Cool Bloggers Walking Club: Week 1

The first seven walks are in the books.

This iteration of Cool Bloggers Walking Club has felt a bit overwhelming to me (as a participant, not as the organizer). I’m not sure why life feels so tremendously scattered and hectic but here we are; as per usual, in my life, exercise is the first thing to go.

I just… don’t really enjoy exercise very much. I keep hoping I’ll wake up one morning with a brand new outlook on moving my body. Until then, things like this are necessary to kick my butt into gear.

And it’s a lot more fun when I know other people are joining me! Before I get into our Week 1 recap, I have to share a little snippet of an e-mail I received from a reader last week. It truly warmed my heart:

I took myself to the gym yesterday for day 1 of the CBWC. I am going to do my best to participate this time, and not fall off the band wagon. You have to understand that going to the gym yesterday for me was HUGE!! I fell off the exercise wagon in January 2025 when I went through something very traumatic… the CBWC was the push I needed to get my life back on track. I AM COMMITTED to doing at the very least 10 minutes a day of some form of exercise. I felt very good after my workout yesterday, this is very good for my mental health. This just shows me that I really need to up my exercise game, and I am committed! So for that, thank you very much!! [Sending hugs your way for continued healing and wishing you many cathartic, enjoyable workouts this month.]

Okay! Let’s see what people have been up to this week.

BLOG FRIEND WALKS

Sharing a moment from my walk in southeastern, MA! Appreciate you and this! Thanks, Lindsay.

Rex and Nicole walk daily in British Columbia (occasionally—and unwittingly—joining a road race in progress).

Laura sent me an amazing collage from her first week of walks. She writes:

We moved from upstate NY to upstate SC in August, so photos will be a bit different from last year’s. I walk my dog in the dark every morning, but I’ll do my best to take photos in the light of day, as well! Our town’s businesses make scarecrows to display for our fall festival, so one photo shows this year’s theme – America’s 250-year anniversary. I’ve also been hiking nearby and walking around my new school’s campus. Temperatures are finally starting to stay under 90*F, which I am very thankful for!

Sarah is running, walking, and getting her yogi on in Wisconsin: Here I am running in the rain and in the dark and the dawn and also BLISSED OUT after hot yoga, which is my new favorite way to start the week on Monday morning.

Jacquie is a beloved CBWC alum, and I’m always delighted to see where her walks have taken her in BC (and beyond; one CBWC she was in Japan, another time she was in Morocco).

I’ve attached a Fotor Collage of photos from my first CBWC week.  Thanks to Engie for recommending it!

The flower is the “last dahlia standing” on one of three pots of dahlias I bought in August.  It’s the first thing I see when I go out for my walks.

The other 3 photos are of Deer Lake Park in Burnaby where I walk with my friend.  We have been walking together here for 10 1/2 years now every Saturday! [I think this weekly tradition is incredible!]

Sophie’s first week of walks in Australia included: a beach walk, park walk, lake walk, and some spring flowers (and pretty leaves). Look at that jellyfish!!!

Melissa is currently exploring Germany (she ran the Berlin Marathon!). Aside from long-distance running, here’s what she’s been up to:

• October 1: I wandered around Rothenburg ob der Tauber the cutest medieval town. I was by myself here so I got a stranger to take my photo in front of the instagram hotspot.
• October 2: I climbed the tiny, steep stairs up to the top of the Rathaus tower.
• October 3: A walking tour in Munich starting at the Rathaus with the famous glockenspiel. [Very familiar looking!]
• October 4: Oktoberfest. 
• October 5: We had a stroll around our new location Garmisch-Partenkuchen in the Bavarian Alps.
• October 6: Walked the circuit around Eibsee
• October 7: Walked up Partnach Gorge

Jan sent a picture of a recent walk in Ontario with her favourite four-legged walking companion.

Kel has been walking (and cycling) “down under” in Australia this week!

Katy has been walking and running and biking (and sanding!) in Texas, often with canine sidekick Bruno by her side. She posted a full recap of her activity on her blog.

I received an e-mail and some walking photos from Julie. She wrote:

I used to be a blogger way back in the day… Now my kids are grown and I am a grandmother.  I’m attempting to follow along with the cool bloggers this month and haven’t decided if I will just post on Instagram (maybe) or consider resurrecting my blog (doubtful) so for now I’m just sharing my walks this week with you.

Thanks for sharing!

ELISABETH’S WALKS

I hummed and hawed over what I’d track for this iteration of the Cool Bloggers Walking Club. In the past I’ve made note of the distance walked each day, my walking companion (if I had one), the weather, and one thing that made me happy.

In church on Sunday, the message was about rest.

(I don’t own this sweater and it’s not an affiliate link, but I love it! And YES, I did take a Sunday afternoon nap and it was amazing.)

After that dose of spiritual inspiration, I decided that moving my body intentionally is enough! I don’t need to layer in a theme or some elaborate tracking system.

I will randomly add notes from what I remember, but it’s a bit of a smorgasbord in terms of what details you’ll get.

The short version: I walked—in some form or another—every day for the last week for a minimum of 10 minutes.

DAY 1: THURSDAY

My first walk is officially in the books! It was sunny and beautiful outside and John and I enjoyed walking together over our lunch break.

DAY 2: FRIDAY

Another day, a similar walking route with John. The weather was crisp and sunny which is basically the perfect fall day. Sunshine! No wind! Beautiful reds and oranges and yellows!

All photos courtesy of John!

DAY 3: SATURDAY

Today’s walk was short and sweet, accompanied by my two favourite boys.

At one point John and Indy walked ahead of me on the sidewalk, and I snapped a picture of them holding hands. BE STILL MY HEART.

DAY 4: SUNDAY

Today’s walk happened all by my lonesome…

It was quick (~15 minutes), but I had an evening meeting in a neighbouring town and John had just left for Helsinki.

I popped in headphones, cranked some tunes, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine!

DAY 5: MONDAY

A bit of a “cheat” but it was rainy and windy all day and I was not feeling inspired to fit in an outdoor walk. So I turned on my Apple Watch at pickleball and managed to move 2.36 km. It was very intentional movement and great exercise!

I’m not particularly coordinated, but I really do love playing pickleball!

DAY 6: TUESDAY

Last week, Birchie reached out to arrange a walk and talk once CBWC started up. Tuesday was the agreed upon day.

Then this happened:

While I walked up and down stairs doing laundry and cleaning up the house (HOW DOES IT GET SO DARN MESSY EVERY. SINGLE. DAY? The answer is kids, by the way)… this was Birchie’s view.

A walk-and-talk for her on a gorgeous fall day in Ohio… and a putter-and-talk for me (in addition to gale force winds, mid-call I looked out the window and torrential rain was falling from the sky, so it was a good call to stay inside) in Nova Scotia.

Gold stars to Birchie for suggesting this; it was lovely to reconnect via the phone and hear her voice (and the occasional bark Hello from Doggo).

::::::TANGENT ALERT::::::

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a year since she and I were able to “walk-and-talk” in person! On our recent call we had fun reminiscing about her trip to visit me in Nova Scotia (thankfully, we had nothing but great weather).

And it was literally a year ago when Kae and SHU came to visit; I’m feeling wistful that last October’s CBWC walks got to involve the in-person company of Cool Bloggers.

Seriously, did the weather not DELIVER last September and October??

DAY 7: WEDNESDAY

Despite waking up at 5 am, I felt behind all day. By the time the kids got off to school, I was knee-deep in projects. A quick pause for lunch (five minutes?), and since it was an early dismissal from school, I lost 2 hours of kid-free time.

I wasn’t sure when and how to fit in my walk. At first I was berating myself for not fitting in a long walk, but then I thought about how the whole point of this exercise is to be intentional about 10 minutes of moving my body. The bar is set at that time for a reason. It’s achievable! I still put a sticker on my chart whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour!

Within a few minutes of leaving the house I had spotted a bald eagle, felt sunshine on my face, bopped along to some upbeat music, and felt a surge of energy.

I had enough time to fit in a brisk 15-minute walk, stopping to admire some flowers on the way, and a bumblebee popped into my viewfinder. A delightful bit of serendipity while enjoying the beauty of God’s creation.

On the way home, I stopped at the mailbox and collected a giant stack of flyers, bills, and other non-fun mail.

And that’s a wrap on the first week of our October 2026 Cool Bloggers Walking Club!! Happy walking, friends.

* If you’d like to have details of your participation included in next week’s recap, send along one photo (bonus points if that photo is actually a collage!) and any relevant details you’d like included to optimisticmusings {at} gmail {dot} com.

If you walked this week and ran out of time to send things my way (the turnaround was quick this year), just send whatever you have whenever you have it. The recaps aren’t “locked in” to a specific time period.

Here’s the schedule for remaining weeks:

• Week 2 Recap: Thursday, 15 October
• Week 3 Recap: Thursday, 22 October
• Week 4 Recap: Thursday, 29 October
• Week 5 Recap + Wrap-up/Maps: Thursday, 5 November

Your turn.

• Craziest weather you experienced on a walk/run this week?
• Favourite memory from your exercise routine lately?