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Mile 999.  Tortoise got up early and did a Black Friday special, leaving others to shop while he enjoyed walking the Mayor's Loop clockwise in St. George, beginning and ending at the Crosby Family Confluence Park near the Dixie Center.  Lou has done the full Mayor's loop once before, on January 4, 2014.  That time he did it in the counterclockwise direction.  It is interesting looking at the different point of view on this trail, depending on which direction it is walked.  The view shown above is as the trail approaches the Riverside Trailhead, one of four places that you can park your car and access the trail.

When Tortoise completed this walk, he went to Archie Gubler Park in Santa Clara to watch his grandson play soccer and enjoyed the enthusiasm, skill, and sportsmanship he saw there!  Later he did another three quarters of a mile around the block near his home to complete his 999th mile for the year and leave a single mile to do tomorrow to pass 1000.  There are many nice pictures today, along with the walking thought by Thomas S. Monson ...

Cheerio!

Starting at the park

View at the first trail marker - 0.5 miles.  Something is being built, not sure
what yet.  I miss the native plants that used to surround this part of the trail.

Lots of little rabbits live near the trail, this one was near E-Spokes and the
American Red Cross on Riverside Drive

Mayor's Loop - Mile 1.0

Mayor's Loop - Mile 1.5

Mile 2.0 as the trail prepares to cross the Virgin River on the River Road bridge.

View at that same spot looking the opposite direction.

Mile 2.5

Mile 3.0

The St. James trailhead is just past the 3 mile mark

To continue on the Mayor's Loop turn right on the Bloomington Hills Trail here.

4.0 miles

Approaching the Webb Hill trailhead at mile 4.2.

Mile 4.5

A nice view of the upcoming trail bridge over the Virgin River
adjacent to, and much lower than, the highway bridge.

Turn right on the Virgin River trail to complete the Mayor's Loop.

Mile 5.0.

End of the trail at mile 5.2.  

Starting the second walk

Big clouds  block the view of Black Ridge

Path of the first walk

Path of the second walk

Today's walks totalled 6.05 miles and had a 5.3 tortoise rating earned by climbing 284 feet in the 3.03 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 2610.  These walk burned 899 calories in 1:47:27 hours.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

999.10 miles walked which is 99.71% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 941.06 miles.  

307:28:52 hours walked which is 98.24% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).

54,212 total feet climbed, compared with 46,036 feet on this day in 2014.

149,975 calories burned.

90.73% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 172 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 275 of the 284 non-Sundays in 2015, a 96.83% consistency rating.  This compares with 271 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 95.42% 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 ...

"As we look to Jesus as our Exemplar and as we follow in His footsteps, we can return safely to our Heavenly Father to live with Him forever.  Said the prophet Nephi, 'Unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the xample of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved.'

"One woman, each time she related experiences she had during a visit to the Holy Land, would exclaim, 'I walked where Jesus walked!'

"She had been in the vicinity where Jesus lived and taught.  Perhaps she stood on a rock on which He had once stood or looked at a mountain range He had once gazed upon.  The experiences, in and of themselves, were thrilling to her; but physically walking where Jesus walked is less important than walking as He walked.  Emulating His actions and following His example are fall more important than trying to retrace the remnants of the trails He traversed in mortality."

-- Thomas S. Monson, "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet", October 2014 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!