could get bored of walking

If jogging on the treadmill makes yours shins hurt you may be getting shin splints. I am no experiences with those, but I have some issues with calf strain while runnning. I increased my stretches and always include a 5 minute walking warm up at the beginning of a run.

Another thing I do to mix things up is to do the workouts offered via my cable OnDemand. They have FitnessTV under the Sports&Fitness section onDemand. I can do just about any kind of workout. It is great. I love the variety and it lets me try something out without have to buy anything. I did end up purchasing the Jillian Michael's 30-Day shred, but I was able to try it for free first. Don't know you cable set up obviously, but I imagine they all have something similar.

Good luck and good job on the 4 miles. That is impressive!

The thing I do to mix up my walks is change the route. I have good neighborhoods to walk through that are interesting with some decent hills and such. As silly as it may sound, I also sometimes drive to a different location just to have a new venue. We have some decent paths in various areas around town (including in my neighborhood) that have different challenges to keep them interesting.

:flowerforyou: do you have an MP3 player or portable CD player or something so you can listen to music on books on tape to entertain you while you walk?

Walking is about 80% of my excercise. I don't do it inside a gym on a treadmill, I find those boring. I go outside. I bring friends, listen to podcasts/music/whatever on my Zune. I also do lots of stairs. I been doing it for 1 year. I don't let myself get bored I find ways to keep going and motivated. Do you have a iPhone or Android? I use Cardio Trainer a free app. it records my data. I post it via FB and friends there encourage me and I motivate myself to improve my distance and times. I started very slow. It would take me about 40 mins to do 1 mile. I now can do 3 miles in that same time. I've also started jogging too.