I had a pretty “vigorous” shift at work this morning – a pretty solid “upper body” workout lifting boxes, opening them/getting the crap out of them and…breaking them down. By the time my shift was over, I was starting to have “those” thoughts. Those “bad” thoughts that threaten to derail you and your fitness goals.
Maybe I’ll just skip taking a walk today.
Then I thought about how much good the post-work walks have been for me – and how they help me unwind from even the most hectic days at work. For the record, today’s day at work was on the “exhausting” side – but on the up side, I worked with two very TCOB type of people who were more than able to keep up with my…unrelenting pace! They didn’t need any guidance…knew exactly what they were supposed to do. Plus, as an added bonus, they were REALLY good at playing “the quiet game.” My kind of people! Less chat…more splat, I say! I really, really hope that my supervisor enjoyed her day off today as much I enjoyed my day at work without her (wink-wink)! Physical labor I can handle – but performing physical labor while someone is micromanaging me and riding my ass just makes me….cranky.
So I fought down those “bad” thoughts and took a mall walk today. We had a snowstorm overnight, so I just wasn’t feeling up to bundling up in winter gear, putting on boots and trudging through snow on an outside walk. I timed myself on my first mile lap, and I was pleasantly surprised…NINE MINUTES! It took me nine minutes to walk that first mile lap! Guess that physical labor from earlier served as an ample warm-up? I finished a three-mile circuit in just under 45 minutes, so averaged about a four-mile per hour pace overall. But still…what was WITH my insane pace in mile one? Guess I had some fuel to burn!
Speaking of “Burn,” that was the name of one of the tracks picked randomly on my mp3 player during my walk! Burn is one of the tracks that nine inch nails’ Trent Reznor recorded for the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. This might be one of those tracks I “inherited” from my brother (both of us like nine inch nails, but his “catalog” is far more extensive than mine). As are most lyrics by nine inch nails, Burn’s lyrics are on the…darker side:
Well I don’t believe in your institutions
I did what you wanted me to
I’m like the cancer in your system
I’ve got a little surprise for you
Not ALL of the songs playing as the “soundtrack” to today’s walk were this dark! Here are some of the others songs that played today:
- Call Me, Blondie
- China Girl, David Bowie (Jesus could this song be any more about drugs…)
- Night Fever, The Bee Gees
- Rape Me, Nirvana
- Duel, Propaganda
- Freedom, Rage Against the Machine
- Burn, nine inch nails
- Best of My Love, The Eagles (normally I would skip “slower” songs like these, but I thought this would be a good “cool down” song for my third mile lap). Plus, I’m a complete sucker for flawless harmonies and acoustic guitar!
hebspeaks 