Walking smug.

I am feeling a little smug. Today I walked 4.5 miles. Today I walked 4.5 miles for the THIRD day in a row. As many of you know, I have a crazy dog. He is huge, demanding and destructive. In short, he more of an asshole than most people can deal with. I have discovered that a tired dog does not have the energy to be an asshole. Instead, he sleeps like a log.

I would walk him irregularly before, when I felt the need to hike. But mostly we went to the dog park. Then, my amazing friend, Elaine, visited. Elaine walks a lot. I mean A LOT. We walked each day she visited and it made me tired. She has all of these gadgets and phone apps that she uses to keep track of her steps and her milege. I liked the one that also mapped out the walk. So, after she had returned home I asked her what the app was called. Map My Walk. Catchy, huh?

It does all sorts of things - like most apps - and allows you to see how much your friends walk and how much their friends walk, weekly challenges you can have with your friends, etc. But I went and turned off all of the notifications like I do with every app I ever download. I only know the little fiddly bits when I am bored and playing with my phone for entertainment.

Now I know I will not win any challenges or ever enter into any sort of who-can-walk-the-most shit with Elaine. She walks 10-12 miles a day. Which helps explain why she is so gaddamn skinny. Rather than being completely and utterly depressed by this information I decided to be inspired by it. If she can walk 10-12 miles a day, I can walk 10 miles a week. Plus, I have crazy dogs who need exercise.

Frankly, I need the exercise too. It is a big chunk of my manage-my-depression plan. Severe depression sucks. There are days when walking from my bed to the bathroom seems like too much work. Which is why I got into dogs. I was always a cat person before. Cats don’t help you exercise. They give you excuses NOT to exercise. They give you excuses to have your loved ones wait on you because you have The Cat Excuse. Dogs, on the other hand, get super excited when you wake up because they have been missing you the whole time you were asleep. And if you can get up, and go outside with them, they will PULL you around the neighborhood.

I hate the CHORE of walking my dogs, but dammit, it makes me feel better. Exercise gets the blood flowing so that my anti-depressant medication flows through my veins rather than flopping around in my stomach. Plus, after walking the dogs, I can reward myself with sitting down. I checked something off my list! I get to lounge on the couch. Hell, after 5 miles of walking I can lounge on the couch for an hour feeling smug. I can take a nap and not feel lazy.

This week, after walking, I don’t WANT to take a nap. I want to drink water, eat protein, and get right to the next thing on my list. So, yeah, my dog may be a bit of an asshole, but he is good for me. Almost as good as walking.