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Mile 500, for the fifth time since January 2014, on June 25.  As mentioned last week, Tortoise purposely picked up his pace about a mile a day to reach this today when he thought he was going with his grandchildren on the riverwalk at the end of the Zion Canyon road today.  As it turned out, his newest granddaughter, Leah, had a tough night, which meant Leah's mother Sarah had a tough night, which meant Grandpa Tortoise was taking four of his grandchildren with him without Sarah's help.  So, it was decided to take them to Tortoise's version of Grandpa's Pond -- playing in the rocks and shallow water of La Verkin Creek about a quarter mile down from the creek trailhead in Confluence Park.

This time, the children were in an exploration mode.  And the water was extra calm, which helped a lot.  They wound up going down the creek to the Virgin River, which they liked even better that day, making sandcastles in an "island" (a sand bar).  A wonderful time was had by all!  The thought of the day was by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

The left side of this loop was along the water, the right side was a more direct trail back to the car.  Following this, Floryne joined Tortoise and his grandchildren on another 0.48 mile round trip up the street from his home to finish the 500th mile.

Today's walks totalled 2.04 miles, done in 1:01:11 hours at an average pace of 29:59 minutes per mile. This route had an average tortoise rating of 4.9, earned by climbing 131 feet in the 1.02 mile uphill portion.  Average elevation was 3062.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:

500.20 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 484.08.

34,708 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 29,792.  Lou hopes to climb more than the 61,316 feet he climbed in 2015 -- but in less time each day than his 1:07:04 hour per day average in 2015.  So far in 2016, Tortoise's walks have averaged 58:15 minutes each.

His average pace so far in 2016 has been 17:42 minutes per mile, compared with his 18:25 minute per mile pace in 2015.

Lou has walked 353 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, 2015.  Overall he has walked on 456 of the 465 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 98.064% consistency rating.

One step at a time can lead to great things!

And now for today's walking thought ...

"We live in a unique time in the world's history.  We are blessed with so very much.  And yet it is sometimes difficult to view the problems and permissiveness around us and not become discouraged.  I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness. "

-- Thomas S. Monson, "Consider the Blessings", October 2012 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!