Sitting … The New Smoking

I’ve been really lax in moving my body last 16 days.

Last time I spent time on the indoor bike was towards end of July when I competed in the San Francisco Virtual Cycling Challenge (39.8 miles), and my last walking challenge was a 3.22 mall walk, on August 1^st, to earn the first medal in the hashtag series.

My next challenge is this coming Saturday, the Games of Thrones (GOT) themed Run for 7 Virtual, and I’ve another in September with two lined up for October.

All well fine and good, but my body is telling me I need to move more than the occasional once-a-month because, just this short time of 16 days being lazy, sitting around, and I feel sluggish, unsteady on my feet rising from the couch.

There’s also the wake-up call -- saying it’s important to keep moving on a more consistent basis, I got yesterday in the Community Room when I saw how quickly some of the residents had gone down -- seemingly overnight.

A resident, whom I’ll call D was especially shocking.

She was vibrant, full of life, when I last saw her at the BBQ potluck in April -- dancing even.

When I saw her yesterday, she looked washed out, years older and now walks with a cane. She’s picked up weight and tells me she’s had two falls – one inside her unit, landing in the kitty litter box; the second just recently when she fell on the concrete pathway outside her unit.

Falling face forward, now sporting a bruised and cut chin, she's lucky not to have broken her nose or knocked out any teeth.

Apache, having had two surgeries on his stomach last year, tells me “I’m falling apart” as he's scheduled for knee replacements (both left and right knee), and a cornea replacement.

It's a scary thing to see what sitting around is doing to others, and visions of a gym in the vacant lot across the street have been playing in my head for some time.

Instead, we’re getting a car wash, gas station and Circle K.

However, driving back from Walmart the other day, I did see construction has begun on an L.A. Fitness facility. That's only 4 miles away and in an area I frequently visit -- across the boulevard from Starbucks, in the Ralph’s market center.

You can bet I’ll be joining -- participating in Zumba, Boxing and whatever else they offer in classes, maybe even spring for a trainer.

In the interim, the weather seems to be cooling somewhat so, after this Saturday’s Run for 7 Challenge, I’ll be setting the alarm to get up at daybreak to head out walking.

Having never seen GOT, I don’t know if Run for 7 (that’s 7 miles) is symbolic for 7 Kingdoms or the fact that GOT is in its 7^th season, but running is out of my league. The furthest I've walked is 4 1/2 miles, and I was out of commission for days after, so  no way can I push myself to  7 miles, so instead of Running for 7, I'll be Cycling for 7.