16-93

Mile 245.  Long walk last night, short one this morning.  Lou took Ledge's suggestion and checked out the new section of The Tracks at Brea Trail.  It is very nice.  The walking lane is hard packed dirt making for a most pleasant experience.  The adjacent bike line is nice too.  The day's walking thought was by Cheryl Esplin ...

Cheerio!

flowers lighting it up in blue for Autism Awareness Day #LIUB

Skies were blue too for this special occasion. #LIUB

The side trail access a neighborhood road.  Tortoise took that path just to
add a little hill to this mostly flat path.

Townhomes under construction are using the new trail as a selling point.

There's a nice parking lot near the start of this trail section.  Close parking
is hard to come by, so this is appreciated!

You can walk down this short uncompleted stretch

to another segment of the trail.  But bring walking sticks, the approach is steep.

What's on the sign?

Rules of the trail and hours.  So it may not be finished, but it is marked.

Today's walk was 2.33 miles.  It had a 6.4 tortoise rating earned by climbing 62 feet. Average elevation was 361.  This walk burned 317 calories.   

Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:

245.86 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 254.78 miles.

  

17,436 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 15,680. 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 50:26 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 281 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, Overall he has walked on 384 of the 393 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 97.71% consistency rating.

One step at a time can lead to great things!

And now for today's walking thought ...

"When children learn how to love and serve others when they are young, they set a pattern of service for the rest of their lives.  Often children teach the rest of us that showing love and service doesn't have to be big and grandiose to be meaningful and make a difference.

"A ... teacher shared the following example.  'Today,' she said, 'our five- and six-year-old class made love necklaces.  Each child drew pictures on strips of paper:  one of themselves, one of Jesus, and some of members of their family and loved ones.  We glued the strips into circles that looped through each other to make a chain that we turned into love necklaces.  As they were drawing, the children talked about their families.

"Heather said, 'I don't think my sister loves me.  We are always fighting.  ... I even hate myself.  I have a bad life.'  And she put here head in her hands.

"I thought about her family circumstances and felt that maybe she did indeed have a hard life.  But after Heather had said this, Anna, down at the other end of the table responded, 'Heather, I am putting you in my necklace between me and Jesus because He loves you and I love you.'

"When Anna said that, Heather crawled under the table to get to Anna and threw her arms around her.

"At the end of class, when her grandmother came to pick her up, Heather said, 'Guess what, Grandma?  Jesus loves me.'

"When we reach out in love and serve even in the smallest ways, hearts are changed and softened as others feel the love of the Lord."

-- Cheryl A. Esplin, "He Asks Us to Be His Hands", April 2016 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!