Mile 243. Tortoise finished work for the day about 6 pm, and headed to where Brookhurst meets Pacific Coast Highway and started walking the Huntington Beach Bike Trail. Hands down, this is the busiest trail Lou has walked. Maximum speed limit for bikes is 10 miles per hour, dropping to 5 when walkers are present, which appears to be always. Beach bikes with large tires were the order of the day, as were skateboarders, runners ... and people just plain hanging out. It's a fun place to be!
There's many pictures for your viewing pleasure. Following them, and the numbers of the day, Thomas Monson provides a story and an accompanying thought ...
Cheerio!
 |
| Soon after parking his car a block up Brookhurst from PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), he started a text conversation with Ledge (L), Wounded Duck (WD), and Fredricksen (F), which included trying to guess Tortoise's (T) location. So fun! |
 |
| L: Where you at? T: You'll figure it out soon enough L: Total. Maybe close to Venice for another clinic. L: Looks like desert palm trees, not beach. |
 |
| WD: Incredible pics Tortoise T: Turnaround point. T: Thank you. No climbing but we get a Benjamin category override tonight. Then head over to Wahoos for some black bean and rice goodness. |
 |
| L: Looks like a ledge evening stroll! T: Believe it or not I had 2 appts today and 3 tomorrow but not takers tonight so this is tortoise TGIF. L: You deserve a break at the beach! T: Thank you! |
 |
| T: Love me some beach volleyball! |
 |
| T: Are you still guessing Venice? I will let you know at the end where I am. L: Manhattan Beach |
 |
| T: Good guess but you would see lots of houses right up to the walking path there. L: Redondo T: Hermosa, Manhattan, Redondo all are uber build up. L: I don't think it's Venice and I don't think it's south of there so maybe the one north of Santa Monica. T: Excellent guess! But no such luck this fine day! WD: This is awes! I believe in you Roma, you got this. L: North or south? |
 |
| T: South L: Not thinking Huntington or Newport so maybe Seal? T: Love the goodness. Got one picture of oil here but no navy herre. Sorry, no Seal. L: More south? T: Here comes the sun. T: Are you giving up on Long, Pedro, and Verdes? L: Long Beach was next guess. L: Didn't know you were in that area much. |
 |
| T: I have 5 clients in Long and Lakewood but that was last trip. T: Those signal lights ahead are where I leave beach path, cross PCH, and do a block of city streets back to my car. T: Now at 4.5 miles in 76 minutes including picture stops. T: There is a sign at the signal that will reveal the location if you haven't guessed it. But I agree with Benjamin, you've got this. L: So not Long Beach? Couldn't read the sign. T: No Long Beach. Give me your final answer, Ledge. You hinted at it earlier. L: I'll have to go Huntington cause I know that's a big spot for volleyball. |
 |
| T: Ledge produces! L: Glad you left the Uggi south central area then! T: Huntington is a terrific beach! L: We were talking about LA earlier and I didn't even know you were down there! T: Right near bridge over Santa Ana River which is the boundary between Huntington and Newport. L: Agreed. Always ledge waves there T: I was smiling for sure. WD: Roma produces! #neverdoubted L: Enjoy wahoos that sounds awes right now! |
 |
| But before Wahoo's, Tortoise decided to go just a wee bit further to where the Huntington Beach Bike Trail meets the Santa Ana River Trail |
 |
| Going under PCH |
 |
| T: Mile 0 of the Santa Ana River trail. There's lots of goodness on that at the terreeeblay blog. |
 |
| WD: Pictures tonight have been amazing. T: Thank you!!! L: Love. T: 10k in 1:46. Thanks for making it a lot more fun! (Tortoise commentary: On further calculation, it was 9.94 K. Sorry.) F: Pictures have been total!! Nothing like coming back to your phone to find 30-40 awesomeness! And enjoy a kahlua pig bowl for me!! T: Welcome to the jungle now serenading me on my way to the Kahlua goodness. L: Applause F: Yes sir! |
.  |
| Kahlua Pig Bowl. It's what's for dinner! |
Today's walk was 6.18 miles. It had a 7.0 tortoise rating earned by climbing 10 feet. Average elevation was 10. This walk burned 908 calories. It was Tortoise's thirty-ninth 5k walk of 2016, and the first earning a Benjamin category override to a 5.0 tortoise rating by being over 5 miles.
Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:
243.53 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 251.59 miles.
17,374 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 15,484. 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 50:36 minutes each.
His average pace so far in 2016 has been 16:25 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 280 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 383 of the 392 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 97.70% consistency rating.
One step at a time can lead to great things!
And now for today's walking thought ...
"One morning Danny and I decided we wanted to have a campfire that evening with all our canyon friends. We just needed to clear an area in a nearby field where we could all gather. The June grass which covered the field had become dry and prickly, making the field unsuitable for our purposes. We began to pull at the tall grass, planning to clear a large circular area. We tugged and yanked with all our might, but all we could get were small handfuls of the stubborn weeds. We knew this task would take the entire day, and already our energy and enthusiasm were waning.
"And then what I thought was the perfect solution came into my eight-year-old mind. I said to Danny, 'All we need is to set these weeds on fire. We'll just burn a circle in the weeds!' He readily agreed, and I ran to our cabin to get a few matches.
"Lest any of you think that at the tender age of eight we were permitted to use matches, I want to make it clear that both Danny and I were forbidden to use them without adult supervision. Both of us had been warned repeatedly of the dangers of fire. However, I knew where my family kept the matches, and we needed to clear that field. Without so much as a second thought, I ran to our cabin and grabbed a few matchsticks, making certain no one was watching. I hid them quickly in one of my pockets.
"Back to Danny I ran, excited that in my pocket I had the solution to our problem. I recall thinking that the fire would burn only as far as we wanted and then somehow magically extinguish itself.
"I struck a match on a rock and set the parched June grass ablaze. It ignited as though it had been drenched in gasoline. At first Danny and I were thrilled as we watched the weeds disappear, but it soon became apparent that the fire was not about to go out on its own. We panicked as we realized there was nothing we could do to stop it. The menacing flames began to follow the wild grass up the mountainside, endangering the pine trees and everything else in their path.
"Finally we had no option but to run for help. Soon all available men and women at Vivian Park were dashing back and forth with wet burlap bags, beating at the flames in an attempt to extinguish them. After several hours the last remaining embers were smothered. The ages-old pine trees had been saved, as were the homes the flames would eventually have reached.
"Danny and I learned several difficult but important lessons that day--not the least of which was the importance of obedience.
"There are rules and laws to help ensure our physical safety. Likewise, the Lord has provided guidelines and commandments to help ensure our spiritual safety so that we might successfully navigate this often treacherous mortal existence and return eventually to our Heavenly Father."
The tortoise is smiling!
No comments:
Post a Comment