WALKING IN THE GARDEN OF PEACE

Just minutes after leaving our home with a gym towel in my hand, and with all intentions on going to the fitness center for a weight workout, I felt like this day was reserved for a walk in the park.

With the temperature at a pleasant 65 degrees Fahrenheit and the sky brilliant blue, I knew that being indoors in the gym, underneath florescent lighting, just wasn’t going to get it. I had to remain outdoors, and I had to take a mind-clearing walk in our tropical-paradise-of-a-park. The park, after all, is only ½ mile from our gated community.

Ironically, as soon as I entered the park, my youngest daughter called me on my cell phone with a heartfelt question. Being amongst God’s beauty gave me the insight to answer her question in a manner becoming of our faith, and in a manner that was uplifting for her and for me. Without going into detail, we put the bad guy where he belongs – behind us.

All throughout this morning’s five-mile, two-hour walk, I stopped to take pictures with my smart phone’s camera, never once placing my Garmin 110 GPS on pause. This walk was not about clock time or walking pace; it was all about walking through the garden of peace in total appreciation for what’s been provided for us by Jehovah.  

What we do with these life-sustaining endowments is completely up to us, for He has given us free will to do and think as we please.

Me? I’m staying with the good Guy – and so is my daughter.

Details of Walk

SLOW, CHILLY ESCORT BIKE RIDE

Only two miles to go...

Leaving our home shortly after 5 a.m. with the temperature at a mild 60.8 F, we headed towards the semi-darkened shopping-mall parking area for a long run/escort bike ride. My wife planned to run and walk in the mall’s massive parking area prior to sunrise and then head for the county park during daylight to complete her planned 16-mile run. The mall's security lighting would provide enough light for a safe run and ride.  

We stopped only twice while in the parking area, once for a potty break at Chick-fil-a and once to say hello to my biking mates that were gathering on the east side of the mall for a cool Monday morning bike ride.

After taking a good 10 minutes to cross busy Flamingo Road, and then running and riding into the park, my wife had 4 or 5 miles to go in the park to complete her planned 16-miler.

Even though we were finally in an open area, I still kept my speed at whatever speed she was running.  I did manage to open the throttle up to something like 15.3 mph, and that was against a strong wind coming in from the NW. Whoopee for me!  That was when my heat rate “shot up” to 118 bpm.  My average HR, however, was 69 bpm.  

As far as aerobic training is concerned, today’s bike ride was a real laugher.   

   

mapmyride

garmin.com

1/2 DOZEN MILES OF WALKING

This morning’s walk was done at an overall pace that is acceptable by most marathons and half marathons. There are exceptions, Walt Disney World running events being some of them.

The first mile, however, was around two minutes slower than the other five miles because I spent a good amount of time clearing the sidewalk of all debris generated by Hurricane Sandy. Knowing that my wife will be beginning her long run early tomorrow morning on that very sidewalk, I didn’t want her tripping over twigs and palm branches in the darkness.

As I was removing a large palm frond from the sidewalk, some guy that was running on that walkway thanked me. I thought that was very kind of him.

Just past mile 3.6, I ducked into the fitness center for a forty-five minute weight-machine workout. The gym itself was nearly void of humans. Only cycling room, where they play loud music and pump stationary bikes until they reach near-death status, was full of upright Homo sapiens.

Feeling really good after 3 ½ miles of brisk walking and 45 minutes of pushing and pulling, I decided to walk through our neighboring gated community just to get in some extra miles.

Enjoy the day, and may your football team come out the victor – unless you are a NY JET fan.

http://www.mapmywalk.com/workout/198513127

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/237897244

WINDY ESCORT BIKE RIDE

Average temperature was 70F, it was very windy and the sky was cloudless; perfect for a slow escort bike ride.

While my wife did one of her short-distance training runs/walks across from where we live, I rode alongside her, around her, in front of her and in back of her, handing her the lone bottle of Gatorade whenever she would reach out with her left hand. The extended left hand is the thirst signal. The extended right hand is the signal that she found loose change on the ground. She came up empty today, but I found two pennies lying by their lonesome in the massive mall parking lot.

I also turned on the video camera at times, just to show my DM friends how windy it was and how awesome my wife looks during her training runs. I am one proud hubby! Her average run/walk pace was 13:35 minutes-per-mile.

System used for my wife's run/walk: walk 1 ½ minutes/run 1 minute throughout the entire distance.

GARMIN STATS

AUTO MAINTENANCE WALK

When our SUV was ready for pick up after dropping it off early this morning at our local Ford dealer, I walked the 3.38 miles along busy Pines Boulevard to the front entrance of the auto dealer. Using my legs for errands is the smart thing to do.

It was a fun walk, watching all the hurried motorists heading for their individual work places. I spotted only one other walker and one biker, which doesn’t say much for our non-green culture.

(Our Wednesday morning bike ride was cancelled because of rain and wind.)

I sure did work up a craving for one of my delicious strawberry smoothies. In fact, I made two of them, one of me and one for my lovely wife. I put a couple extra strawberries in hers…

Walk Data

PERFECT WEATHER FOR A BIKE RIDE

On a morning when I wasn’t sure who was going to show up for our Monday morning bike ride, I was pleased to see that Rey, Tom, Steve and Sandy had saddled up and were ready for some fun miles. With the average temperature right at 79F, and the sky absolutely clear, how could we not enjoy riding our bikes in the temperate sub-tropics of South Florida!?

We took our usual route to the coffee shop, enjoyed our individual drinks and eats, and then decided on a different route back to the shopping mall. By then, however, the wind had picked up considerably, pressuring us to pace-line nearly the entire distance back to the mall’s starting point. I don’t mind pace-lining with these guys because everyone in this particular group is a seasoned cyclists.

Riding through the Southwest Ranches is always enjoyable and downright peaceful. What little traffic that we do encounter is usually on the lookout for bicycles, motorcycles and slow-moving tractors. Let’s include geese and ducks with those!

Nice, fast-moving pace-line down Flamingo Road, with a top speed of 24.3 mph.

Time for breakfast…

mapmyride

SPEED-WALK TRAINING

Confidence builder, that’s what this morning’s walk was.  This morning's walk gave me confidence that I’ll be able to speed-walk January's half marathon in Walt Disney World in the allotted time of 3 1/2 hours. 

The only issue in question, my left knee, held up nicely during the 6.5 mile walk. Slight tightness, but no discomfort to speak of! Perhaps last Thursday’s cortisone injection is doing its job. The series of lubricant injections beginning two weeks from now should help even more.

Meanwhile, I’ll do very little walk training. Preserving the knee takes precedence over being in tip-top walking shape.

Walk via Map My Walk