Take it outside

I broke from my regular routine today to combine two tasks: my workout and a church fundraiser. Our parish is celebrating its anniversary this month and we are holding a fun run/walk/bike event as part of the festivities. We decided to use the parish grounds for the run/walk course and I volunteered to come walk it with my pedometer so we could mark off the distance. And then it rained. And rained. And rained some more. Every day I had an opening in my schedule, it rained, or it had rained the night before. The course is not paved and when the other committee members and I went out to walk it after a meeting one night, we all had a good two inches of mud all over our shoes.

My ankle, unfortunately, limits my ability to cover a lot of rough terrain, so I wanted to wait to measure the course until the weather had warmed up and dried out. Well, if you’ve ever been to Idaho, you know that might take a while. Seriously, Memorial Day yesterday and we had showers. This is about the time of year that you remember that you’re not really getting spring. You’ll just get rain that isn’t freezing and then in a couple weeks it’ll be broiling heat for the rest of the summer. Not sure how I manage to forget that every year, but I do.

Well, today I had time in my schedule and the clouds didn’t look too bad, so I headed out there. We had estimated that a lap around the parish grounds was about a half mile when we walked it a while back. Ummm, not quite. It’s more like 0.386 miles. The good news? Two laps is about .75 miles, so that made it easy to estimate. I was soooooooooo hoping it would come out to an even half-mile so I could dump the rest of the workout, but apparently the Karma Fairy came and got me. (Nice try, D!) So I got to do about 2 2/3 laps for the first mile, and almost 8 full laps to get to the 3-mile mark.

It took me about an hour. Not sure since I didn’t check the time when I started. I had stopped to chat with the very nice man who voluntarily tends our parish garden and borrowed some garden stakes from him so I could mark the course. (I believe he is, or used to be, an ER doctor, so I knew I was in good hands in case I wiped out. Always good to know.) I stopped to talk to the sweet ladies who work in the office and then I was on my way.

It’s been a very long time since I really exercised outside. I don’t mean a nice stroll or bike ride through town or a walk up to the market when I’m out of milk. This was an hour of sweating. We had some cloud cover but it soon blew off, giving way to humidity. About a mile and a half in, my hair was drenched. I had my mp3 with me and was jamming along to that. The terrain on the back section of the course was really rough. I know it’s going to be smoothed over by the time we have the race, but it was really tough on my ankle today. When I was done, I really felt it in my knees, quads and shins. Something you don’t usually get from the treadmill.

I should also mention that because it can be so muddy back there, I wore my beat up KEEN shoes that I use when I go fishing. They’re kind of like a short hiking boot, and I found them in Cabela’s Bargain Barn for about 15 bucks a couple years ago. They’re about a half-size too small, but they don’t bother me too much. Oh, until I wear them on a 3-mile trek on uneven surface. Then my feet are screamin’, but how often do you think I’ll do that?

Oh yeah, right …

I felt great when I finished. Totally soaked in sweat thanks to the unexpected humidity and sore all over thanks to the terrain, but great. My heart was pumping and I really knew I’d worked hard. It kind of reminded me of my high school track days, going out after school and running for a few hours, not caring how sweaty you got or what you might smell like. (And holding those garden stakes like a relay baton!) Besides, everyone else out there was doing the same thing so your BO was not usually an issue. Or maybe I just never cared about it the way other girls did. These days, I much prefer to work out indoors, and tend to care a little more about knocking someone down with my body odor after a workout, but I’m thinking I need to open myself up to more outdoor workouts.

I took some ibuprofen as soon as I got home (and I’m about due for another dose soon). I know my ankle, knees and shins will be bitching sore tomorrow. But isn’t that how change is made, by going out of our comfort zone and pushing ourselves just a little farther? I like to think so, anyway.

How about you? Do you like to work out indoors? Outdoors? Or do you do a mix of both?