Walk Across America

Here's where I was at 4:35pm after walking 3.4 miles...and it felt pretty good. My threshold is usually is usually 80 degrees for the water temperature and our pool hasn't gotten there yet, thanks mostly to several days of clouds and rain last week. Wayne's been in a couple of times but I'm a wimp; I want warmer water. But a little extra distance plus an afternoon high that topped 90 made for a warm walk and I was looking for a quick cool-down...and I got it. I had to ease in ever so slowly but once I got used to it, it was wonderfully refreshing.

I'm trying to be diligent and walk every day. Most days it's like today...I take to the neighborhood streets in the late afternoon, but with the longer days, I've walked some after dinner, too, and Wayne will occasionally join me then. With Dale and Carol are gone, I may have to get up early now as that's his preferred walking time and it only seems fair to trade around a bit.

Goals are always a good motivator and since we're rolling over to a new month, I think I'll set one for my walking. I'm going to walk across America...virtually, of course. My brother John did something similar when he headed a team that included my sister-in-law Barbara in the Walk Kansaschallenge. The team's total miles were charted on a map of the state and then the teams were ranked accordingly. The concept of charting actual miles on a computer map is called webwalking.

It's 5,048 miles across America following the American Discovery Trail spanning the middle of the country. I'd get discouraged before my total got that high, but there are several other ways to take this challenge. You can count minutes: 60 minutes of walking equates to 60 miles on the map. You can count steps: you'll walk 5,048 steps and chart each one as a mile. Or you can keep track of miles, walking either 504.8 miles or 5,048 miles. I'm choosing the miles at the compressed rate.

Like any trip, I'm looking forward to learning about the places I'll be traveling through. This page contains links to descriptions of the trail segments...you'll probably want to go run out and wave at me as I go by. Virtually, of course.

This should put a new spin on my daily exercise and I'm excited about it. I'll be walking anyway; might as well have a destination in mind. I'm doing around three miles each day and if I keep up that rate, I should reach California before the end of the year. If these feet are going to cover 504.8 miles, they're going to be cooling off in the pool on a regular basis this summer.

Comments

[Pat]

I'll join you on a virtual walk. Especially after the weekend's graduation feeding frenzy! Yikes!! I've been wanting to track my daily miles and this will give me the incentive to do it. Let's get those shoes on.

[Charlene]

I am excited for you and your new goal. Since starting to race walk in August of last year, I have not logged my total miles. I have 10 events scheduled between now and November in addition to all my "practice" miles. I should keep track too, as I know they will add up quite nicely. Here's to California and the Discovery Trail!