Friday January 13 by vibr8 Blog entry

Blog: Morning and Evening Walk
by vibr8

Friday January 13

first walk

Date: 1/13/2006 5:29:04 PM ( 18 y ) ... viewed 2075 times

As I was driving toward the starting point for my first walk I thought about today being Friday the 13th. Doesn't mean much to me. It was merely a thought passing through. Auspicious beginnings can happen any day. And today is that day for me.

Morning walk #1 was relatively brief, and split into two parts. The first part consisted of going outside of a small shopping center to explore an underpass and a nature trail along a creek just behind it. I walked along a row of junipers held in by a massive rock abutment toward the underpass.

When I reached the underpass, I could see that there were recipes (?!?) and poems painted in bright colors on the walls of the underpass. I stopped at the edge to read the first writings, a recipe for making a dragonfly. This recipe detailed a list of inanimate ingredients, and assembly instructions, and stated that a real live dragonfly would be the result. Hmmmm? Creative.

Next to this recipe was a poem about a fox. I liked it and want to write it down next time I walk in this particular location. And there will be a next time as it is my goal to walk further and longer each time that I walk.

The creek was quiet, almost dry, as we have not had precipitation in a long time. A man with a military backpack sat beside the creek drinking something from a container inside a paper bag.

I walked back to the shopping center, noticing Christmas decorations still in the windows of a hardware store, but nowhere else.

I stopped to eat a small breakfast.

The second segment of my walk involved exploring the northern edge of the shopping center. A small building was being erected in the middle of the parking lot. Lots of workers in hard hats were milling around. There were two copy shops, just two doors down from each other. One was a copy shop with FedEx services and an espresso cafe in the front section and WiFi and a travel agency. The other was a regular copy shop. Lots of people earnestly going about their business were within each of these storefronts. A sign on the north edge stated that thousands of square feet of retail space were available in the center. College students in tight black bicycling pants were gathered in front of a sports store at the edge of the center.

I stopped in at a health food market on the way back to my car. Actually, I did almost a mile more walking in the store, according to my pedometer. Stocked up on a few vitamins that I'm low on, and enjoyed the colors and the smells there.

Even though my walking distance today was only 1.5 miles, it was a start. It took me a few days to get started. It felt quite good to finally begin.

Certainly weight loss is part of my eventual planned outcome, as is improved overall health. Statistics showing that walking is helpful in achieving these outcomes are plentiful.

I must remain focused on walking regularly and gradually increasing my distance and pace.

The journey continues.