Getting My Steps

 I had a meds checkup with my doctor last week and she wasn't happy about my weight, my bloodwork or my blood pressure.  Any one of them would have been not good, but all three at the same time gets to be a serious issue. I admit I fell off the wagon after my dad died last year, so it was all the motivation I needed. Paying more attention to my diet was something that was way overdue. That will improve my bloodwork and a modification to the medications I take will help with my blood pressure.

Then she asked how active I was.

Um.

"You need to get moving!"

So... pay attention to my diet, modify my medications, and move my body. OK. I can do all those things.

I love to walk, but damn, it's almost winter here in NH and it's cold out. Trying to get to the gym would mean I'd be there with everyone else at the busy times. WHERE, I wondered, could I walk for free?

I could walk at the Mall, but between now and Christmas the Mall will be jam packed, and getting in and out of the parking lot is problematic. I thought of the grocery store, but then I thought of something else.

I work for a manufacturing company. We have a 75,000 square foot facility. It would be very easy to stay a bit longer after work and walk around. So I have been doing that.

When I walk out to the factory floor by the server room this is my path, (I have to stay within the yellow lines.)

Take a right, and this is my view down to Shipping and Receiving.

Two more lefts, and now I'm in the MSB area (sorry, can't tell you more than that) and I'm heading back towards the server room. The area has five big aisles, and I start at one end and go up and down the aisles, then change gears and do the whole thing in reverse back to the office.

It doesn't take long for me to have added 1,000 steps to my daily tally. Two big loops - one at lunchtime and the other before I leave - and I've added 2,000 steps to my day. It's all flat, there's plenty of room for me to walk, it's climate controlled and it's free.

Now all you spring chickens who walk 10,000 steps a day, you can keep your accomplishments to yourself.  I don't need to hear you brag and I don't need you berate me. I'm 69 years old and I have arthritis literally everywhere. Three quarters of the way through my loop my right hip begins to scream, but I keep going.

Tomorrow I'll be walking through the galleries at the MFA in Boston. I'm going to see the John Singer Sargent show. It'll be a lot slower walking, but I'll be enjoying every minute.