Calorie Confusion

So today is Day 2 of prepping for the half marathon in July.
30 min run walk intervals.
We have had so much rain and so I habitually jumped on the treadmill, and then noticed the sun begging me to come out and bask.  I immediately went outside, ran to the nearest park (it has a paved walkway around it) looped it three times and headed back to work.  It felt great!  I will admit I still don't feel like I don't belong in this slower body, but I love it just the same and I am GRATEFUL that after all that it has been through the last year it still agrees to do this stuff with me.  Oh, it yells at me while we do it, but it still goes.  Kind of like the reluctant friend who doesn't want to go but doesn't want to miss out on the fun.  
My right toes always go numb first....at about Mile 2.  Then the left hip starts complaining at about Mile 4 - that will be fun to look forward to.   But I absolutely love that this 41 one year old body (that spent 34 of it sedentary) can still move.  And I love the feeling I get inside and out after I am done!  I am a firm believer that sweat cleans where a shower can't.  I have lots of little negative ideas, fears, and other yuckies floating around.  Sweating helps them quiet down and hopefully disappear someday.  
As I finished using the app MapMyRun, I noticed that it showed just under a mere 200 calorie burn. How can that be right?  Well, the average female runner will burn about 91 calories per mile.  If you run an 8 minute mile that is terrific news, but for those of us who are a little slower that feels like a lot of effort for little results. Turns out it wasn't so low.  First, I hadn't reset the app to reflect my current age and weight, and second, it doesn't consider my personal data like heart rate and cardiovascular health.  To get a more accurate picture, I looked at my vivosmart data (which is set specifically to me).  This puppy has been with me since Christmas morning, and we just logged 1 MILLION steps together. And, there it was about 450 calories in the 35 minutes activity.  Much better!  I like getting credit for the hard work I do. Clearly I am not your average anything.    

If you don't have a fancy shmancy watch, check out this calculator by Runners World.  Even it was a little more accurate than the "average female" theory.  Personally, I like to work out at MY best effort. I like to keep my calories burned per hour just over 600.  Mission accomplished.  I like the small changes over time.  I love feeling strong, and I love being me.  

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