Get Your Kicks
Now that the weather is getting consistently nice again I'm trying to step up my power walking again. John's also getting a bit alarmed at gaining weight this winter, so he's taking up daily walking with me, too. My present goal is to try to walk an hour a day at least 5-6 times a week.
I find I tend to enjoy walking for exercise more when I take on some kind of challenge or a goal. The first walking challenge I took on was the Iditawalk Challenge back in 2002. The challenge was to walk as many minutes as the length of the Iditarod Dog Sled Challenge in Nome, Alaska. You have about 39 days between February and March to complete the challenge. I completed the challenge three years in a row and earned certificates and t-shirts for doing it.
In March of 2003 I took on The Walk to Rivendell challenge, where participants walked 458 miles, the equivalent distance that the hobbits walked from Hobbiton to Rivendell in "The Lord of The Rings". I even ran a chapter of the Rivendell challenge for 18 months and again earned myself a t-shirt and a tote bag. I eventually walked on to Lothlorien (about 1000 miles from Hobbiton) and ended up somewhere in the middle of the Anduin River before losing steam on that challenge.
folkmew has occasionally mentioned an exercise challenge called Get Fit on Route 66, which is again a timed challenge where you walk one minute for every mile of the 2448 mile route from Chicago to Santa Monica. There are maps to trace your route, sign markers along the way with fun information and the website sends you daily nutrition and exercise tips. It looks like fun and I think I'm going to try it.
Calculations show me that the Route 66 challenge takes about 40 hours, so my goal is to walk it before the end of June. After that I have another idea for a walking challenge of my own, but we'll see how this one goes first!
I find I tend to enjoy walking for exercise more when I take on some kind of challenge or a goal. The first walking challenge I took on was the Iditawalk Challenge back in 2002. The challenge was to walk as many minutes as the length of the Iditarod Dog Sled Challenge in Nome, Alaska. You have about 39 days between February and March to complete the challenge. I completed the challenge three years in a row and earned certificates and t-shirts for doing it.
In March of 2003 I took on The Walk to Rivendell challenge, where participants walked 458 miles, the equivalent distance that the hobbits walked from Hobbiton to Rivendell in "The Lord of The Rings". I even ran a chapter of the Rivendell challenge for 18 months and again earned myself a t-shirt and a tote bag. I eventually walked on to Lothlorien (about 1000 miles from Hobbiton) and ended up somewhere in the middle of the Anduin River before losing steam on that challenge.
folkmew has occasionally mentioned an exercise challenge called Get Fit on Route 66, which is again a timed challenge where you walk one minute for every mile of the 2448 mile route from Chicago to Santa Monica. There are maps to trace your route, sign markers along the way with fun information and the website sends you daily nutrition and exercise tips. It looks like fun and I think I'm going to try it.Calculations show me that the Route 66 challenge takes about 40 hours, so my goal is to walk it before the end of June. After that I have another idea for a walking challenge of my own, but we'll see how this one goes first!