Like a greyhound dog at the race track

This goal of mine to walk 100 miles in September has proven to be a daily grind requiring consistent work. Today is the middle of the month and I have not yet walked, but I hope to get 4 miles in before the day is over. That will give me 46 miles for the month and, if I keep it up, I’ll have 92 miles for the month and fall short of my goal.

I am enjoying this walking challenge. Some days I’ll walk in my neighborhood and venture downtown. Where I live is pedestrian-friendly, a grid where north-south streets are numbered and east-west streets are alphabetized, so easy to understand and navigate for a visiting tourist. A predictable layout where 13 city blocks is approximately 1 mile, so a walk from 24th and L Streets (where I live) to the downtown Cathedral at 11th & K Streets is 14 blocks or about 1 mile. When doing block walking, I’ll walk briskly like a 15-minute mile pace. Sometimes I’ll go a little faster but all it takes is the bad luck of the draw with excessive red lights or a train in progress and I’ll fail to achieve this pace.

Other days I’ll go to nearby McKinley Park, where there are always a lot of runners and walkers out and about chasing their mileage goals. The perimeter of the park is 1.05 miles. Walking there in the early morning or evening always is a great walk as the weather is very pleasant now. I like to walk very fast at this park, probably because all the runners and walkers motivate me. On a good day I'll average around a 13:30 mile pace.

Sunday I accompanied by wife, who had a meeting to attend about 45 miles from where we live, serving as her driver and bodyguard. While she was in the meeting, I visited a local high school and walked around the cinder high school track. The weather was nice, a little warm, and there was a recreational soccer game taking place on the field. I walked at a comfortable pace but it wasn’t brisk and 65 minutes later I had completed my 4-mile goal for the day.

Years ago I tore my ACL ligament in a martial arts training accident requiring surgery. On the advice of my surgeon, I walked a lot so my legs would be as strong as possible for surgery. About one month before surgery, I entered a July 4th 5-mile fun run but walked instead of run. I ended up having a friendly competition with another walker, spending the last 3 miles going back and forth for the lead position. It was my best walking performance ever as I completed the 5-mile course in 55 minutes. I’ve never walked an 11-minute mile pace since.

So today I’ll lace up my walking shoes in the evening and probably head over to McKinley Park where I generally walk as fast as I can, like a greyhound dog at the racetrack.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum