Lessons From and For 4 Legs

My first walking challenge was 30 miles in 30 days. There were some really special walks in that first challenge. Actually I hardly remember a walk with my 4legged friends that wasn’t special in some way.

Sure we got tired sometimes, but challenging myself really got me moving after Maizey’s surgeries. As I already freely admitted to being a self confirmed energy hoarding sloth walking the dogs as much as I should can be a challenge in itself. I find that committing to a certain number of miles really forces me to get out there on the days when I otherwise may find an excuse not to.

So no more excuses! This year the challenge doesn’t end! Walking Challenge 2011 is on!

A year long challenge may sound daunting, but we all agree exercise for  our pups is a year round priority. Okay, it’s true, exercise for me should be a year round priority too. So a year long challenge makes a lot of sense.

I found in a 30 day challenge if I got behind in my miles it was hard to catch up so a year long challenge is more flexible. Weather, health, work, family or anything else distract us from getting out there with our pups, but in a year there is time to catch up. Time to plan ahead for some extra miles on some days, or a special training walk on others. In a year “real life” won’t derail my challenge, I can always catch up when the day isn’t so ‘rainy’.

Rules
The rules are: there are no rules. I do these challenges for myself, but find if we have support cheering us on it helps us get out there even more.

I call it a walking challenge, but it doesn’t have to be walking: biking, swimming, skateboarding, surfing, running, crawling-whatever floats your boat, as long as it is activity with your 4legged friend is fine by me.

Joining is simple, just leave me a comment in any post or email me privately and I will add you to the list in the 2011 Walking Challenge sidebar widget. Then when you complete miles leave them in a comment or email them and I will update the list.

Now I am open to suggestions here, but I was thinking I would do a regular post about the challenge, perhaps monthly, or even bi-monthly if there is enough support. If you have a blog and do a walking challenge post I will link to your post so we can all get revved up by each others progress. Perhaps you need suggestions on what to do, or perhaps you have some suggestions for the rest of us, if so post those on your blog or in a comment here so we can all support each other.

As far as miles go feel free to set your own bar. I chose 365 for the simple reason it is just a mile a day, but I know I don’t walk my pups everyday and rarely for just a mile. It made sense to set the goal as something easily achievable, I can always do more! So set what works for you. If you want I can list your personal goal with your progress.

I think we can all think of those special walks we had with our 4legged friends. The peaceful ones, the one with a training triumph, the sunrise or sunset that was stunningly beautiful. Perhaps it was that special location or a personal triumph that made it memorable, but whatever the reason it was having our 4legged friend there that made it all better.

So lets get out there! Lets make 2011 the year we look back on with many more fond memories of active time spent with our pups!

From a recent walk in the snow