Adventures in Walking

As mentioned in Running Soon, I have been training for another half marathon happening in Pasadena on Mar. 22nd. But this time I am walking it with Mama Lee.

I have been trying to train, and at first it was fine. Then when I went to Pennsylvania, it was too cold to walk outside. The good thing was that there was a treadmill. The bad thing is that the gym only had one treadmill and everyone in our program pretty much had the same free time. So I remember that I needed to walk 5 miles to stay on my schedule, but I felt really bad since if I walked it all, it would take more than an hour and a half. So I ended up half running it and half walking it but it still took more than an hour.

When I got home, I realized that I don't know where to walk to fill up my walking requirements. The problem with walking is that it gets really boring and it takes a long time. Another problem is that Dallas is not walking friendly. So this last week I had to walk 7 miles. So after plotting it out, I decided to walk to Katy Trail and then meet my friend at the Knox Henderson entrance. (Another reason I had to walk is because Alvin had to drive the car to the dentist.)

So from my house, I walked to the Walmart on Lemmon. Then crossed through the cemetery. I know Alvin doesn't get scared walking through the cemetery, but I think it can be creepy. It was very windy that day, and no one else was at the cemetery. I thought to myself, if anyone attacks me, only the dead will hear me scream. (That sounds like a tagline for a movie.) Then I thought, if I die, they can just bury me here.

Then I walked to Walgreens where I picked up an Odwala bar and a travel pack of tissues. I then made it to Katy trail. That was 1.5 miles according to my pedometer. Then I walked on the trail to Knox Henderson. At that point it was about 3 miles. Man, only 3 miles to Knox Henderson. Then my friend and I walk to the end at McCommas. We then walked back. At the very end, since I am legalistic to a dot on my training schedule, I made her walk back and forth on the trail until I hit exactly 7 miles (and of course no more). And then she drove me home.

It took me about 2 hours at about at 17 mile/hr pace.

My evaluation is that the 1.5 miles from house to Katy Trail is barely walkable. There must be a better way to go from the Walmart to Walgreens without going through a private cemetery.

I will think about my options as I plan out my 8 mile walk this week. I wonder if I could walk to Central Market on Lover's from my house.