You're Never Going To Believe This...

There is a particular section of paved walkway that extends for a long distance along the shoreline in my area that I have been debating tackling for a couple of weeks now. It is long. That has been my hesitation up until now.

Today, I found myself with an unusually large chunk of time that I was able to reserve for just myself. I had been expecting to be tied up for the majority of the day, but – life being the unpredictable lot that it is – I ended up having half my day free. What to do?

Well, obviously I combined my fortuitous availability with my desire to attempt the excessively lengthy route. I succeeded! I almost gave up a couple of different times, but I drew strength and determination from somewhere and finished the whole thing!

So, how far was it? Twenty-five kilometers! I am not joking. Trust me, my throbbing feet are a testament to the seriousness with which I write the fact that I walked for twenty-five kilometers today. I just love saying that! I walked twenty-five-freaking kilometers! Woo hoo!!!

So the details are that the section I am speaking of took me four hours and twenty-five minutes while the entire walk was actually a little over twenty-five minutes longer than that for a total of nearly five hours. To say I am tired would be a serious understatement. I have the shoreline path route on a map, and I used a piece of thread and the scale to figure out that it was 22.8 kilometers (14.2 miles) long. In addition I had to walk about a kilometer to get to the starting point and a little over another kilometer once I finished the trek to make my way to a suitable stop point. So – based on my average speed and another look at the map, thread, and scale – I estimate those portions of the journey to tally at 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles) This all totals at exactly 25 kilometers or over 15.5 miles!

I took three breaks during the time I was walking – one was twenty minutes long, the second fifteen, and the final one just five minutes. I did not include the time that I took for those breaks in my final tally of minutes; I only counted the time I was actually walking. The first break was a little less than halfway through and I used the time to refuel with a snack and water. I’m pretty sure I would not have made it to the end if I hadn’t stopped to get some food in my stomach, so I am really happy that I listened to my body's needs.

Once I got home I headed straight for the bathtub and soaked my poor hips, legs, and feet. I have a blister on my left heel, but am hoping that it is the only thing that ends up hurting tomorrow. Yeah, right. I’m going to be in some serious pain come morning, I think. You know what? It was totally worth it!!!

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 8 glasses of water throughout the day
- 1 peach
- 3 cups of salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, mushroom, broccoli, grated carrot, grated cheese, croutons, and light ranch dressing
- 1 cup of fruit salad
- 3/4 cup fat free mixed berry yogurt
- 1 egg omelet with pepper and 1 cup tomato, garden peppers, and onion mixture

EXERCISE:
- 4 hour and 50 minute walk (with 3 breaks – not included in final time)