200 Miles

This weekend I hit the 200 mile threshold in my daily walking regimen which commenced on May 18 of this year. I'll admit the first 100 miles came more quickly than the 2nd hundred did. The summer heat really started to take a toll on me in the afternoons so I've been limiting myself to a 1.5 mile morning walk until it cools off. I'm guessing by mid-September I can get back to 2.5 or 3 miles per day.

I have kept a daily log of my distance walked, and on June 21 I also started to document the number of days where the high temperature exceeded 100 degrees. We'd already had a few of those when I started keeping track, and now we're up to 42 days of triple digits -- not counting the ones I missed!

Two hundred miles puts me close to downtown Dallas in what I've been calling my virtual walk to Connecticut. I have a long way to go just to get out of Texas!

My shoes are holding up so far. I was going to post a picture but the battery went dead so I'll add a couple of pictures to this post once recharged.

One of the things I love most about walking is the slow pace. I notice things in the neighborhood that I'd probably never see in a car or even on a bicycle, whether it is the discarded beer can on the side of the road or the toads who tried to cross the street at night and were no match for a moving vehicle. I feel at one with my environment, connecting with the doves and cardinals, as well as the occasional road runner, deer and garter snake.

I also enjoy the open air, even when it's hot. The clouds can be beautiful and each day as I ascend the steep hill one block over, I turn around and admire the view and pat myself on the back for my discipline in this endeavor.

Celebrating 100 Miles and 100°

I am a sweaty fool right now. I just got home from 1.5 miles of walking in the afternoon heat of 100° in the shade. On the street, in the sun, it was probably still in the 108° to 110° range. That walk, coupled with 1.5 miles this morning, puts me at 100 miles since I began this regimen on May 18th.

That puts me in Lorena, Texas near the southern edge of Waco on the map.

So I'm about to shower than screw the top off a refreshing white wine from California.

By the way, the shoes are holding up nicely.

They were not new when I started this. I'd had them a couple of years and that included quite a few one-mile walks around the block, plus I wore them when I was working downtown in 2007, walking a half-mile each way to and from the bus stop on those days when I took the bus. So I figure these shoes could easily have 100 miles on them already.

The official high at our house today: 105.1°