16-27

Mile 63.  Tortoise ventured out into the starry 43 degree night, after a full day verifying the accuracy of W-2 forms for folks most anxious to receive them, and was rewarded with a sense of serenity and stillness along with a view of the twinkling lights of the valley, seen atop his usual hill climb from the office.  Tonight's walking thought was by Edward Dube ...

Cheerio!

Tortoise widened the loop at his turnaround point slightly this night.

Today's walk was 3.02 miles and had a 4.7 tortoise rating earned by climbing 209 feet in the 1.51 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3285.  This walk burned 517 calories in 45:00 minutes, a pace of 14:54 minutes per mile.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:

63.07 miles walked which is 9.23% of Lou's 2016 goal of 683 miles.  His goal for this date is 50.03 total miles.

16:49:11 hours walked which is 8.03% of the 2016 goal (which is to walk 40 minutes a day on the 314 days other than Sunday in the year).  

4,924 total feet climbed in 2016. Wounded Duck has challenged Tortoise to climb more than the 61,316 feet climbed in 2015 -- but in 40 minutes, rather than an hour daily.  To accomplish this, Tortoise needs to climb an average of 196 feet on each of the 314 walking days in 2016  ... assuming he misses no days at 6 days per week all 52 weeks (definitely quite an assumption!).  But playing along with Wounded Duck, this would mean climbing 4,508 feet in the 23 walking days so far in 2016.  So far, so good, but stay tuned.  This is a tough goal.

10,204 calories burned.

7.32% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 224 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 327 of the 336 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 97.32% 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.  And of course, he also wants to keep the Boredom Committee supplied with plenty of boring numbers so those good folks will be happy ...

And now for today's walking thought ...

"Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who sees from the beginning to the end, knew very well the road He would travel to Gethsemane and Golgotha when He proclaimed, 'No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God' (Luke 9:62).  In the sight of the Lord, it is not so much what we have done or where we have been but much more where we are willing to go."

-- Edward Dube, "Look Ahead and Believe", October 2013 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!