My Journey With Health And Fitness – Even An Atmospheric River Couldn’t Stop Me

I’ve been wearing my flashing reflective vest for weeks now but all of a sudden this past week everyone seem to be noticing it. I wear it on mornings where I am walking extremely early and I know the walk won’t finish before the sun comes up. I’ve had people stop me so that they can look at it (it flashes both front and back), where I got it and to tell me how smart I was to be wearing. I’m hoping some of these people decide to get one as well as it is just one more way to keep ourselves safe.

Yesterday in southern BC we had an atmospheric river. If you have never heard of it it means an unbelievable amount of rain pretty much each hour. But I was determined, I wanted to get in 30 km outdoor walking yesterday. And so I came up with a plan in which I would walk in certain increments, come home to rest and change into dry clothes if necessary and grab some protein to eat. The 2nd 10 km walk would be done while on my phone for a Zoom meeting and I would be splitting the final 2 5 km walks by doing a Zoom meeting on my laptop. I thought it was a good plan and mentally prepared myself for it.

I want to be clear, it was terrible! Within 2 blocks of home I was on a street that had large puddles so when cars came by I was sprayed with water. That meant within about 5 minutes of walking I was already soaked. I got down to the street that takes me to the promenade and there were places along the sidewalk that had massive puddles that you could only navigate by walking through them. The west side of the promenade was no better. Yes, I walked most of that 10 km with soaking wet feet.

After that 1st 10 km I rushed to change into dry clothes, shoes and socks. I then put my clothes in the dryer then turned on the gas fireplace and put my shoes and orthotics in front of the heat in hopes that they would be dry in time for the next shift. I quickly gobbled down a low sugar protein bar and headed out for the 2nd 10 km walk but this time I had to log onto the Zoom meeting which I worried would not keep me engaged during the walk but it actually did. Needless to say when I got home from that walk it was the same process.

Then out for a 5 km walk. This time my husband gave me his rain jacket as my waterproof jacket was soaked through (you can’t imagine the amount of water it had been pelted with at this point). However, for this walk the rain was just teeming from the sky making it difficult to even see. Rivers were running down the sidewalks so again soaking wet feet. By time I was home I was again wet through so yet another changes of clothes and footwear. I did a quick Zoom meeting and then back out for that last 5 km brining me to a total of 30 km in the rain

Let me assure you, 30 km is hard in a day but it is beyond difficult in this type of weather. Many suggested I give myself a break and either use the treadmill (not an option as this is an outdoor walking challenge) or cut back on the amount of walking. I refused to do those things, I was determined to keep myself on track and complete my 30 km for the day and I did. I will admit, I was exhausted by the end of it to the point that I almost didn’t attend a Christmas dinner event but I sucked it up and went.

Where does that leave me? Well, my goal was 300 km for the month by tomorrow. I scaled back to only 20 km today and right now I am sitting at 304.8 km and since I am going on an outdoor excursion this afternoon I’m pretty sure I will be well over 305 km by the end of the day.

Nope, even that atmospheric river couldn’t stop me.