Filling Empty Days- No Pool, but At Least I Walked

Here in Shiloh unfortunately the swimming pool isn't open on the "9 days," or more accurately ten days. As the "adult hours" at the pool get more and more crowded with "retirees" who swim for health and fitness, not just plain fun, we always realize much too late that as a community we must have the local rabbi posken (make a halachik/rabbinic decision) that the pool should be open this week.

Besides the fact that most of us go to the pool for health reasons, there are many members who are ethnically "Edot Mizrach" and even their children are permitted to play in the water during the 9 days, until the week of Tisha b'Av.

Considering that the pool season here in Shiloh is only three months, the ten days- barely eighty days when you subtract the Shabbatot and the 9-10th of Av, those nine, sic, ten days make up a hefty proportion of the available swim days. This year we lose five days we could have benefited from the pool if the Rav would decide that certain categories of adults may use the pool.

Yesterday I found myself without any plans at all! It was horrible, and the weather was hot, too. I did force myself out for walks, twice on my own and once with a friend. I could easily have wasted the day eating and playing computer card games like, freecell, spider solitaire and pyramid, besides reading. And I must admit that I did waste most of the day. Regardless, I did walk, and my phone pedometer proves it.

You can see that I walked 12,640 steps, which was just short of two hours, though if you add my indoor walking when the phone wasn't on me, I certainly passed that benchmark. Ditto for nine kilometers, and my pace was an impressive 4.5 kilometers an hour, at least that last hike when I was out with a friend.

As you probably know, I'm trying to get a few or more kilo off of me. Gd willing this will help. I've been tweaking my food routine and hope it helps. The extra five kilo that has been sticking causes pain. It's just not good for me. I'm trying really hard to get back on the diet wagon.