First off, holy cow I’m tired (18 hours at the fire department today), so this may be a little rambly, but here’s my…
First off, holy cow I’m tired (18 hours at the fire department today), so this may be a little rambly, but here’s my brief #whyiingress moment before I go fall over and get some sleep.
I started this game in late January as a way to make walking more interesting and to get my highly unmotivated butt off the sofa and out of the house. I know that worked, because I can see my Trekker stats, and my Fitbit stats, and I know how much weight I’ve lost (almost 45 pounds to-date) and how much better I feel. but some things really bring that home more than others. Tonight was one of those ah-hah moments.
I had a 12-hour shift EMS shift at the department today (it’s a volunteer department, but in order to ensure that the ambulance gets out the door on a timely basis, the EMTs and drivers sign up for regular shifts where we’re on station instead of responding from home). It was actually a pretty quiet day… had a nap, breakfast, washed the ambulance, trained on the grass truck (playing with water! Woo!!), late lunch, another nap, rode around while another driver trained on the engine… an exciting day, right? 😀 Then we had our regular monthly fire training tonight, which was at the Anderson Fire Dept’s training tower. I griped that the Fitbit said I’d already met my step count target for the day so I shouldn’t have to do any more, but I didn’t really mean it, and off we went. And this is when I started to realize how much better shape I’m in since I started Ingressing.
See, last time I went to that tower… probably two years ago… it just about killed me just to climb to the top. Today? Made it to the fourth floor without even being out of breath, then up the ladder to the roof for the view from the top (Hey, the fire trucks look tiny way down there!). And while I’m tired now, it’s more from having been up since 5 a.m. than from the physical exertion.
So thanks, Ingress! I love my fire department and I love being on the fire department, but it’s all soooooo much better with less weight, lower blood pressure, better stamina and better flexibility. And all just because I started walking from one portal to the next.
So grab your scanners, agents. Let’s go walking! (Well, okay, I’m gonna sleep first, then we can go walking…)
#ingress
Tags: ingress, whyiingress
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015 at 4:29 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
October 14th, 2015 at 10:40 am
I really do need to get back into it….
October 14th, 2015 at 3:26 pm
Xap Esler I’ve been amazed at how big a difference it’s made. Nothing else really (intentionally) changed… just Ingress. Now, granted, a lot actually changed because of Ingress, because not only am I walking more, but I’m getting out and socializing more so there’s a lot less just going-home-and-sitting-around time. For that matter, there’s a lot less spare time in general. 😛 There’s occasionally more beer, but generally less junk food, so I think even the beergressing is a net positive!
October 14th, 2015 at 5:03 pm
I need to add beergressing to my repertoire. Actually, I just need to get out and walk and play more as of lately.
October 20th, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Too bad for being resistance lol
December 2nd, 2015 at 6:54 am
When I found ingress I was a bad alcoholic. After a month I was down from a 12 pack a night to 1 a week! Spent most of my summer sober this year! People ask me how I can affoard to travel like I do for this game. I told them this sobered me up and Ingress became my new sauce.
December 2nd, 2015 at 4:50 pm
That’s awesome, Jarome! Sometimes the best way to beat one addiction is to trade it for a new one, and at least Ingress is reasonably benign.