So close I can smell it
The 967 represents how close I am to achieving my initial goal of 1,000, which I made clear back on Jan., 1 of this year. For those who haven't been following, my goal in day one of 2011 was to walk 1,000 miles, something a walking-challenged person like myself found incredibly tough to do at the time.
Now, more than nine months later, I find myself on the precipice of achieving that goal, but it was one which I realized fairly early on I would reach. So, in addition to that goal, I pledged to walk 1,200 miles, a total that would take me to Denver Colorado.
With that in sight too, I feel really good about where I am in the walking world. I have had countless people say that they are following along, and it has been amazing how many people have recognized me as I walk, and stopped to offer encouragement.
It always means a lot to hear from people who are rooting for you, and I am not even going to try to kid myself into thinking that a whole tri-county area of people are waiting with baited breath for me to top the 1,000 mile marker.
But with that said, it is humbling and gratifying to know that there are people out there who have followed along and felt the nudge to take some steps much like I did.
I can't say enough how much this program has improved my outlook and my health, and I deeply encourage anyone who is reading to do the same... you will not regret it.
The other thing this program has done is to create an avenue in which I can spend more time with my wife. An avid walker, Ann already had a huge jump on me, which is why I demanded that she walk more.
A lot more!
Two-thirds more, to be exact. I gave her the unenviable task of walking from Millersburg to San Diego, California over the course of 2011, and despite many times in which she has questions the sanity of that directive, she has journey on, laughing in the face of Mother Nature, and at times hurling minor curses at me for making such an astronomical goal.
But as of Oct. 4, she finds herself zeroing in on 1,600 miles, and there is still much of October to go.
That's the 1,554. See what happens when you pound out eight or ten miles a day? Amazing, simply amazing.
Of course because we have devoted all of our time to walking, the grass is now 27 inches high, we have several families of raccoons living in our home and the laundry pile is now officially the highest point in Holmes County, but hey, sacrifices must be made! We actually lost our youngest son Kyle in the dirty dishes for three days a few weeks back, but he was able to survive on all of the food scraps lying around.
But I digress. In any case, that means, should all things remain status quo, she will be looking at around 300 miles over the last two months, and considering she has been cruising along at more than 200 miles per month, it appears as though she may well indeed be lounging on the beaches of San Diego come Jan. 1.
She has served as a huge inspiration to me, and hopefully, somewhere along the line, I have done so for her, as I hope I have done for others.
So where does that leave us on our trek across the west?
Ann's mileage puts her across the New Mexico border and into Arizona, where she creeps up on Eagar, Arizona in the heart of the Apache national Forest. Eager seems very apropos, as in, she is eager to make her way to Arizona and into the sunshine of California by the middle of November.
I, on the other hand, have made a point of staying out of Kansas, and ventured into Nebraska, where I find myself, oddly enough, at a tiny berg called Indianola, a place that sounds more apt to be found in Hoosier Nation than in Cornhusker territory. I should be rolling into the fine state of Colorado soon, but as for my next update, watch for a scintillating video as I jump for joy at surpassing my original goal of 1,000 miles. I am sure it will be riveting stuff, so you won't want to miss it.
Oh, one more note, the Monarch butterfly season has come to an end. Gathering up Monarch caterpillars to bring home and add to our collection is one of the ways we pass the time on our walks. It is not uncommon throughout August and September to see Ann walking with about a half dozen caterpillars in tow, riding on their milk weed leaf transports. It made a lot of kids at school happy, as well as her neighboring teacher Kate Boyle, who joined in the fun of introducing students to the fine art of metamorphoses.
I'm telling you, this walking thing just keeps becoming more and more important as we go along. First health, now science? Can math be far behind?
Until next time, keep on rooting us on, and don't stop doing the electric boogaloo yourselves as we stride across this great nation in hopes of becoming better fit in mind, body and soul.
Published: October 11, 2011
