16-76

Mile 191.  Tortoise is up north for the next couple days.  This evening he went exploring up Battle Creek Drive (200 South) in Pleasant Grove, parking his car at 600 East and walking up the hill as far as the street would take him, which wound up being to Kiwanis Park.  There he discovered a trail new to him, and continued a short distance ... to see what he could see on Battle Creek Trail.  Including the view above, and several more, if you scroll down a ways.  On the way down he explored a second trail he discovered, named for Murdock Canal.  Lou had a fun walk for sure, accompanied by a Stanley Ellis thought...

Cheerio!

Nice view of Mt. Timpanogos as Lou begins his walk

Not quite a mile.  Let's keep climbing.

There's a lot of fun features at Kiwanis Park

Nice view of Utah lake from the parking area for the trailhead and park.

Straight ahead for the park, right turn for the trail

The trail begins, with the promise of additional trails to be discovered
on future walks ...

Turnaround point for today

back to the top of the road, at about 1500 East

The cities of Utah County spread out around the lake.

Murdock Canal Trail goes 20 miles from the Provo River Trail
to the Jordan River Trail, crossing the street here at mile 5.7.

Looking south on the Murdock Canal Trail.

Steady purple 9 and 10% grades for over a mile.
Lou got him a quality workout today.

Today's walk was 3.37 miles and had a 1.9 tortoise rating earned by climbing 651 feet in the 1.69 mile uphill portion. Average elevation was 5052.  This walk burned 502 calories in 61:31 minutes, a pace of 18:15 minutes per mile. It was Lou's twenty-seventh 5k walk of 2016

Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:

191.70 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 207.01 miles.  

14,213 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 12,740. Lou hopes to climb more than the 61,316 feet he climbed in 2015 -- but in 16 minutes less each day than his 1:07:04 hour average in 2015.  So far in 2016 Tortoise's walks have averaged 48:05 minutes each.

His average pace so far in 2016 has been 16:18 minutes per mile, slightly more tortoise like than his goal of 16:05 minutes per mile, but a noticeable difference from his 18:25 minute per mile pace in 2015.

Lou has walked 266 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 369 of the 378 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 97.62% 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 ...

"Another question is 'Where are we needed?' For 16 years I served in the presidency of the Houston Texas North Stake.  Many moved to our area during those years.  We would often receive a phone call announcing someone moving in and asking which was the best ward.  Only once in 16 years did I receive a call asking, 'Which ward needs a good family?  Where can we help? "

-- Stanley G. Ellis, "The Lord's Way", April 2013 LDS General Conference

Perhaps the most telling part of this comment to Lou was hearing the emotion in his voice as he expressed this experience.

The tortoise is smiling!