Round is a shape

We've had some gorgeous weather over the last few days and I wanted to go out and enjoy it so I went for a walk around the neighbourhood yesterday and today. I made a rather startling discovery while on my walk today: I'm in terrible shape. I actually had to stop and rest in the middle of today's walk! I haven't had to do that since I was doing radiation in Thunder Bay back in 2001.

I guess this shouldn't have been a shock, because I haven't been doing much physical activity lately. I spend most days sitting on the couch and watching tv while surfing the internet. But for some reason I still thought that I was as in shape as I was in the summer. Clearly, I've been deluding myself - I'm in much worse shape than I was in the summer. Apparently there is a correlation between not doing any physical activity and being out of shape.

I was able to catch my second my wind on my walk but I was pretty tired by the time I got home. It's only a 45min walk and in my head I think I should be able to manage that with no problem. I think I tried to do too much too soon by doing the walk two days in a row. I should have chosen a shorter route today because I'm not supposed to exhaust myself the way I did.

Then again, I'm going to have to push my physical limits ever so slightly so that I can regain some of the shape I used to have. I could start out by doing the walk every other day so that I'm resting in between and not exhausting myself. I used to do the neighbourhood walk every day - without ever stopping in the middle - and I'd like to get back to that, if for no other reason than to be able to walk the dog we're going to get. Well, and to lose some of the extra weight I'm carrying; round may be a shape, but it's not the shape I'd prefer to be.