Finding My Groove

Boyfriend got me off my butt tonight. It's been a pretty lazy day, so getting out of the house was nice. Even Zoe was just sleeping the day away. It was nice that someone in the house took initiative to get us out.
What was originally supposed to be just an out and back walk, turned into a 1.5 hour walk. 4.91 miles. Fairly leisurely. I think we averaged an 18 min/mile. I think at my best I've done 5 miles in just over an hour, but I was training for a race. This was merely a "let's get out of the house and enjoy the weather" kind of walk. And it was definitely nice to NOT walk by myself. I love Zoe's company, but we can't have conversations other than her wagging her tail to let me know she's having a good time.

I'm now exhausted. I think I might have pushed myself a little too far, but at least I got out. Most likely, I'll be sore tomorrow, but I'll use it as a day to stretch and recover and then get back out there. Getting back into the groove of exercising is really hard. Especially when you've had a 7 month hiatus. Word of advice, don't sever your ligaments. It takes you out of commission for a lot of things. Exercise in particular. Now I find that I'm fighting with myself everyday to convince my body to get out of bed and create some endorphins. Problem is, the warm bed usually wins. And I put of getting back into shape for another day. In my head, I see me running (which I can't do yet) and slowly taking off the weight that the meds made me gain. I have a goal to achieve by October. It's realistic and attainable, but I really have to step up to the plate. I currently can't rely on training for half marathons to reach it, so I need to find another way to keep the motivation going.
I have some amazing friends that have offered to walk with me a couple times a week, which I will definitely be taking them up on. Exercise with friends makes the workout more fun. At least in my experience.

So here it goes. Today I walked 4 miles. I'll stretch tomorrow and take Zoe out for a walk. Not 5 miles, but a nice neighborhood walk. I'm always looking for new ways to shed some pounds so please feel free to send me your suggestions or what you do to keep in shape.