13-120

Walking east on Gainesville's NE 39th Avenue

Two walks today en route from Florida to Massachusetts ...

I was dropped off at NE 15th Street and NE 39th Avenue in Gainesville and walked the remaining 2.59 miles with 66 feet climbed to the airport terminal in 45:39.  This was followed by another 1 mile total walked in the Atlanta and Boston airports in 20 minutes.

Made the flight better ...

Cheerio!

13-119

 Two great walks today ... 

One was short with Abigail:  0.87 miles at midday with 30 feet climbed in 17:24 at the start of the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail at Boulware Springs Park.  This is a Rails to Trails project, 16 miles total.  If the rest of the trail is anything like the start, it is gorgeous and very well maintained, so I'll have to find my way back here to do the whole thing.

 

The second was this evening, after all our activities of the day, I talked Sarah into walking with me the last stretch home, mostly on well lit city sidewalks (and we beat the rain clouds home).  It was a 6.6 tortoise path. This was one of the highlights of my trip here, and not just because the sights were nice or because it just feels good to walk 3.26 miles and climb 130 feet in 54:58 minutes.  Can you tell she's glowing and I'm a proud papa?  Thanks!

I've got a couple more pictures of the Hawthorne trail and a link to its website if you'd like to click here and have a look.

Cheerio!

13-118

I went on a nice walk yesterday afternoon with Sarah, Chloe, and Abigail in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park after arriving in Gainesville, FL to visit with them a few days.  It is absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful time.  If you'd like more details and lots of pictures, please click here to look at the Garmin adventure I created for this:  http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/dougbeechersr/paynes-prairie-preserve-state-park-gainesville-fl/#.UX3PCsrJV_Q  The path was rated 6.7 tortoises.

13-117

Rocking chairs add a lot to an airport!

Walked from gate B5 to E14 in the Charlotte airport this morning, 0.75 miles in 15 minutes.  Stopped along the way for my go to airport breakfast:  Orange Carrot Karma and Steel Cut Oatmeal with Bananas (hold the overpowering brown sugar mix) from my friends at Jamba Juice.

Please click here to read on for a final word ... for the first part of the day.  I will make a separate post for the walk I did with Sarah, Chloe, and Abigail once I arrived in Gainesville.  A beautiful day it was!

13-116

The Doug and Doug walk ...

Create Maps or search from 80 million at Humana Fit

We walked 1.18 miles with 66 feet dropped and climbed in 28:56 minutes on the Atkinville and a portion of the Virgin River South trail that I did alone 3 days ago. The path is rated 5.2 tortoises.  Always fun to walk with Doug Jr, especially if I can take him to a trail he hasn't seen before. The sunset, conversation, and tunes made it even more fun ...



You want a funny picture, here I am doing my "moves" to the tunes, errr ...

Cheerio!

13-114

Starting my walk to work this morning

 I walked to and from work today, and to lunch.  Total 6.57 miles with 340 feet climbed in 1 hour 57 minutes.  I'm a little stiff, but I'm feeling better with every passing day.

And now it's time to help this blog live up to it's boring billing, so click here if you'd like to enjoy some more stats, and today's final word, with me ...

13-113

The end of the improved portion of the Virgin River South trail. I continued another mile.

Brief break where the trail washed out a few years back

This walk takes you between the Sun River golf course and the Virgin River

It was cold and windy this morning ... I chose not to walk to work, so today was a day to find a substitute.  I worked in the Hurricane office most of the day, and did some follow up on our computer network repairs in St. George in the late afternoon.  This left about an hour and a half before sunset to go exploring on the St. George trail system.  I did 4.5 miles in 1:30:04 hours.  It was mostly flat, but the accumulated ups and downs of the path totalled 170 feet.  The biggest workout was 2 miles of soft dirt and sandy trails ... they were harder for me than a 5% grade and my pace reflected that.  Path rates 4.9 tortoises. Heartrate ranged from 83 to 124 and averaged 104.  Less than Dr. Carter would like (125 average) but still a good walk.

I created a Garmin adventure out of this if you would like to see more pictures and details:  http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/dougbeechersr/atkinville-and-lower-virgin-river-south-trails-st-george-ut/#.UXgxfcrJV_Q

And now it's time to help this blog live up to it's boring billing, so click here if you'd like to enjoy some more stats and assorted details with me ...

13-112

A view walking to work this morning on the path adjacent to Hurricane's 600 North

This will be a boring post, but thanks for checking in on me anyway ...

Walked to and from work today.  5.98 miles round trip, 340 feet climbed and dropped, in 1 hour 45 minutes.

Please click here for additional detail and today's final word ...

13-109

I wanted to start April 16 (you know, the morning after ...) walking to and from work when in town and an equivalent distance when away.  I made excuses the first few days, and almost made more today ... glued to the TV like everyone else watching the events unfolding in Boston and thinking about my daughters, son-in-law, granddaughters, and friends there.  Finally I got the determination to turn off the TV and walk for those in Boston.

I am in northern Utah seeing clients, having looped around from Tooele to Utah County.  I parked my car in the Provo River Parkway lot near the intersection of Orem's 800 North and Provo's University Avenue, and started walking.  First picture is near the start point, I then walked 3 1/2 miles to Nunns Park (the second picture), then retraced my steps.  Third picture I took of myself at the end.  I was tired and happy.  :

I created a Garmin adventure out of this if you'd like to see more pictures and details:  http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/dougbeechersr/provo-river-parkway-trail-us-189-sr-52-junction-to-nunns-park/#poi-list  It is rated 5.1 tortoises.

Confession:  The last mile was not very tortoise like.  Suddenly I was tired and wanted to slow down and played mental games with myself to maintain my pace.  My vision of the tortoise is somewhat about pace and more about consistency and persistence ...

Cheerio!

13-108

Minimum 0.5 mile walk, 20 feet climbed.

Footnotes ...

Reading today:  Jacob 7, John 11
Supplements taken:  2 tablespoons each of 3Youngevity products: Ultimate Tangy Tangerine, Osteo-fx Plus, Z-Radical; also Supralife Oxy-Rich Toddy
Nutrilife vitamins/minerals:  yes/no

13-106

 

I could bill this as the green way to travel a mile and a half round trip in 30 minutes to the Valley Academy board meeting this evening, or I could simply say it was today's smiling tortoise walk.  Either way, it was an uphill walk in a brisk wind ... that energized me!

Cheerio!

13-105

Happy tax day :-)

Minimum 0.5 mile walk, 20 feet of stairs climbed.

Footnotes ...

Reading today:  Jacob 5:49-6:13
Supplements taken:  2 tablespoons each of 3Youngevity products: Ultimate Tangy Tangerine, Osteo-fx Plus, Z-Radical; also Supralife Oxy-Rich Toddy
Nutrilife vitamins/minerals:  yes

13-103

Two days to go until I pass the latest milestone on my life path ... my afternoon stress relief was moonlit today ... but the wait was worth it, I got to listen to some relaxing tunes while I walked. Tonight's offering is dedicated to my old friend Elder Dean Hirschi and all the times we chased after double decker red buses together in Ilford and Walthamstow ...



And here's a picture of tonight's moonlight walk to go with it:

And now it's time to help this blog live up to it's boring billing, so click here if you'd like to enjoy some stats with me ...

13-102

Headin' out for a early evening walk

Today's tortoise walk, 1.40 miles with 129 feet climbed in 24:06 minutes.  Heart rate averaged 101 and peaked at 116. Please click here for today's final word, it's from my reading this morning ...

13-101

Welcome to the smiling tortoise's "afternoon" stress relief opportunity ... any guesses as to what time of day this is, based on the size of my shadow?  I walked 1.88 miles while climbing 151 feet in 36:32 minutes.  Heart rate peaked at 120 and averaged 100.

Cheerio!

13-99

The flag is beautiful ... and it displays the wind as I walk

The tortoise, trying to stay warm in the wind

Today's walk:  1.78 miles on city streets near my office in 31:46 minutes.  Climbed 151 feet then retraced my steps.  Heart rate ranged from 107 to 118, averaging 110.    One day at a time.

Please click here for today's final word, it's from my reading this morning ...

13-98

Today's walk ended my work day ... 1.08 miles in 20:16.  Cool and crisp this evening after strong winds with rain earlier today.  Anyone with suggestions on how to get better photos at night from your Android phone, I'd love them!   Please click here for today's final word, it's from my reading this morning ...

13-97

We looked for a walking break in between LDS Conference sessions today to let the grandchildren get the wiggles out, so Doug Jr introduced me to a pond a few miles from home I didn't know about.  Always love finding a new place, this one has a nice path around the pond.  So, today was a tortoise stroll 0.8 miles in 20 minutes.  Very nice!

Cheerio!

13-96

 

Today's walk was squeezed in after work and before meeting 3 of my sons and a nephew for our traditional semiannual Dinner and Priesthood.  Considering we were at Black Bear Diner, I was good with the albacore tuna salad sandwich, side salad with honey mustard dressing, and water with a lemon slice.  Hard to resist all the yummy treats there, for sure.

Getting back to the walk, when I delivered an outbound packet to the FedEx depot at the end of St. George's now misnamed Airport Rd. I then did a short 15 minute walk covering 0.75 mile and enjoyed the view.  I hope you do too.

PS - The second picture is not about a panoramic view of K Mart, it is actually dedicated to Doug Jr.  He will know why.

Cheerio!

13-95

Celebrated National Walk to Work Day by ...walking to work.  3.01 miles in 59 minutes.  The shot above was taken at 6:30 am ... I got to work just as sunrise occurred at 7:13.  Felt good, but, yes, I got tired mid-afternoon.

Cheerio!

13-94

The tortoise is back.

Smiling and as boring as ever ... 3.00 miles walked home on a glorious southern Utah spring evening in 55 minutes.  Ate 2292 calories today, 18 less than what my friends at livestrong.com says is my limit to keep my tortoise goal of losing a pound a week.  Before whatever this walk helped.

Mostly it just made me happy to do something more than climb stairs and get in whatever I could in 10 minutes.  I can always dream this will give me more energy to finish out the 10 remaining days before the ides of April and the taxman strikes ...

Cheerio!