16-44

Mile 106.  Today's variation on the hill up from the office was to cross 600 North and climb the hill to just above Stout Park to get the best look at a particularly nice view of West Temple in Zion Park that appeared this evening.  Tortoise was accompanied by Becca on the phone, we were having a lovely conversation about Macs, Windows, external hard drives, school districts, and the like.  So perhaps she will be surprised that the picture above is instead of a sunset that presented itself later in the walk.  You'll just have to click the link below to continue reading, in order to see the picture of West Temple and read the day's walking thought by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

Today's walk was 3.29 miles and had a 4.8 tortoise rating earned by climbing 220 feet in the 1.65 mile uphill portion.  It was Lou's eighth 5k walk of 2016.  Average elevation was 3291.  This walk burned 531 calories in 52:01 minutes, a pace of 15:49 minutes per mile.  

Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:

106.66 miles walked which is 15.62% of Lou's 2016 goal of 683 miles.  His goal for this date is 82.66 total miles.

28:58:18 hours walked which is 13.84% of the 2016 goal (which is to walk 40 minutes a day on the 314 days other than Sunday in the year).  

8,293 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 7,448. Lou hopes to climb more than the 61,316 feet he climbed in 2015 -- but in 40 or so minutes, rather than an hour daily.  (So far in 2016 Tortoise's walks have averaged 45:45 minutes each, compared with 1:07:04 hours each in 2015)

17,129 calories burned.

12.10% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 239 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 342 of the 351 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 97.44% 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 ...

"Love had won its victory.  Serve the Lord with love."

-- Thomas S. Monson, "Come All Ye Sons Of God", October 2013 LDS General Conference

This message is short, of course, but it resonates with me, as does its title.  As a boy, we would be called to the stand impromptu, en masse, from time to time to sing that song "Come All Ye Sons Of God".  I don't know what we sounded like, but I will always remember how I felt (after I caught my breath and stopped my knees from shaking) ...

Cheerio!