I’m a walker. I have been for as long as I can remember. It is my chosen form of exercise. I like to walk to a pretty place, and then practice a little tai chi or qigong and then walk home. I like to look out at the scenery when I walk and Bowen Island is a great place for that. Walking is also a time for me to listen to books, music, and podcasts. Sometimes I walk in quiet. Rarely do I destination walk — mostly, I walk just to walk.

Last year I set a “no matter what” standard. I gave myself a minimum – I would walk at least up to the end of Whitesails and back, everyday no matter what. That’s a 20 minute walk. On busy or lazy days, the least I will do is a 20 minute walk.

Now that I have this FitBit thingy – I’ve given myself the goal of at least 10,000 steps a day. That’s much more than a 20 minute walk.
For months now, I take two walks a day. The first one is shortly after I wake up. This is the one where I walk to a practice place and start the day.

Then in the afternoon, I go again. Quite often I have to talk myself into this one. The mantra of “No matter what”… is chanted. If I don’t go on this walk, I make myself go downstairs to the training room and do a Nike Training Club workout. Just the thought of that is incentive enough to get me out the door. NTC is hard— burpies, push ups and sit ups are involved.

Today, the sun was out; it was a beautiful day. I started on my second walk. Sometimes I have a planned route in mind, other times, I play it by ear, and see where my nose takes me. Today, I followed my nose.

I left the beaten path today. I started walking off road, up the sides of hills, bushwhacking. I’ve done this more and more lately. It keeps me very present. I have to pay attention to every step I take. I don’t want to get lost, twist my ankle, or take a spill, as I make my own way among big tress, salal and development stubble.

Today, I followed my nose to a small river bed. As I walked a long the banks, I sunk into the mud   in-between jumping over puddles on the edges of serious running water. At one point I planted my walking pole at least 6 inches into the ground; my shoes at times were deep in soggy moss and muck.

I walked in fields of soggy maple leaves and gravel river beds, and I explored the very familiar in a new way today.

…..

The numbers

17,345 steps taken

809 words written (not counting this post, emails, or birthday cards addressed)