- This check-in is for December 28th – January 3rd.
- I’ve been off of work since New Year’s, and I’ve spent most of my time off relaxing, prepping for the new year, and packing up for my move at the end of the month.
- I’ve been thinking a lot about goals, and I’ve decided to keep an annual mileage goal, but beyond that, my focus is going to shift to getting outside more. To start off, I want to get outside to walk at least two days a week. That didn’t happen this week, and it might not happen at all this month, but I will soon be living next door to a park again.
- I’m also considering getting rid of my FitBit and moving down to a pedometer, as I don’t find all the bells and whistles on my FitBit to be very useful or necessary. On top of that, the wristband has been rubbing a spot on my wrist raw. For now, I might look for and buy a new wristband that won’t do that, but I am seriously considering doing away with it altogether.
- Days Outside: 0/2
- Miles: 14.52/15.87
- Total Miles for 2025: 811.40/810
- Total Miles beginning Jan. 1st: 4.36/825
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for December 21st – 27th.
- I’ve spent most of my time since Wednesday relaxing, reflecting, planning, and beginning the process of decluttering and packing. I got so caught up in all of that, that I nearly forgot to write this post.
- I would like to write more about my decluttering, but even though I’ve just gotten started and this is a process I’ve gone through at least half a dozen times over the last decade, it’s been much more of an emotional experience this time around, and that has sapped my energy. I will probably write about in a week or two.
- I lowered my mileage goal again because there was just no way I was going to be able to reach 825 miles. Frankly, with everything else going on, I’m perfectly happy that I’m over 800 miles for the year. I haven’t decided on what my goals for 2026 will be yet, but I will have at least a mileage goal.
- Exercise Days: 4/7
- Steps: 30,299
- Miles: 12.22/16.31
- Total Miles: 801.24/810
- Zone Minutes: 130/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for December 14th – 20th.
- I’ve spent most of this weekend relaxing, and today I’m focused on cleaning my apartment and then enjoying a nice homemade dinner to celebrate the Winter Solstice. This dinner was going to be my Christmas dinner, but I have plans to have Chinese food with friends on Christmas.
- I only have to work two days this week and then only three days the week after that, so I’ll be relaxing and resting. That way, I’ll have plenty of energy to get everything packed up to move at the end of January.
- Exercise Days: 2/7
- Steps: 39,724
- Miles: 15.93/16.31
- Total Miles: 789.02/825
- Zone Minutes: 68/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for December 7th – 13th.
- In this week’s “Building the Book Fort,” I wrote about how I’ve been offered the opportunity to break the lease without any penalties. I discussed it with my ex, and we came to an agreement for me to rent the guest house from him while I search for a home to buy. I’ll only be living in his guest house for six months, but I decided that if I haven’t found a home by then, I’m ok with moving to an apartment and renting for another year now that I know what to look for and what to avoid. I hope it doesn’t come to that, though, and I’ve already found several condos I want to check out.
- I’ll likely be moving at the end of January, and it will be nice living near a park again so I can at least attempt going for walks outside. This Winter has already been much worse than any I’ve experienced in Ohio since moving here nearly five years ago.
- I’ve lowered my miles goal down to 825 after figuring out that I would have to walk over 4 miles everyday for the rest of the month to reach my original goal of 850. That’s not doable for me, and I’m not going to stress myself out or end up hurting myself trying. 825 is still more than I was able to do last year, and though it won’t be easy, I can manage that.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 39,578
- Miles: 15.84/16.31
- Total Miles: 773.09/825
- Zone Minutes: 33/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for November 30th – December 6th.
- Since my apartment flooded again and I had to deal with the cleanup from that, I haven’t done much else outside of work unless it was Holiday-related. I went to a Holiday market yesterday, bought the rest of what I needed for Christmas dinner, and watched another Christmas movie while working on a jigsaw puzzle of Christmas books.
- I also watched some videos about Yule, as I would like to celebrate the Winter Solstice as well, and I found it interesting that many of the Christmas traditions that are still done today were borrowed from Yule. I knew some of that already, but there were a couple of traditions I didn’t know about. For instance, the 12 Days of Christmas were originally the 12 Days of Yule, starting on the Winter Solstice and ending on New Year’s Day. This time of year always gets me thinking about how there are so many traditions and practices we humans have that we don’t even know why we do them, or at least we don’t know the origins of them. Many times, the reasons and the meanings have changed, but they’ve been around for hundreds of years and come from multiple different cultures.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 43,586
- Miles: 17.57/16.31
- Total Miles: 757.25/850
- Zone Minutes: 50/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for November 23rd – 29th.
- In yesterday’s “Building the Book Fort,” I wrote about the continuing issues with my neighbor smoking in her apartment and how it messed up part of Thanksgiving day.
- My weekend has been restful so far. I didn’t do much yesterday, beyond some tidying of my desk and taking care of tasks that I hadn’t had the energy or time to deal with in the previous couple of weeks. I also got the majority of my Christmas shopping done and watched a couple of Christmas movies.
- Today is more rest and Christmas movie watching, but also getting ready for the upcoming week and possibly decorating for Christmas. I’m not sure if I’ll have the energy to get much decorating done, but I am switching over to my Christmas bedding since I need to wash the sheets today anyway.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 39,977
- Miles: 16.03/16.31
- Total Miles: 739.68/850
- Zone Minutes: 46/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for November 16th – 22nd.
- The issues with my neighbors smoking continue and I’ve contacted an attorney to see if they can help me get out of this place. In case I am able to break the lease, I started looking online at apartments to see what is available, since I doubt I would have more than a month to move out and don’t want to continue living here for a day more than I absolutely have to do so.
- I had to take three days off from work this week because of my back. Despite those three days of rest, my back was still bothering me mostly because of all of the coughing. Thankfully, I had my monthly massage yesterday. It was exactly what I needed to get me back into a better place physically. It also helped out my mental state a bit. I also have been meditating a lot and doing breathwork to calm my nervous system.
- Exercise Days: 2/7
- Steps: 27,065
- Miles: 10.93/16.31
- Total Miles: 723.65/850
- Zone Minutes: 91/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for November 2nd – 15th.
- Illness, stress, other health issues, exhaustion, and more issues with my apartment have caused me to feel like my life is a rollercoaster ride that is more nauseating than anything else. Just when I think everything is settling back down and I can truly rest and recover, something else pops up.
- I had just gotten over my sinus issues and was no longer coughing much when the neighbors decided to start up with the smoking in their apartment again. However, I was feeling well enough yesterday to go to the zoo with a friend. Even though we were being leisurely about walking around the zoo, and I enjoyed the warmer weather and fresh air, I was completely wiped out halfway through it. We left without seeing the rest of the animals, but today my back and hips are telling me that the trip wasn’t the best idea. On top of that, the neighbors have been smoking so much that my whole apartment smells like an ashtray, my cough has returned, and I’m strongly considering taking my cats and I to a hotel while I take steps to legally break my lease.
- Exercise Days: 0 and 1/7
- Steps: 36,282 and 43,598
- Miles: 14.62 and 17.16/16.31
- Total Miles: 712.72/850
- Zone Minutes: 13 and 23/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for October 26th – November 1st.
- This week has gone much better than the previous couple of months and I had enough energy on Saturday to go to IKEA. I’ve mostly relaxed the rest of this weekend. While I have done some organizing and putting things away, I’ve taken plenty of breaks and made myself stop any time I’ve gotten tired or just didn’t want to keep doing whatever I was up to in the moment.
- I’m going to continue to take it easy while I slowly get my life back together. It may not be Winter yet, but I need to do some wintering.
- Exercise Days: 0/7
- Steps: 36,366
- Miles: 14.64/16.31
- Total Miles: 680.94/850
- Zone Minutes: 22/150
#FitReaders Check-In
- This check-in is for October 19th – 25th.
- I feel like the universe decided to kick me while I was already down. My living room flooded, a couple of my books and a few art prints got ruined, and I had to deal with that and the cleanup after while I’m still sick and my back has been bothering me.
- I’m going to keep trying to get back up, though. I had a massage yesterday, and since I’m anemic again, I decided to treat myself to a steak at Texas Roadhouse after.
- Another issue I’ve been dealing with in my apartment is the neighbor’s cigarette and pot smells coming through the walls and stinking up everything. It gets so bad that I start coughing even more than I have been with being sick, so in addition to writing an email to the apartment manager about it, I bought an air purifier. It arrived yesterday, and does help with a lot of it, but not all of it.
- Exercise Days: 1/7
- Steps: 40,611
- Miles: 16.36/16.31
- Total Miles: 666.30/850
- Zone Minutes: 34/150