Keep on Moving: May 2019

[Virginia]

Agate, good for you - great step count.

Sunshine, I knew you would hit that 1/2 mile mark again. It was just a matter of time. Great going.

[SuzE-Q]

Agate, I may have asked before, but could you remind me of your make/model of pedometer, please?

Sunshine, I hope you were able to decompress and you're able to get a good night's sleep, and you awake feeling refreshed and excited about your surfing day.

I hope it is wonderful and freeing for you!

[agate]

It's a 3D FitBud--but the one being shown now on Amazon is slightly different from the one I got a couple of years ago. Same general idea though. It just counts steps--doesn't give you the time, or calories burned, or anything else but steps.

[Howie]

I got one from Amazon, a cheap one, just to see how I stacked up to Agate's step count. It was about HALF the step count as Agate. I threw it in a drawer, never to be used again.

[agate]

That's not exactly what a pedometer is supposed to do. If your step count turns out to be less than you'd like it to be, you take it out of the drawer the next day and put it in your pocket and try again. And so on, day after day, and sooner or later you get so tired of seeing depressingly low step counts that you start forcing yourself to take more steps.

You shouldn't be getting so depressed about the step count that you just give up on the pedometer. I'm guessing that your step count per day is really more than mine, but even if it isn't, it's not the end of the world. You can think up ways to add to it even if you just decide to take a walk every day just to see what's new in the neighborhood.

Muscles forget how to move unless they're given some exercise, I've heard. Joints get creaky. Arthritis gets worse. Etc. Etc.

(I seem to be growing feathers! I'm turning into a hen!)

[SuzE-Q]

Thanks, Agate!

Lol, Howie, are you blaming your pedometer for it showing a low step count?

[agate]

Thanks, Agate!

Lol, Howie, are you blaming your pedometer for it showing a low step count?

Sounds that way to me, SuzE-Q.

[Howie]

Darn cheap pedometer!!!

[agate]

You could always complain--even online, where others might chime in with similar comments. Something like this maybe:

I recently bought one of your pedometers but it's a piece of junk. It doesn't record nearly enough steps. Please refund my money ASAP.

They are touchy gadgets. The stepcounter that is on the wristwatch I have to wear for the study I'm in isn't at all accurate. It really doesn't record nearly enough steps. When I asked about it, I was told that it seems to work well only if you're swinging your arms. With a rollator or just getting around this place, I'm not swinging any arms. I don't know if that's true of regular pedometers like the one i have in my pocket at all times. I don't think so.

But it records steps only after you've taken 10 of them, and I've actually seen this going on: I take the pedometer out, set it on the table, and it keeps adding steps--sometimes up to 20 or so--even though I'm not wearing it any more. It does this right after I've put it on the table, and so it must be catching up with itself.

[Howie]

Maybe attached to your ankle would be a more accurate way to count steps. Or placed in a sock if you wear any. At home, I don't wear shoes or socks. I'm a barefoot country boy!

[Sunshine]

what a rush! After totally running myself in the ground yesterday to prepare for today’s surfing, taking 3 hours to do a 20 minute job, I was pleased to wake up this morning restored! The med let me walk better and spasm free.

So off we went, with husband at the wheel. The R2D2 arrived right on time and my crew was there to help carry my gear andwheel me to the beach. What a beautiful sight: uncrowded gentle knee to thing highs, semi clean, just mild offshore winds.

The paddle out was a snap and it was great to get back in the ocean and see the spray come over the board on the paddle out (Love that!)— and the big waves from the locals in the line up, welcoming me home was a real nice touch.

Just being out there amongst friends and the ocean was indescribably as you might know. To me, the social aspect of surfing is what makes it so delicious. I don’t mean paddling over to a guy who clearly wants to be alone.( I mean trading jokes, How you doing buddy’s, complimenting rides, and sharing the awesomeness of being one with the ocean: that’s the socializing I love. And for those I know better, hearing the latest on the grandchild, or the job search, or working to give up smoking etc. — to me that’s part of surfing too, just as it’s part of life. )

So, I paddled for 2.5 hours— this med works wonders— with some spasticity, but no spasms. Hallelujah! And I chased about 10 waves: my timing is really off having been out of the ocean since October, but also being overexcited. I popped up on 5 waves: the first four the pop up was awful with both feet facing forward, so I lost the board. The last one, though, I nailed— feet were in place, and I got a nice little drop on a thigh high clean left: I couldn’t move my feet nimble enough to redistribute the weight, or shift my weight around gracefully, so the ride ended quickly....but I got that drop feeling that we all love!

But mainly I got pieces of myself back. I got a fun fun fun morning with friends in the ocean!Now, i am thinking of maybe being able to do it again as the body and med allows— before today, I had thought my surfing days were closing.

I might look like a kook out there : But I challenge anyone to strap 20lb weights on each ankle, five pounds on each arm, get good and dizzy by spinning around for 5 minutes, and have a gorilla squeezing your shin and ankle muscles, and then try to surf!

I am so lucky to be a surfer. And I know it.

[Howie]

I am so lucky to be a surfer. And I know it.

And you show it! What a great day!

[agate]

before today, I had thought my surfing days were closing.

You were saying that a while back, I think. And yet here you are today, right in there surfing!

[Virginia]

What an exciting, fun day Sunshine had. Thanks Sunshine, for letting us enjoy it with you. Wonderful description of your morning.

Well....as for Virginia! She stayed in bed until 2:00P.M. this afternoon. I just cannot go out 3 days in a row and not pay. I was out Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I have to go again tomorrow, Tuesday a guy is coming to my house to detail my car and Thursday I have an appointment with my eye Doctor. So another busy week at my pace now. Amazing how this would have been absolutely nothing a while back. Now it just knocks me out.

[SuzE-Q]

Sunshine, thanks for sharing your wonderful experience today with us, sounds magical!

Agate, I was looking at other pedometers, many don't register steps until you've reached more than 30 at a time!

Virginia, I'm the same way, I need time to recover between days out. I look forward to the rest days.