The Cheapest Way to Exercise...

The most inexpensive workout is walking. I guess on some level that would be true. You could go outside right now, even barefoot and just walk in any direction of your choice at no cost to you. You would burn calories and gain muscle tone, but your feet would be worse for the wear. I am not doing that because I live in British Columbia, Canada, and there is a high probability that it would rain during my barefoot walk. I hate having cold wet feet.

Ten days ago, my family started the Going the Distance 2012. Holly decided to lace up her sneakers too. I don't blame her. Who wouldn't want $400? Holly and David actually run. I am so impressed. They can run all they want but I am the most determined to win, and even if I have to crawl those last few kilometers to win I will do it.

I know I haven't blogged since we started the challenge but I have been busy walking as a result I have been busy being bone tired. On the first day as I started out on my journey, (Doing the most inexpensive way to exercise on the planet.) it hit me- the way I walk isn't cheap. I was carrying a butt-load of necessary walking items that would make a pretty good argument against walking being so inexpensive. I figured out that it would be cheaper for me to buy a one year membership to a gym than to go on this one walk. Here is why:

I had my:

My iPhone: I needed it to track my route using an app called iMap. Hey, I need to put my GPS to good use. What if I forget where I walked to by the time I returned to home? How will I tell anybody that I traveled down Mary Street, then took a left at Edward, took a right on Yale and then walked continuously until I turned around and went home? I use a lot of my precious brain power writing this blog.
i Phone: $570.00

My iPod: For the music of course. I can not walk in silence.What if I started thinking?
iPod: $145.00

My Body Bugg: The Body Bugg is a device I wear on my right arm. The Body Bugg tracks how many calories I burn throughout the day based on how much I move.
Body Bugg: $150.00

My Nike + iPod tracking device: Check this out- It's not enough that I have my iPhone to map my walk, my Body Bugg to record my calories, I also have to have a chip in my shoe that syncs up to my iPhone that records how far I have gone, the amount of time I have walked, the speed in which I am walking/running, and the amount of calories that I am burning, all courtesy of Nike. Thank you Nike and iPod.
Nike + iPod: $50.00

and last but not least...

My Sketcher toning shoes $100.

Grand total for afternoon walk: $1015.00

I could have bought a gym membership for $480

The only crappy part about walking is that I am still nervous about walking on the main roads. When I do, I feel faint and my heart beat speeds up. I much prefer the side streets, but it is hard to walk side streets when you are trying to accomplish longer distances such as 10k. You end up walking by the same house over and over again and then people start to think that you are casing out their joint.

Stats:

Amy: 46km
David: 33km
Holly: 28km
10 day total 107km as a family.