Langreck: Walking the walk

Throughout the past several months, individuals have picked up hobbies to help pass the time during quarantine and adjust to restrictions and regulations that were put into place to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

I have several hobbies that I have picked up lately to help with stress and anxiety, and one of them has been walking on the trail in our neighborhood and going to a gym where I work with a personal trainer twice a week.

One of the main reasons I decided to start working out was to help with extra anxiety and stress that I was overwhelmed with when diagnosed with PTSD from a car accident I was in over a year ago.

I know I have written about fun things I do like painting rocks and leaving them along the trail on my walks, but sometimes even just going on a walk could seem daunting to me and not a top priority when I was busy planning my wedding that was at the beginning of May.

However, I decided to sign up for the Rob Hayes Memorial Hoot Scoot Virtual 5K Race because not only did Rob Hayes, the former director of the Indiana FFA Association, deserve to be remembered, proceeds went to the scholarship that was set up in his name.

The virtual event actually took place May 1-9, but since I got married on May 8, most of my attention was focused on wedding prep, not walking 3.11 miles. After the wedding I was still going to the gym to workout, but I couldn’t make my self walk — that is, until yesterday.

I decided it was time to get back out and walk the trail, and when I left for my walk, I told my husband I would probably only walk a mile since I hadn’t walked in a while. However, when I got out on the trail, I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I made a commitment to do the 5K, and even though the actual event dates had passed, I still owed it to Rob to complete the race, so to speak.

What started out as a 1-mile walk turned into a 3.18-mile walk in hot, humid weather, but once I decided to try and do the 5K, I didn’t stop until I had finished. To keep pushing myself, I have already signed up for a 5K with my son on Memorial Day.