15-350

Mile 1,061.  Christmas lights against the final glow of sunset.  Tortoise walked a couple miles up the hill from his office, then looped around to return.  It was a touch warmer (37 degrees) and a little less wind than yesterday, and made Lou feel good.  Today's walking thought is by Carlos H. Amado ...

Cheerio!

Yesterday's cloud blanket on the mountains
 was replaced by the warm colors of sunset.

Today's walk was 4.09 miles and had a 4.8 tortoise rating earned by climbing 267 feet in the 2.05 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3285. This walk burned 605 calories in 1:12:32 hours.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

1,061.67 miles walked which is 105.96% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 988.13 miles.  

326:29:51 hours walked which is 104.31% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).  

58,593 total feet climbed, compared with 48,282 feet on this day in 2014.

159,538 calories burned.

95.85% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 188 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 291 of the 300 non-Sundays in 2015, a 97.00% consistency rating.  As a side note, it took Tortoise 75 straight days of walking to improve a single percentage point from 96% to 97%.  One tiny step at a time. This compares with 287 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 95.67% 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 ...

"Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born and died in unique circumstances.  He lived and grew up in humble conditions, without material things.  He said of Himself, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head' (Luke 9:58).

"He never received honors, favors, recognition, nor preferred treatment from the political leaders of the earth or from the religious leaders of His day.  Neither did He sit in the highest seats of the synagogues.

"His preaching was simple, and even though multitudes followed after Him, His ministry always consisted of blessing people one by one.  He performed innumerable miracles among those who accepted Him as the One sent from God."

-- Carlos H. Amado, "Christ the Redeemer", April 2014 LDS General Conference

Blessing people one by one.  Merry Christmas!  The tortoise is smiling!