Belated Half-Way-There Celebrations

Ok, this is a couple of weeks overdue, as the half-way point in The Plan™ was reached while I was in Rarotonga, but I am halfway through!  I’ve been doing this for just over six months now (29 ½ weeks actually, or 199 days . . . I should have waited to post this until tomorrow to make it a round 200, doh!), a lot has changed about me in these six months.  When I look back at the effort that went into those early walks, and how that I found just walking 2 km a day not carrying anything a bit of a challenge, now I don’t even think about a 2 km walk.  The improvement in my fitness has been profound.  This was most evident while on holiday in Rarotonga.  I was far more active and did things that I wouldn’t of at the beginning of the year; I think I enjoyed myself far more for it.

Now I am routinely walking more than 10 km per day, and am doing much longer distances at a time.  And just little changes are the most noticeable.  Not having any knee pain when going up and down stairs, being able to fit more comfortably into chairs, not having really sore feet at the end of each day (although I still get woken with gout pains around 2 am each day, but pills deal with that).  But best of all is a change in attitude to life.  I am far more optimistic about the future. I am making plans for travel and activities which I would never have bothered with before because I feel that I can actually accomplish them.

I am still far from the end of all this.  And the challenges that I still face are as great, or greater, than when I first began.  But I feel that I can do it.  More than that, I am excited about how I will be feeling in another 6 months; how far will I be walking?  what will my clothing size be? will I still be ugly?  So many questions!

So an update on the progress of The Plan™, halfway through week 29 I have walked 885.1 km in 205 hours and 9 minutes and lost about 35 kg (but that is fluctuating a bit at the moment)