2/20/2010 A Frozen Walk

Today was just about as good as yesterday as far as the lengths I am going these days to get my walks in.  While at home they are enjoying balmy 56 degrees, I woke to snow and ice on the ground and on my car. I taught until 4:30 this afternoon, and it was snowing again and the temperature was in the mid 20s. By then I had clocked over two miles of walking during class or lunch, but none of it was aerobic. I had to hurry back to my hotel because the son and daughter-in-law and grandkids of my friend Pat Fitzgerald live here in Colorado Springs, and they picked me up tonight and we went to the Air Force Academy to watch a gymnastics meet. What a special treat!  I had visions of taking a walk during the meet, but it was snowing quite a bit by the time we got on academy grounds. When I got back to the hotel at 9:00 is when I decided I must be nuts, because I decided to go for a walk. Now, it's in the low 20's. There is snow and ice everywhere--the ice is the frozen snow made icy by cars driving on it.  I have tennis shoes, not snow shoes, and I don't have anything but my nice clothes and a pair of sweat pants--but I do have a warm coat, gloves, and hat, so off I went.  I got in 26 minutes of a good walk, 1.09 miles, a for a total of 3 miles today. Mind you, it wasn't a fast pace--but then again, I was walking through parking lots of hotels and restaurants (There are 5 hotels, 4 restaurants, and 1 gas station where I am staying--one of those little hubs right off the freeway.), in the snow and ice, at 6300 feet elevation. I think I did pretty darn well!  Anyway, I know I am certifiably nuts, but it sure felt good!  You can see my weird route here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/625373

2/19/2010 Becky, We have a problem...

Today takes the cake! But it also shows my commitment and dedication to this walking thing.  I left home at 8:00 AM today to fly to Denver and then drove to Colorado Springs for a class I am teaching this weekend for Lesley University.  By the time I got to my hotel, it was 4:30 PM and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. So, dinner first before walking. By the time dinner was over, it was snowing like crazy, and I needed to get to an Office Max so I could make copies for my class tomorrow. By the time that was done, it was dark and the ground was covered with an inch or two of slippery, wet snow. No outside walk today.  My hotel has no fitness room, so no treadmill. (Who doesn't have fitness rooms? Fairfield Inn!) So, I improvised! 30 minutes of aerobic walking at a Whole Foods Store. Up and down the aisles I went, multiple times.  I finally picked up a bottle of water and a container of nuts so people wouldn't think I was strange.  The only ones who probably noticed were the security guard and the people restocking shelves.

After walking around the store for 30 minutes, I kind of wish we had one of these in Burlington. I suppose the Co-op is the closest thing we have to Whole Foods.  I did think it was sort of ironic that I pick a Whole Foods store to get in my daily exercise. By the way, I highly recommend their corn nuts. At any rate, I got in 2.3 miles today, and 30 minutes of it was aerobic! Not sure what tomorrow will bring. Class is from 8:00-5:00. Perhaps a walk at lunch.

2/18/2010 The Port--Yet Another Route

The good thing about the Port of Skagit trails is that they are only 5 minutes from my house. Thus, a good 1 hour walk only takes about an hour and 15 minutes. If I drive somewhere like yesterday, I drive an hour and walk an hour--it can take a chunk out of my day.  The other great thing about the Port trails is that you can go so many different ways, so you can create new routes. Today we walked 2.7 miles in just under an hour. I'm getting closer to that 3 MPH pace--if I only didn't stop or slow down to take pictures....but that is one of the enjoyments of the walks--looking for new shots with my camera.

It was a beautiful day today; sunny, warm; truly seemed like a spring day--like May, certainly not like the middle of February. I even got too warm with just a sweatshirt on. I spoke to some people in Washington, DC yesterday--there is still tons of snow on the ground, and trees are breaking and falling from the snow. No cherry blossoms yet. How lucky are we out here!  Of course the big worry here now is that the tulips will be bloomed and gone by the time the Tulip Festival rolls around in April. Now wouldn't that be something! 

A bit of a challenge the next three days as I fly to Denver and then on to Colorado Springs to teach for the weekend. Already thinking about how I'll get my walks in. Stay tuned!

You can see today's route here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/623586

2/17/2010 The Interurban

Today my friend Christie and I drove up to Larrabee State Park to walk part of the Interurban Trail. The Interurban is one of the Rails to Trails hikes, and runs nearly 6 miles into Bellingham. It was a rail line for an electric train back in the 1920s. Today it is a great wide, fairly level trail for horses, bicyclists, walkers, and runners.

Parts of the trail are dirt while others are graveled. We only walked 1.4 miles out and then back, for a total of 2.8 miles. Again today it was pretty effortless, and we could have gone longer, but I was in a time crunch to get back home for an appointment.  This summer or spring we can walk further on the trail.  It was a beautiful day, although a bit crisp this morning. In the 50s by afternoon, but only in the 30s at night, so still a bit cool at 11:00 AM when we started the walk.  A couple of bicyclists passed us, and a runner scared the heck out me--was literally right behind me before he yelled that he was passing us. Since I don't know my left from my right without consciously thinking, I jumped to the wrong direction and he ran in to me. A little excitement for the day! You can see part of my route here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/622858   Once again the GPS failed me for part of the walk..

2/16/2010 Burlington Dike Trail

Today is my 47th day of walking. Wow! Amazing to me. I know that millions of people around the world walk every day. For many people in third world countries, walking is their only mode of transportation. And there are others who walk every day for their health. My brother started walking a couple of years ago and lost a great deal of weight, as did a lady I used to work with. Others just like to walk for the sheer enjoyment of being outside. Me? I am relishing just being able to walk pain free every day.  I think I should send my orthopedic surgeon and my physical therapist thank you notes!  But I am also beginning to enjoy walking for what I am able to see every day...it gives me a chance to look at things in a different way. I look for new things to see when I walk the same routes. Today I noticed that the river was lower than at any time I had walked the dike so far. Sand bars were appearing in the river. 

I also noticed what looked like a homeless camp today, which was a surprise. Now it could be that someone was enjoying the sun yesterday and left everything here, but I'm thinking not. It definitely looked like someone was camping here.

 Lots of birds out today. There is one field that the seagulls love; not sure what is planted in it, but it's always filled with seagulls. This walk is about 2 1/2 miles long, and if I didn't stop to take pictures all the time, my pace would be close to 3 miles per hour, but I'm not there yet, and the pace isn't as important to me as enjoying the walk.  I noticed today how effortless it was to go this distance and walk for nearly an hour. If I feel the need to increase my distance, and thus my time, this could take up a chunk of my day. But then, I'm retired, right? Lovin' it!!  You can see my route here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/622255

2/15/2010 Bowman Bay

I woke up this morning to a beautiful day--the sun was shining. With nothing on my calendar--after all, it is a holiday today, I decided to drive over to Deception Pass State Park and take one of the many hikes there.

This picture was taken on a hill looking back down at Bowman Bay. Last year for my birthday, a friend gave me a gadget called an XShot, which allows you to take pictures of yourself by extending the camera about 3 feet away from arms length, then setting it on a timer. Works great if there is no one around to take a picture of you and/or you have short arms!

     My phone had a difficult time picking up a signal at one point in the walk, so I am not positive of my exact distance, but estimate it to be about 3 miles. The route I took was the Deception Pass Headlands Trail. Even though I printed out the guide, I didn't use it very well, so never really quite knew where I was! And I certainly wasn't expecting the hill climbing. However, if I had read my trail guide, I would have noticed a 350 foot elevation gain. 

Then entire distance of the trail was 5 miles, but I didn't take the .3 mile loop around Rosario Head, nor did I take the loop around Lighthouse Point or Lottie Point. The loop around Lighthouse Point is 1 mile.  I am guessing my walk took me about 1.5 hours, although the phone GPS said 1 hour, but it really missed out on quite a bit of the trail. Of course, had I brought my pedometer, I at least would have had a distance from that. Oh, well. It was a great walk, and a good test for my knee hiking on rocky, dirt trails; having to climb somewhat steep hills, and climb down again.  I did wish I had brought a climbing stick, but it wasn't a necessity. 

The views were stunning today; even the Olympics were showing to the southwest.  Lots of people out too, hiking, walking on the beach, playing with dogs, picnicking.  Great day.
Trip data, for what it's worth today, can be found here: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/621548

2/14/2010 Padilla Bay Reserve

I had to follow the sun on this gray day. It rained pretty good through the night, but by early afternoon as I ventured out, I could see blue sky breaking to the north. I had gone to the recycling center and decided to go on for my walk from there. I ended up at the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center, and walked their Upland Trail. It is only a .8 mile loop, so I walked it twice.  I hadn't ever been up on this trail in the nearly 30 years I have lived here.  The trail goes uphill through a deciduous forest, then it breaks out into a meadow before heading back down through an evergreen forest. The trail is paved at first, then gravel, and as you can see in this photo, is just a mowed down area through a field in parts of it. It was pretty soggy in some parts.  I was hoping to see some wildlife, but alas, nothing but a couple of birds, and a frog or toad that I could hear, but not see.  This trail was good for me to walk with its uphill and downhill stretches, strengthening my quads a bit more than walking on level ground. My endurance is great for level walks; not so much for hills still.  This will be a nice walk to try each season. Hopefully I'll see more wildlife on it this spring or summer. You can see my route here:  http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/620756