Finally Hiking Again

After 2 weeks of walking around with a broken toe, I felt as if I would go stark raving mad. Mind you, I have been able to do any fitness walking for the last 2 weeks, my toe is still hurting, and I've got to say, it's been quite discouraging. That's why, during my weekly drive home from Richmond to Norfolk, I pulled off to look at a beautiful resort hotel and in the process, found Wallermill Park just outside Williamsburg in Virginia. I decided at that point, that nothing would stop me from hiking. It was snowing and I had my trekking poles - and my toe still hurt. But after an hour and a great hike, I was back at the car not regretting a thing.

It's amazing the therapeutic and physiologic value of a good walk. I felt refreshed and liberated. Not that I had immensely challenged by endurance capabilities. But movement is so vital to health and clear thinking. And so after 2 weeks, I finally got my steps back over 10,000 for the day. But I also accomplished some important mental work as well. I started thinking about the importance of monitoring daily progress toward a well-anchored fitness goal with a compelling reason. What's a compelling reason?  It's the strong WHY of my goal. Well-anchored means that it's a goal that is Specific, Challenging, Active, Measurable, Proximal, and Inspirational. Unless my goal has a compelling reason and is well-anchored, forces that come along to derail my efforts - distractions, discouragement, disillusionment - will pull me off the path to success. I also started thinking about the elements involved in monitoring/charting my journey toward my goal: starting, direction, alignment, progress, trends, momentum.