MAKING LEMONADE FROM LEMONS

When I have an appointment, with anyone for any reason, I tend to be on time.  In fact, I am usually early.  I don't do late.  (That's been my personal motto)

Yesterday morning, I had an appointment at 9AM at a Yarn Shop that usually does not open for business until 11AM.  This is an ideal time to visit a store, before they open for business, as the number of interruptions are minimal. That is, if the person that you are meeting with remembers to show up.

For my 9AM appointment I arrived early, as I always do and waited until 9AM for my customer.  At 9:15AM I was still waiting.  by 9:30AM it became crystal clear to me that my customer forgot our appointment.  I had already paid for parking for two hours, besides, it seemed likely that if I simply waited until 11AM - eventually the store owner would show up.  Since I had some time to kill, an idea popped into my head - and it revolved around my fitbit.  I was in a three story building, (four story if you count the basement) and I decided that I was going to walk up and down the stairs and give myself and my fitbit a workout.  By the time that my customer arrived at around 10:45AM I had walked 74 flights of stairs.   I was soaking wet with perspiration.  What I was not - was angry.  How could I be angry?  My customer did not steal time away from me - in fact, I made great use of the time.  No one was bent out of shape over my perspiration - and my cheerful attitude insured that my customer was in a great mood too.  It turned out that this store placed one of top five orders of the year with me today.  Not only did I get much accomplished from a business standpoint - I also snuck in a bit of a workout.   I made lemonade out of lemons.

During the afternoon, I rode my bike to the YMCA for my two hour session on the elliptical machine.  After my workout at the YMCA, I rode my bike to the park where my daughter belongs to a swim team and watched her for a bit.  After I rode home, I decided that I needed to build upon the 74  flights of stairs that I had climbed in the morning.  I spent an additional 150 minutes walking up the 24 flights of stairs in the building in which I live.   I climbed up.  I reached the top floor and took the elevator down to the ground floor and climbed up again.  I repeated this until my fitbit recorded that I had climbed a total of 400 steps for the day.  

I am increasingly confident that I am in shape and ready for my climb up Half Dome in Yosemite Park in three weeks.  There are plenty of variables that I have not trained for including the higher altitude and the effect of the lower concentration of oxygen in the air as well as the fact that when I am hiking I will be carrying a big backpack.  I will have adrenaline and enthusiasm to power me through the day.  I truly believe that I am ready.  I know that I am as ready as I am going to be.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

 Wednesday MENU

breakfast  center cut bacon, oatmeal, poached eggs                             585 calories
lunch        spinach salad, asparagus, tomato, CLAM CHOWDER
                 dark chocolate bar                                                               991 calories
dinner      spinach salad, asparagus, tomato, CLAM CHOWDER
                multigrain rice cakes                                                             648 calories
SNACK  MULTIGRAIN TORTILLA CHIPS                                      700 calories

total calories consumed 2924 calories

calories burned

YMCA PRECOR elliptical machine 125 minutes, 4:3 interval training              1693  calories
THREE HOURS CLIMBING 400 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS:  a bunch of calories, who knows?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

WednesDAY NET CALORIES 1231 CALORIES

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
fitbit day 7
31572 steps
400 floors - stair climbing
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
There is tremendous power in these 'badges' issued by fitbit.  After I had climbed a total of 200 'floors' yesterday - I could have easily convinced myself that that was enough for one day.  'Unfortunately' I was aware that my friend, Bob, had once earned a badge for the achievement of climbing 300 'floors'  in one day.  This appeared doable to me - so I did it.  Once I had reached the plateau of 300 'floors' - it occurred to me that 400 'floors' was doable - so I did that.  Once I reached 400 'floors' it occurred to me that that was enough.  And that was where I stopped for the day.

400 'floors' earned the CANYON BADGE

I 'earned' more badges in one day yesterday than my daughter had earned in five years of GIRL SCOUTS!   Sadly my badges are not the types that one can sew on - and besides, I don't have a snappy vest to sew them onto!  

STAIR CLIMBING BADGES EARNED YESTERDAY
LIGHTHOUSE BADGE   for climbing 50 floors
FERRIS WHEEL BADGE for climbing 75 floors
SKYSCRAPER BADGE for climbing 100 floors
ROLLERCOASTER BADGE for climbing 125 floors
STADIUM BADGE for climbing 150 floors
BRIDGE BADGE for climbing 175 floors
CASTLE BADGE for climbing 200 floors
WATERFALL BADGE for climbing 300 floors
CANYON BADGE for climbing 400 floors