This is 39 (Month 8, Check-in 1): All About Those Stairs

Over Memorial Day Weekend, I decided to just go for it with my stair walks. And by go for it, I mean finish all 17 remaining over a four day period. What can I say, I am my father's daughter: if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.

WHAT WAS I THINKING? 

I was thinking how I didn't want to have any more weekends this year devoted to completing stair walks. I was thinking how I didn't want to have more physical activity required of me in addition to my half marathon training and my three times a week resistance training goal. I was thinking that I could bang them out over a four-day period.

And I was right.

Crazy. 

But right. 

Friday, May 25th

Thanks to Heather, I got in two walks before work even started.

Walk #14- Magic Gas- 511 steps over 2.5 miles.

Walk #17- Fellowship Park- 148 steps over 1.5 miles 

Out of the two of these, my favorite was the second walk. Although we got lost, we saw some really cool places that were complete off the beaten path and made me want to explore longer. Walk #17 is definitely one I'd do again. I ended up getting in 20,382 steps and covering 9.50 miles. Side note: I also joined my friend Ivette for a Santa Monica stair walk after work. So that's why my step count was so high. #bonkers (I know.) 

Saturday, May 26th

This is when things started to get out of control. I decided to do three walks before meeting a friend and her parents for breakfast at 9:30 a.m. in Brentwood. So I got up super early and drove to the other side of town where I did these three stair walks in Silver Lake:

Walk 16- Allesandro Loop- 700 steps over 2 miles

Walk #19- Silver Lake Circles- 370 steps over 2.5 miles 

Walk #20- Sunset Junction Loop- 305 steps over 2 miles

Of the three of those, my favorite was walk #19. I didn't realize I'd be seeing the stairs painted like a piano so that was a fun surprise. And then the neighborhoods I walked in were really nice and some of them had super impressive gardens.

After breakfast I somehow talked Steve into going back to Silver Lake so we could do another walk together. We did this one: 

Walk #22- Coffee Table Loop. 268 steps over 2.5 miles.

I, of course, wanted to do another one. But Steve wasn't having any of it. So I ended up going on another walk- my 4th for the day- and really enjoyed it. Although, truth be told, my dogs were barkin'!

Silver Lake Terraces West- 190 steps over 2.5 miles

There were so many adorable and fun stairs and it made this final walk of the day so much more interesting and enjoyable. I ended up getting in 27,305 steps and covering 12.54 miles. 

Sunday, May 27th

I figured out at this point that I *only* had 10 more walks to go. The good news is the distance wasn't tooooo bad for all of them, so if I worked really hard I could probably make it work. So Sunday was the craziest day because I did six f'n walks. Here's what they looked like:

Walk #23- Astro Loop- 674 steps over 3 miles. 

Walk # 24- Silver Lake Terraces East- 762 steps over 2 miles

Walk #25- Swan's Way- 369 steps over 1.5 miles

Walk #26- Cove-Loma Vista Loop- 664 steps over 2.2 miles

Walk #28- Los Angeles River Loop- 115 steps over 3 miles

Walk #27- Silver Lake Court- 603 steps over 3.2 miles

My least favorite walk of the entire book happened on this day. It was Walk #28- the Los Angeles River Loop. In my mind, there's no reason it belonged in the book.

I had a lot of fun this day, although for sure my body was like "Molly. What in the hell are you doing?" The last walk was really hard. My legs were toast and there were a lot of up steps to climb. Somehow I persevered and miraculously got in all six walks! I ended up getting in 30,945 steps and covering 14.11 miles. 

Monday, May 28th

My body was tired when I woke up, but I got up in the 5am hour and made my way to the other side of town, again, for what I knew was going to be my final four walks of the book! Because I had been sharing all about my walks on Instagram, a friend reached out and said she wanted to join me. I snuck in one walk before meeting up with her and it was interesting:

Walk #38- Universal City- Happy Trail- 229 steps over 2.2 miles

Sandy and I met up at Griffith Park and I'm so glad I had company for this walk because it was the longest and hardest one of the day. It was also very pretty and a walk that I'd do again.

Walk #29- Griffith Park Loop- 463 steps over 3.8 miles

We got to see so much- beautiful Los Feliz houses and neighborhoods, Griffith Park, the Observatory and the Hollywood Sign. It was really nice. And while parts of it were challenging, it was great to have company! Thank you Sandy!

After we said our goodbyes, I drove to the other side of the park for my second to last walk of the day and of the entire book!

Walk #32- Fern Dell and Immaculate Heart- 193 steps over 2.1 miles

I loved the painted WHY on the sidewalk as I was starting my first walk. It was pretty accurate given all that I'd put my body through to finish the walks. This was not my favorite walk and I wouldn't do it again. There was one pretty stair case, but I couldn't take a good photo of it because I thought I was going to get eaten to death by a couple of dogs who lived in a house along that stair case. I was happy to be done with the walk, but there were parts of it that had me huffing and puffing. I don't need to say that my body was all "WTF?" But onward I went!

My final walk of the book brought me over near the Hollywood Sign. It was a perfectly fine walk, but I wouldn't do it again either. Just not all that interesting. If I had been more strategic about it, I would have ended on a really great walk. And I would have done it when Katie (who's joined me on a fair share of stair walks over the years) was in town. But alas, neither of those things happened.

Here's the final stair walk: 

Walk #35- Temple Hill- 108 steps over 2 miles 

It was a quick morning. With *only* four walks, I ended up getting in 26,559 steps and covering 12.22 miles. 

And this is how happy I was when I completed the book:

Completing this goal was bananas. I admit that. All told, over the four day long weekend I did:

• 17 new walks (and my typical Santa Monica stair walk as well)
• Logged 105,191 steps
• Covered 48.37 miles

I have LOVED seeing the city of Los Angeles through this book. It remains my favorite way to explore the city and to show it off to friends who are visiting.

I look forward to continuing to do some of these walks, but I also look forward to, for now, putting my stair walks on the back burner so I can focus on my half marathon training and resistance workout goals.

Thank you for following along on this crazy adventure. I'm very happy to say that this goal is now complete- tracker updated! 

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Honesty in 2007

It's been a few days since my last entry, and what I want to focus on today is the session that I had with my nutritionist. I feel very fortunate to have found my nutritionist; she has helped me address some of my food challenges (as I like to call them) and she's been instrumental in helping me become more honest with myself about what I am and am not willing to do.

I caught up with a good friend/co-worker yesterday who read some of my blog for the first time yesterday and was nothing but supportive. But at the end of our conversation, she asked what my theme was for the year. As an aside, I believe her theme is Sexy in 07. I didn't think much about mine, saying that this was a journey and I couldn't label it or some lame thing like that. But the more I was talking, the easier it was for me to say that my theme for the year is Honesty in 2007.

I feel like part of my challenges with my weight and food are linked directly to how honest I can be with and about myself. As far as being honest with myself, I need to really sit and think about what my food choices are honestly doing to my body and how they are impacting me. What came up in my meeting on Monday was that I lack long-term accountability for the food choices I do make. Thinking about that, being honest with the choices I do make, may have an impact on some of the decisions I do make. Or at least they should. I can't have french fries every day and think that I'm going to lose weight. I need to be honest about myself in the sense that I can't beat myself up, think poorly of myself and my process and expect to see great results. I recognize that when I'm not being honest with myself, when I'm not treating my body well, treating ME well, it shows up in so many different aspects of my life. I need to be honest with myself, but I also need love and patience for the process.

The other "notes" that I took from my meeting on Monday were:
1. What can I do to make food less important?
2. I need to be able to say no to myself.
3. What I'm trying to do to my body is more important than the food I want to put in it.

Lots of great stuff for me to think about and try to put into action. One thing I've noticed, since I'm being honest here, is that I have a tendency to do this great work in my therapy or nutrition session and then don't look at my notes or do anything with the things we've covered until I open up the book I track my food in for the next time...So I'm going to work on that one.

Totally separate, I'm in San Francisco for work and I have been making it a point to get out and walk all over the place. Yesterday I walked from Fisherman's Wharf to the Marina and back. This morning, after meeting a good friend for breakfast, I walked three blocks worth of stairs to Coit Tower and then walked down through North Beach and back up to my friend/co-worker's apartment. The super steep streets- you know, the kind where there are stairs built into the street so you don't lose your balance and fall back? I showed up at the location for the meetings feeling like I was about to die, like my legs were going to snap off and was a sweaty mess. I work from home people...on the one day I need to look professional, I show up looking like I just stepped off the f'n elliptical trainer. Don't worry, I pulled my stuff together and did just fine!

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