Screws in my coffee

Who am I fooling?  I started out this year with the goal of walking 1,000 miles.  Today I am at mile 692 so I am on target for reaching my goal.  The problem is that I am starting to run.  This is a real dilemma for me because I do not want to injure my knees by running on pavement.  Albany does not have the great inner city trail network like Austin has.  Heck there are no big parks with trails that are free.  Albany does have a 5 mile trail located in Chehaw Parks, but this is a private zoo and you have to pay to gain access.

This past Sunday I ran a mile around the ASU track in the middle of my 8 mile walk along a paved trail next to the Flint River.  I use to run along this trail before my knees started to hurt, now I just walk it.  Today I ran almost a mile across the Doublegate Golf Course at the end of a 7 mile walk.  I have wanted to do this ever since I moved into the neighborhood over a year ago.  Today I was so bored with walking that I just said to myself what the heck start running.

It was a joy to be running in the early morning across nice soft grass and zig-zaging in and around the pine trees on the course. I am not sure if I will get caught doing this but I am sure that I’ll do it again.  I can not resist running.

After walking every weekday morning in the dark I want to see the world in daylight.  On weekends I look forward to walking when the sun is out.  Today I decided to go and walk along the Flint River.  I was so inspired that I walked all the way down to Oakridge Drive and crossed over and cam back through Albany State University.

Last month I surpassed my goal of 150 miles and walked 178.84 miles. So far this year I have walked 440.72 miles.  I am  measuring my walks using my Garmin 405.

I took some short videos with my phone that will show some of the areas that I walked through during my 13.1 mile walk on Saturday afternoon.

I have lost 15 pounds since I started my everyday walking plan this year. I am not intentionally dieting, but i have eliminated corn syrup drinks from my diet.

I am enjoying my early morning walks before work.  This month I am starting to use my bask pack that I used when I was trail running.  It makes drinking water easier than the small water bottle that I have been using that I carry around my waist.

Today I walked over 13.1 miles which qualifies me to say that I walked a half marathon in just over 3 hours.  This is the last walk of the month for me so I wanted to do a special walk.

This month I have walked 178 miles. I could not have run this many miles in one month when I was running back in 2008-2009.  I feel that my stamina is good and I can walk a full marathon when I have enough time to do it.

I learned a lot from my trail running coach and all of the folks that I met on the trails in Austin.  I know how to prepare my back pack for a long walk.  I live in a part of Albany that has lots of streets that have little or no traffic.  These are residential streets with lots of trees and interesting houses to look at.  It is in these neighborhoods that I walk every morning and I have let go of the mach ego that I had about not being able to run on trails and accepted the challenge of being a power walker on pavement.   As usual the biggest thing that stops me from getting to my goals is me.

Most of the time I walk and listen to the sounds of the neighborhood, but today I used my phone and listened to my Pandora station that plays Acid Jazz.  The music kept me going and prevented me from losing focus and kept me at my 13 mile per minute pace.  Overall I have a nice three hour walk.

For the first time I have walked 10 miles.  I have run this distance and further before, but I have never walked this far. This is the course that I walked. I did my 5 mile loop twice.

I wanted to walk 25 miles this week so I selected a course that would loop 5 miles. I decided to make a goal of walking 1,000 miles this year just like I made a goal to run 1,000 miles in 2008.  The main point of my goals and keeping track of the miles is to make a game out of consistent exercise.  For me walking is sustainable exercise that allows me to relax and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Here is a map of the loop from my house around the Doublegate Golf Course.

Below is a summary report of my walks for this week

Last month I walked 146 miles, and this month I want to walk 150 miles.  I could not have realized that these types of goals were possible without measurement.  I have been tracking my walking using my Garmin 405 so with the knowledge of this walking data I can set effective goals. Having this knowledge about what is possible from just walking everyday I now feel empowered to set a goal that will equal the distance that I ran in 2008, only this year I may walk further.  Sustainable exercising is what is important to me now, not speed or distance.  I want to walk everyday and not get injured or burn out and not be inspired to exercise.