Walking update

I haven't written about my walking lately.  Mostly because in the last while, we've pretty much stopped doing the formal walks.  I haven't stopped walking, but it's more around the neighbourhood.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been as often as it was before. 

The beautiful weather is one reason we've stopped doing the mall walking.  The other is that things are a bit tight right now and I couldn't justify using the gas to drive half way across the city to an empty mall just to walk around it. 

There's one more reason my walking got cut back a fair amount, though. 

Pain. 

For a while, things just sorta went down hill, and I don't know why.  My knees started making some pretty alarming crunching noises.  The bone spurs in my heels were sending stabbing pains up my lower legs.  My metatarsals were moving around in ways they really weren't intended to - not quite enough to dislocate in the balls of my feet, but they sure felt like they were about to at any moment.

The frustrating part is it didn't matter if I was up and about, or if I'd been off my feet.  I could be sitting down for a while when, without warning, pain would start shooting through my feet and up my legs.  It wouldn't stop for hours, no matter what.  It's not like I could just put my feet up and wait it out, either.  I need to keep walking, no matter how much it hurts, because if I don't, the joints all stiffen up and it becomes even more painful to move around than it was before.

It did subside after a few days, but for a while I was back to taking the maximum doses of OTC painkillers.

I'm not sure what triggered it.  Usually, it's either because I'd overdone things again, which I've been careful not to do, or when the weather changes to damp and dreary.  Which is the opposite of the weather we've been having lately.  Dietary sensitivities have been suggested to me, but the only change in my diet lately has been the addition of California Rolls.  I normally don't like sushi.  Cold rice grosses me out, for starters, but for some reason I've suddenly been wanting to eat them.  With pickled ginger and a light dip in soy sauce.  Dh thinks menopausal hormones might have something to do with it. *L*  Anyhow, it's been a couple of years since we've deliberately cut soy (can't say if any's been hidden in some foods), but I am loathe to blame re-introducing such a tiny amount eaten so irregularly for the pain.  That and there doesn't seem to be any connection between when I've eaten some and when the pain hits. 

Whatever triggered it, it certainly made things unpleasant for a while, and I'm relieved it's worked itself out. 

Meanwhile, I'm going to be picking up a second hand Gazelle  from a friend that's moving.  It's even coming with a tv/vcr combo and some video tapes to show how to use it.  A friend of mine has been using one lately and seems happy with it.  I'm picking it up mostly for Dh, as it's supposed to be a low impact thing.  Between his old injuries come back to haunt him and his other health problems, he hasn't been able to do much of anything.  It's driving him bonkers, as he'd always been very physically active before his health crashed.  I'm planning to make good use of it myself, as low impact would certainly be a benefit for me, as well.

I'm hoping it's something the girls will be willing to make use of, too.  One of the downsides of not being able to get out and about myself is that they tend to get stuck and home, too.

We'll see how it works out.