Ranadok …doesn't have much better to do

Walking, running, or just plain moving

Lately I have been making a conscious effort to be more active. If I am not paying attention, I can spend the entire day at my computer or on my couch doing essentially nothing (though it sure feels important at the time).  This is obviously a problem, so for the last couple of weeks I have specifically been trying to get up and walk almost every day. I picked a route at the edge of town that measures about five kilometers (a bit more or less depending on what streets I take), and go out usually in the mid to late afternoon (the temperature is pretty good at that point of the day).

It also has a handy map view that I'm not going to show you

I track my walks using CardioTrainer, an Android application. This is one of the rare instances where I thought to myself  "wouldn't it be nice to have a program that did X", then went out and found a program that not only did exactly what I wanted exactly how I wanted it to, but a few extra things as well. CardioTrainer uses the GPS and Google Maps to track your route, speed, all that fun stuff, and uploads it to the web for review (as well as storing locally). It's a very handy tool for measuring and tracking a number of exersizes, though currently I only use it for walking. It also has different modes for biking, rollerblading, skiing, kyaking, driving (huh?) and a couple others.

A you can see from the screen there, it usually takes me a little under an hour to walk the 5K. The route I cover is mostly back roads on the edge of tow, so there is occasionally some traffic, but mostly it's just me and the trees (which are in the middle of changing color right now and looking incredible).

This was a couple of weeks ago. The trees are all a very rich red now.

As I walk, I listen to Escape Pod, a short sci-fi story podcast. I started listening to it back when it started in 2005, but stopped following it after a couple of years. I'm now about 125 episodes behind, and I can usually fit two stories into a walk, so I'm catching up slowly. They are almost all interesting, well-read stories, so it's a good way to keep the mind occupied.

Time will tell whether this is really effective at making me lose weight or get healthy, but for now at least it is making me feel better. Well, mostly. I'm not going out today, I feel sick.