Over Three Years

Laid end-to-end the distance would reach from Greensboro to Seattle (2,326 miles). I walked this equivalent distance on trails at C. G. Hill Memorial Park over the past three years and three months.

This distance accrued in four-mile segments in one hour periods. This rate is four miles per hour.

Each day I entered my walk time into an Internet web site called the President's Challenge. This is a nationwide program aimed at encouraging citizens to exercise, log results, set goals for achievement levels, and to stay inspired by comparing results to others who participate in the program.

The program started in July 2003 and I enrolled on the 19th of that month. This site is free and I was enrollee number 300 some. The active participants now are over 18,000. The web site is constructed to accommodate all kinds of exercise with a point system based on exercise activity, time and intensity. Walking and running, for example, have four levels. My walk rate falls in the 2.5 to 5.0 miles per hour level. There are 8,132 participants walking at this speed level.

It's easy for participants to compare themselves to other exercise enthusiasts by region, age, activity or overall activities.

My point score reached 160,000 on October 5, 2006 which is Gold Medal achievement level.

Exercise may not add one month to my total life span or enhance my quality of life, but it's fun to be outdoors and to process random thoughts that enter my mind while briskly walking. Logging the results is also fun for me as I track the statistics.

Return here on Monday, October 23 for more updates to this blog.

Have a good day!