15-327

Mile 977.  Tortoise began just past 5 pm to walk a loop up the hill from his office, accessing Confluence Park on the Tortoise Track Trail where 200 North ends, continuing down as far as the Basalt Trail, then turning right around and headed back up to the Confluence View Trail to the new trailhead almost complete at the end of Main Street.  Lou then continued on the city streets back to work.  Today's walking thought is by Russell Nelson ...

Cheerio!

Only took a few days for the snow on the south face of the mountains to melt.
Bet there is plenty on the north face though ...

The bright spot at the top of the clouds in the middle of the picture
is the almost full moon.  Very nice!

You can click on any of these pictures to enlarge them if you wish to do.

Today's walk was 5.28 miles and had a 4.8 tortoise rating earned by climbing 369 feet in the 2.64 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3259.  This walk burned 785 calories in 1:30:33 hours.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

977.20 miles walked which is 97.52% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 928.73 miles.

300:31:07 hours walked which is 96.01% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).

52,586 total feet climbed, compared with 45,677 feet on this day in 2014.

146,660 calories burned.

89.46% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 168 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 271 of the 280 non-Sundays in 2015, a 96.79% consistency rating.  This compares with 267 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 95.36% consistency rating).

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of both distance and of time walked than of the year.  This tells Tortoise that he is on track.  Yes, this is more numbers than you are likely interested in, all Tortoise can say is he's really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because he doesn't do them every, every day.  (If you doubt this, compare Tortoise's walking record up until 2013 with 2014 or 2015 ... for him, it is what it takes to be consistent.  He hopes you find what works for you).

And now for today's walking thought ...

"The ways of the Lord are different from the ways of man.  Man's ways remove people from office or business when they grow old or become disabled.  But man's ways are not and never will be the Lord's ways.  Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities.  Our sustaining is an oath-like indication that we recognize their calling as a prophet to be legitimate and binding upon us.

"Twenty-six years before he became President of the Church, then-Elder George Albert Smith said: 'The obligation that we make when we raise our hands ... is a most saccred one.  It does not mean that we will go quietly on our way and be willing that the prophet of the Lord shall direct this work, but it means ... that we will stand behind him; we will pray for him; we will defend his good name, and we will strive to carry out his instructions as the Lord shall direct.'

"The living Lord leads His living Church!  The Lord reveals His will for the Church to His prophet."

-- Russell M. Nelson, "Sustaining the Prophets", October 2014 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!