Starting weight:  285.2
Calories/Carbs Goals (limits):  1600  / 40.0
Thursday’s calories & net carbs:   1549 / 36.9
Yesterday’s calories & net carbs:    1239 / 40.2
Thursday’s exercise:    25 minutes elliptical
Yesterday’s exercise:    90 minutes brisk walking
Weight Thursday:: 245.2    Weight Yesterday:: 244.6    Today:  242.8
Change today::  -1.8 lbs.   Loss-so-far:  42.4 lbs.

My 16-year-old son, Kevin, is such a cool person!  (All three of my kids are cool persons, but I’m allowed to gush over them one at a time, right?  Heheh.)

Yesterday I needed to return a rental car and the nearest Avis is about 7 miles away.  Kevin had long-boarded over to a friend’s house after school so I called him and asked him if he wanted me to pick him up and he could go with me to Avis.  “Sure, Mom,” he said without hesitation.  He told me later that when he got off the phone with me, he said to his friend, “If she’s returning a rental car, how are we going to get home?”  I travel often enough that he knows Enterprise will give you a ride but Avis doesn’t do that.

So when I picked him up, on the way to Avis I told him my plan:  I was going to return the rental car and then walk to the mall (just across the parking lot) and we’d go to the Food Court and have Bourbon Chicken (yummmmm).  Then after that… we’d see how far we could walk.

“Walk home from the mall?!”  He didn’t really know that it was 7 miles, but he knew it would be a helluva long walk.  In the dark.  In the cold (got down into the upper 40’s, that’s “really cold” to us Floridians).  And here he was, carrying his longboard (well it’s not actually his, he borrowed it from a friend).  His reaction to this plan:

“Awesome!”

He started watching out the window, looking at the sidewalks and the terrain along the route.  “That’ll be a perfect hill for the longboard!”  I told him I wanted him to enjoy the hills - but I would be walking so he’d have to wait for me at the bottom.  “Of course, Mom.  It’ll be fun!”  I also told him that when I couldn’t go any further - and I fully expected that this would occur because though I could easily bicycle 7 miles, I had no idea how far I could walk - I would call us a cab to take us the rest of the way home.

Only one hitch to this plan - he didn’t wear a jacket to his friend’s house.  So after we had our delicious bourbon chicken (I also had a big pile of broccoli with mine), we went into JC Penney to see if we could find a jacket on clearance.  (I bought him a new jacket for Christmas already so I didn’t wanna spend a bunch of money on another one!)  We did good.  We found a $50 fleece-lined hoodie which was marked down to $19.99. 

So we set off into the dark, through the parking lot of the mall (got stopped by a security guard who informed us that there are signs at each entrance that say “No Skateboarding.”  Oops!) and across the street to the sidewalk that runs along the highway.  This is an urban area, by the way, so there was plenty to look at and experience.  We talked and laughed as we made our way, him on the longboard and me doing a pretty brisk pace on foot. 

I felt good.  I felt alive!  And eventually, I felt cold!  About an hour into our walk, we stopped at Bob Evans for a break and a cup of coffee (and a little bowl of strawberries).  We played our dice game and talked and laughed some more.  Still in really good spirits, we set out again.  The temperature had dropped even further.  My ankles started to hurt, my knees were aching.  After about 30 minutes of walking, we came to a CVS Pharmacy.  I had a couple things I needed to pick up, so I did my shopping and called my cab.

Given my repeated problems with my knees, I didn’t want to push it further and end up “off my feet” and unable to exercise yet again! 

So I didn’t make it 7 miles, but it was 90 minutes of good exercise for me and I had a really great time with my son! 

CARTOON OF THE DAY

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