Walking

I try to take a long walk every day. I guess long is a subjective term. What I think is long may just be a pleasant stroll for you. I try to take a five mile walk every day. Rose and or Lily go with me. I can't remember the last time I walked that far without one or both of them. Why walk? The answer is relatively simple. It gives me time to think. What is going on in our nation. What is going on in the world. What is going on in my life, my kids and grandkids lives and with Carol.

I track my walking a couple of different ways. First, I wear a Fitbit. Last year according to my tracker I walked 1,734 miles or 3,834,929 steps. The other way I track is by using a program on my iPhone called Map My Walk. It uses GPS to track where I walk, how many steps and how many miles. I have it set up to give me feedback on my pace every quarter mile. I had to stop using it for a while because it was making my walks less fun. I found myself trying to maintain a certain pace and with Lily and Rose that just isn't practical. They have things to do. Sniff interesting spots along the way. Stop to go potty. They would stop and I would get frustrated because I was knocked off pace. Obsessive compulsive people can't have things like that telling them how they are doing without some problem. It took time but I finally figured out the problem wasn't the program it was me. So now I listen to how far I've gone but don't pay much attention to how long it is taking. The walk is to clear my mind, not worry about how fast I'm going. I have managed to rediscover the joy in taking a good long walk. The sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore. The flowers in the yards, The trees and bushes. The thumping of roofers repairing the hurricane damage. The smell of new cut grass. There are plenty of things more important than how fast I'm walking.

So, go out and take a walk. Make sure you walk along a route you normally drive. You will be surprised how many things you notice at 3 miles per hour that you miss completely at 30 mph.