Tuesday, May 13, 2008

• Walking

  I have found a great new place to walk! 

  Last night I had planned to walk the track as usual, but the Little Missy waylaid me and wanted to be driven to a friend's house a couple of miles in the opposite direction.  Rather than drive back & forth across town twice, I decided I'd walk in that friend's neighborhood.  After I dropped the Little Missy off, I realized I was very close to a trail that is part of the Heart Walk* most years. 

  It's an asphalt trail that runs along the edge of an inlet from the bay, and there's a Par Course along the way.  Across the lagoon you can see some housing and some commercial buildings, and on the other (street) side is the headquarters of a major conglomerate.  It was quiet, just some bikes going by and a few walkers/joggers.  The lagoon is part of a protected area for wildlife, and there a quite a few ducks and other waterfowl wandering around.  I was wearing my iPod and at one point thought, gosh, I should take this off and listen to the sounds of nature.  But the trail is pretty close to a major freeway and I much preferred my walking music to the hum of traffic. 

  So I walked all the way to the other end, a bit less than a mile, which was the beginning of the Par Course.  On my way back, I did some of the Par Course exercises for grins (and believe me, as out of shape as I am, if anyone had been watching, they'd be at least grinning if not laughing out loud). 

  Oh, and about a third of the way back on the trail, I could hear some musical sounds that I realized were not coming from my iPod.  I pulled off my earphones, looked around, and, of all the random things you could find on a walking trail/Par Course, there was a man playing bagpipes.  I didn't walk right by him, so I'm not sure if he was dressed for bagpipe playing, other than I could see he was wearing what looked like a very traditional (probably plaid) hat! 

  The other bonus is that because I wasn't just walking quickly, step after step, my knees and ankles didn't bother me much during my walk, nor were they sore for the evening as they often are after my time at the track. 

  So I'm thinking I need to do this trail at least two times a week, and, since I'm not a gym person, do as many of the Par Course exercises as I can. 

  *This will be my ninth year of participating in the American Heart Association Heart Walk!  Our local walk is scheduled for September 18 and when I set-up my personal web site, I will be happy to accept donations from anyone and everyone! 

   

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