Okay, I’m not walking as much as I did back in 2017, when this post first ran…but I AM walking. Three to three-and-a-half miles, at least every other day. Not bad for an old (young) fart!
Actually, I walk lots of lines: straight, crooked, whatever. It doesn’t matter, as long as I’m walking. As my Facebook friends know, The Walking Dude—that’s me—set a goal of 600 miles for 2017, and that goal was reached around the middle of last month. Not too shabby.
Tell the truth, I probably walked at least that much for a number of years prior to 2017. I just never kept track of it until this year. As it is said, “inquiring minds want to know.” So now I know, and I am pleased with the accomplishment.
WALKING SCARED
The above could have been the title of this post, because I’m pretty sure walking scared is what I’ve been doing for the past seven or eight years. Back in December 2009 I had open-heart, quadruple bypass surgery to reroute four blocked arteries. Prior to that I’d been walking four to five miles a day, so the surgery came as a major blow—for a number of reasons.
Back home a week after the surgery I followed the guidelines given to me at the hospital: walk around the living room; walk to the end of the driveway; walk up to the mailbox; walk to the corner, and so on, increasing the distance week after week. By the end of 2010 I might’ve gotten back to two miles, but no more.
Jacqueline joined me on the walk around the Devils Tower.
I kept wanting to push myself, and that’s when I realized that I had been walking scared. I never wanted to deal with that kind of surgery again, so the more I walked, the stronger I got, which meant the fewer chances of winding up on the operating table—or the morgue slab, for that matter. So as much as I love walking—and I truly do—I do believe that walking scared is still a part of the motivation, though maybe not as much as before.
A NEW GOAL?
When I happily made the announcement that I’d reached my 600-mile goal I received plenty of congratulations, as well as suggestions of re-setting the 2017 goal, perhaps up to maybe 1,000 miles. I’ll admit that I gave it some thought for a while, but ultimately I decided against it. First, I do all of this with arthritis in both feet and one knee, so every mile that I walk is a challenge. Second, I set a yearly goal, and I reached that goal, so why change it in mid-stream? Every mile I subsequently walk this year is gravy. The goal for 2018 will be announced on New Year’s Day.
At the base of the Devils Tower.
Of all the miles that I walked in 2017, there are two in particular that stand out—possibly for all time. In May I realized a long-time dream by hiking the trail around the Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming. No, I didn’t run into any extraterrestrials there, but I did get to touch the base of it on a day that I consider one of the most memorable of my life. (See my post, “Touching the Magical Tower.”)
I’m sure there are many special miles ahead, and I plan on being around to walk them. To quote a great cliché from Nuke LaLoosh, “I’m just happy to be here.”