Kristi's October Warm Up for NaNo Month

I dropped my princesses off at school bright and early this morning and then drove to a nice park with a walking track and set off to start my day with a little more energy than usual.

Now, I confess, exercise isn't my strong point. Walking? Yuk. Running? OMG, Are you trying to kill me? Crunches? They suck. Alas, I'm no longer the walking metabolism of an eighteen year old. I've come to the realization that I really need to be more active, especially now that I'm not working a job that required standing, running back and forth and lifting and....well, exercise.

The air brought the first chilly hint of Autumn this morning. I felt a little apprehensive about this walking routine business. Despite my desire to run home and crawl back into my cozy bed, I set out with my best walking shoe forward. The track is small, about a 1/4 of a mile around a nice playground. The first half of a lap around, I had to keep telling myself to push forward. I walked at an easy pace so that I could remind my body that it can pump some blood and burn some calories. You have to ease into these things. Well, I do, anyway.

By the time I hit my second lap I was walking faster and swinging my arms to get a little extra cardio-boost. I even jogged-a tad-and then for my third lap, I slowed to an easier pace and though my calves begged for mercy; I made myself walk that third lap before jumping in my car to go home. It felt great.

I recently blogged about NaNo, and went to sign up immediately. You can go here to read all the juicy details of this fabulous month. I'm not going to lie, I've been a little frightened at the prospect. Terribly excited-but a little worrisome that I won't be able to do it!

Since I am repelling all things self-defeating, I came up with an idea. For the month of October, I will set a goal to write 25,000 words(new ones, not revised ones) in a novel WIP of mine. My warm-up, if you will, to the exercise ahead of me.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget the small steps, the smaller goals that lead to the Ultimate Goal. I set my sights on Ultimate and go for the gusto. While this is awesome, I forget to set the smaller goals that show me the progress I am or am not making. Without those, we don't have any self-gratification.

Small rewards are crucial for the positive end result. We know this when we set small goals for our children-sticker charts, treasure boxes, etc..Why not do it for ourselves?

If you would like to join me for OctoPractiMo (October Practice Month), Leave a comment for me about your daily word goal for the month of October-in anticipation of November. I would love to set up a weekly blog related directly to our progress and perhaps dish out a prize at the end of the month. ;) wink, wink.

DISCLAIMER: To my knowledge, there is no such thing as OctoPractiMo and I am not trying to claim national status associated with NaNo-this is for personal entertainment only.