I've kind of become addicted to my walks, even squeezing them in on Sundays. The scenery is always different, even though I'm on the same trail. Today, I was amazed to see a flock of water-fowl (not sure what type of birds) fly in and land in the center of the park where kids typically play soccer and football. The sprinklers had been on already down there and I'm guessing a variety of worms had surfaced. After a minute or so, all of the birds took off, save one. I kept my eye on him for a while as I made a second loop on the trail. He remained, still picking at the ground. I was sure his buddies would come back for him.

By the time I was finished, he was meandering all over the park looking for breakfast, along with a seagull and a black bird. He even ran behind chasing the seagull for a bit.

Along with the bird soap opera, a little old lady with her (proclaimed) long-haired Chihuahua showed up to walk, too. She said hello the first time I passed her. I noticed her dog took a huge crap as I walked by and she didn't pick it up. I could let go the fact that she brought her dog (even though no dogs are allowed at the park), but at least pick up the steaming pile of dog crap he left behind.

The next time I passed her, she let me know that I was fast and told me about her dog "Gak" (you know, the one that left the crap behind). She said he was a shelter dog. This stopped me in the middle of my last lap around the loop. Unfortunately, it also screwed around with my average walk time (I use my Tracks app on my phone to keep up with my statistics). I may have had a faster walking time, but my average plummeted when I talked to Gax's owner. Oh, well.

I'm going to see if I can manage to get up earlier tomorrow to get in a walk. It's a tumbling day and the eldest has to be up north by 7:00am. If I can get out to the track by 5:30am (and it's still dark here at that time, now that the days are getting shorter) and be done by six, I'll still have time to shower and take her to tumbling.

The weight? It's coming off but no where near as fast as it does when I'm doing the hormones. Still, I'm happy that I feel stronger and that I'm starting to see a difference in my physique. I'm hopeful that I'll be a bit tighter by next week. My mother and I will be wearing matching dresses to church. I got to remember to tell my daughter to take a picture of us when we do. It will be monumental! Not since I was a small child have we matched. I'm kind of excited.

The charge I felt the first day has not been duplicated; however, that hasn't deterred me. I'm still working out like a fiend! If only I could drink more water and stay away from the salt (my natural enemy). Isn't there a "salt" substitute? My sugar one works out great!

I just returned from the trail at the local park and didn't beat my time, sadly. My speed was a bit slower and I'm attributing that to the music playing today. Although I love Justin, he just wasn't pushing my walking speed. I found that when Nicole Scherzinger's Jai Ho played, my pace picked up. Consequently, it was the same speed as Meghan Trainor's All About that Bass and I continued to skip along, taking my heart rate up to 135 for a while. After doing some quick research, finding music that matches 128BPM works better for my walk. Since the dancer in me wants to walk to the music, that's what I need to focus on. I think I'm finally going to update my Nano (after years and years of not changing it) to fit my walking speed.

We've been working out as a family at night. Last night, it was Just Dance 3 and 4 with my hubby and girls. My girls were all about it and my heart rate monitor showed me as burning 600+ calories in 48 minutes. Yes! Hubby wasn't as motivated. His excuse? He hasn't done it as much as us, so doesn't know the choreography. There were two songs that I'd never done. I think because choreography comes naturally to me, I just pick it up.

T25 is also in our arsenal of night time workouts. I think he prefers that one and the idea of a man leading us. Twenty-five minutes of adrenaline pumping, buckets-of-sweat inducing cardio works pretty well for hubby. The girls run for the hills as soon as he says we're doing one of these. My next goal is to find the "Beta" workouts. We've been doing the Alphas for a while.

My weight is slowly dropping but, again, I know the culprit: salt, salt, salt (isn't that nearly always my downfall?) Documenting it just helps to remind me that; A., I need to keep it to a minimum and B., I need to drink more water to get rid of it. My hope is that I'll see a few pounds lost in a week. My calories are fairly low, my protein is high and my activity level is great compared to what it was.

Tonight is Kid's Church and the last night for my daughter and I to teach our preschool group. It's been an adventure. I think I'd prefer to have the babies again, if we do it for the summer. Saturdays worked out nicely but preschoolers are so demanding!

Stats for my walk today:
 HRT Monitor Calories Burned - 305
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByvxH4i_tB8jUnZibXB4Snp1S3M/edit