Well, I've been managing to walk about 4 times a week at lunchtime. I checked the distance once, and I believe it is about 3 miles. Which makes sense, given my standard walking speed, and Josh's (without me) which is faster. I started out walking it in about an hour, and am not yet down to the 45 minutes Josh can do it in. But I have been making a conscious effort to do it faster and not just amble along while I'm ranting about other things.

The hike goes first down State street, which is one block down a hill. Then across Broadway and then we turn and start hiking up the hill, all the way past the Capital. We go across the back of the park, then up one more block, then down all the way to Madison. Then we come down Madison until we get to the Plaza, then we wind around that, going through the part with the wooden sculpture that I find so soothing, then down the steps to the Vietnam Memorial, and finally back down State Street to Pearl. Its a good walk. Not only is it long, but its got a good varied pace and I get a decent workout.

Tomorrow I am going to begin doing a step class at the Y. We have a new Y in East Greenbush, and when it opened we upgraded from Dani's singular membership to a whole family membership. We've been swimming a few times, and Audrey and I planned to go do an exercise class or two once she was ready to go after Catherine was born. Well, that's this week.

We're going to do beginning step, and see how that goes. We don't have to sign up ahead of time -- just show up and join in. I'm nervous, but that's because I'm not very good at exercising in front of other people. But I need to do it. I'm trying to convince myself, actually, to go obsessive on the subject of exercise. I need my brain to kick in and just want to do it constantly or something. But for now, we figure we'll do the step class, and maybe once we get that into a pattern, we'll do a toning class on Tuesdays as well. We can take the kids to the daycare at the Y and we can do class and the guys could swim or lift weights or whatever. Make it a whole family night, and then end up in the pool afterwards for some play time for the kids.

I still want to get a treadmill eventually. I want to put it in the corner where the rocking chair is, after the chair goes back downstairs when Ryan's room moves downstairs. I can see the TV from there, and I could just as easily read while I walk. Then I can get another 20-30 minutes in before bed, or early in the morning. Although I'm not so sure morning's an option these days. Our schedule barely allows for me to get to work on time, it seems!

So anyway, I need some good toning exercises I can start doing as this all gets going. My tummy's a mess after two babies, and I need to start getting it under control. I have a feeling I could actually be a smaller size at this weight except that my tummy's all flab and loose and yuck. But me and situps just don't go very well together!