It started with the Internet, WebMD.com. They have some pretty nice tools to get a body on his way to better health and fitness. The second place is my iPhone. I mentioned in my previous post that I am "an old guy." When Carmela got me an iPhone for my most recent birthday, I thought to myself: "What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?" I just wanted a phone to replace my old Motorola (which was the size of a hand grenade but serviced me extremely well), with something slimmer and a qwerty keyboard to make my messaging a little easier. Instead, I got this thing with a rather unfriendly Siri (despite what the commercials tell you). Then I discovered some apps. Now, I can't imagine how I got along without one.
One of my favorite apps is one named GPS+ Pedometer Pro by Arawella. This is one very cool app. It tells me how fat I am (BMI calculator) what my ideal weight should be, maps my route, counts my steps, calculates the mileage, calories-burned calculator, has a playlist that you can either create or import from your iPhone and allows you to make progress posts to Twitter and/or FaceBook. Like other most other computer applications, I've probably only scratched the surface of its capabilities and hope to learn more as I go along.In any event, I got off to a great start, 3 miles the first day, 4 miles the second day and 5 miles the third day. I noticed "shin splints" on the fourth day and decided to "walk-through" them on the fifth day. BIG mistake. On the sixth day as I was walking, or should I say limping, to class on my second day of the new semester, my right leg was throbbing. I tried to massage my knee and shin all through this class and my next. When I got back to my car, I could barely sense my foot. Not good, especially if you need to move your foot from the gas to the brake. OK, so an entire week goes by; the left leg is entirely OK, the right one, eh, maybe not as good.
Time for a 60 year old to exercise some of that wisdom that supposedly accumulates over the years. I take it a little easier; every other day to get back on track and keep it to 3-4 miles. Now, a couple of weeks later, it's much better. I got a new pair of ASICS running shoes. (As an aside, I have been devoted to New Balance. They were the first manufacturer to accommodate wide sizes, I've got bear paws, not so long but really wide. But, I've noticed lately that the sizes are not so accommodating; the wide sizes are not quite as wide any more. They also used to be manufactured in the US; let's hear it for outsourcing :-p [I told you, I don't care]).
