrong. Still, I was dressed to walk three miles, so I just kept going. A few minutes into the walk, I noticed that I hadn't turned my Garmin on!

Anyway, I wasn't far into the walk when I noticed a dime lying on the ground. I picked it up and decided to count it as my Penny Pincher Walk (finding a coin while out walking/running) instead of doing the Even Split Walk. It's not always guaranteed you'll find a coin while out walking, so now I was able to knock that off my list.

Shortly after that, I found another dime (it was hard to tell whether it was a dime or a penny, because it was SO scuffed up and dirty. A little ways later, I found a penny. And then another. And another! All of the coins were spaced throughout the route. It's clear I haven't been running in a while, because I certainly would have picked them up!

I did see another penny, but it was embedded into the asphalt and I couldn't pull it out.

At first, I was walking at a fairly comfortable, enjoyable pace. After a mile and a half or so, I noticed my heart rate was 118 bpm. I was curious how fast I'd have to walk to get it into the MAF training zone (at my age, 38, my zone is 132-142).

I started walking really fast, and my heart rate was barely climbing. I picked up the pace as quickly as I could, and I saw that as I was approaching the end of mile two, I was able to dip into the MAF zone at 132 bpm. Out of curiosity, I decided to see if I could do a full mile in my MAF heart rate zone.

It was tough! I was walking as fast as I could throughout the whole third mile, but I actually did it! I even got toward the top of the zone a couple of times.



I don't know if I'd want to do that all the time (it's not easy!) but it'll be nice to see if walking regularly will help me get faster. I'll have to go faster if I'm able to stay in that zone. Or, just start running again.

Anyway, it was a great walk and I love that I was done with it nice and early. (Also, it was 93 degrees this afternoon!) I had enough energy left to work on the garage some more. I am 99% done!

Tomorrow, I am going to sand it. Today, I bought the paint for it (and I was in sticker shock--I forgot just how expensive paint is). I had to buy a five-gallon bucket of primer, a 5-gallon bucket of paint, and a few gallons of ceiling paint (I'm sure I'll end up needing more, but I didn't want to buy a five gallon bucket if I don't need that much).

I had absolutely no idea what color to choose for the walls. I wanted something light, so that the garage wouldn't look dark and dreary. But I didn't want anything so light that all the little scuff marks from things in there will show up easily. So, I ended up picking Sherwin Williams Argos, the same color that is in my kitchen and dining room (a very light gray).


I can't wait to get started with the painting! I hope I did a good enough job on the taping and mudding so that the paint looks good. As my brother always reminded me when I was working on my house, "Paint doesn't hide the flaws, it just changes the color of them". Haha! Very true, I've realized.

Okay, I'll recap June and write about my July checklist tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. I have been reading your blog for more than 10 years. Your commitment to your fitness goals (and "to do's") along with the large home projects you take on and finish are awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing your life!

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