An added bonus

For those of you who don't know, I am what you'd call "eco-conscious." I am fascinated by ways to reduce, reuse and recycle and I think it's really important that we all do our part to help to help "save" the earth.

But as much as I can practice the three R's, I haven't really been able to do one thing I think we all need to do less of: drive.


I have always been so dependent on cars because it's been difficult for me to get around without one. And to be honest, that bugs me. I hated driving across campus just to go to the library, or driving downtown or driving to Walgreens when in reality, they're all a short walk away.

So now that I have been walking to work, meetings, the grocery store and outings with friends, I feel so much better. Sure it's only an average of a mile each way, but if you think about it, that makes a difference. Instead of getting in my car and taking short, frequent trips (which actually uses up more gas than longer trips), I am walking. I don't waste gas, send more exhaust into the atmosphere and I get exercise.

It's great to finally be able to say I make an effort to walk places when driving is a heck of a lot easier and I hope this will motivate other people (ie: you) to walk somewhere instead of drive. Sure, it takes longer, but it's a lot more enjoyable and you are getting exercise.

I now feel the need to mention my wonderful mother, Leslie. She walks EVERYWHERE! That woman is always walking, whether it's to the Farmer's Market, the grocery store, the post office, the hospital (yes, she once walked there for an appointment), or my apartment, she makes a real effort to walk. Now, I'm sure she doesn't do it for earth-friendly purposes so much as she does for exercise, but I still think she deserves a medal.


So, I challenge you to rethink your transportation habits and focus on walking instead of driving. If all of you reading this decide to walk one place instead of driving, I think that would be pretty sweet. Think about it this way: if I can do it, so can you!

Happy walking :)

stop to smell the flowers

Well....I accomplished something today that I didn't think I could. I walked to and from to work! For some reason I always thought walking to work was "soooo far" but when I walked to church last week and had no problem, I figured I could walk the extra two blocks and get to work.

I picked today because I knew I didn't have to run any errands at work, that the weather would be mild enough, and that the Farmer's Market was going on. The walk there was great. It was a bit chilly, but by the time I was half way I was quite warm from walking so it wasn't so bad! I really enjoyed it because it gave me the chance to catch up on some podcasts, take some time for myself and also to get some exercise. In the end, I made it to work in 24 minutes and took two rests. I almost made it in one but didn't want to fall in the street so I decided it was best to just sit. It's never good to start the day of by embarrassing yourself and scraping your knee.

The walk home was a bit more difficult because I was tired from a long day at work and it was warmer, but it was still as pleasant as ever. I stopped at the Farmer's Market and treated myself to a yummy strawberry-raspberry lemonade and a piece of focaccia bread from Red Fox and then visited with Karen, Lori and Marissa at our church's Free Time at First event. We played with sidewalk chalk, popped bubbles and chatted. Then, it was off!

I really love that walk up Davis. I pass Cozine Creek and some cute houses and it's generally a great place to walk. I especially love the flowers in some of the front yards of the homes I pass, and I hope it was OK with them that I stopped to take pictures of them. They were just so pretty I couldn't resist!

The fence isn't pretty but the flowers behind it are!

So all in all, it was a great walk. I feel energized and confident that I can reach my goal. Even though I'm not focusing on distance anymore, I still felt compelled to look at how far it is from our apartment to the office, and it's about 3/4 of a mile, which is pretty good! Today I walked a 1 1/2 miles!

Destination not distance

Keeping with the focus-on-the-destination goal instead of the how-far-have-I-gone goal, Josh and I went on a walk last night to get some errands done. We waited until about 8:30 to on our our walk because it was too warm earlier in the day so it was a beautiful evening walk with a sunset.

We walked to check our mail, then walked to AT&T to do some account updating and then to Albertson's to get a few things. And the whole time I didn't pay attention at all to how far it was. BUT, to my surprised and delight, I only had to sit and rest ONCE each way! It had to be a half mile each way, maybe? But that's not the point so I'm not going to look it up. :)

I was so proud of myself for walking so far with so few breaks, but I think a lot of it was the fact that I had Josh to distract me and help me when I got so tired I needed to hold onto him for support.

So thanks Joshua, for supporting me!

First Presbyterian Church Or Bust!

Drum roll please..... I made it! I accomplished my goal of walking to my meeting at church. And then some! It wasn't as far as I thought -- only .35 of a mile as opposed to 1 mile (apparently I'm bad at estimating). It was a great walk. I gave myself waaaay too much time to walk there - about 50 minutes when all I really needed was 20! I was so confident and happy about how easy it was that I walked home too! In all, I walked about .65 of a mile (if my app is accurate).

Walking with a specific destination was a new thing for me. All summer I have been focusing on the distance while basically walking in circles around a track. I was focused on how far I walked and it often took the joy out of it. But walking to church gave me a new goal, and I think one that I need to have more often -- getting myself some place and focusing on that, rather than how far it is. Sure, my challenge is technically about distance. But I realized today that it's about more than that. It's about doing something productive, something good for myself and proving to myself at the same time that I can do it. So I say, who cares how far it is to church? I still walked there and back, and I proved to myself that I can do it. 

I'd also like to note another cool thing about walking somewhere that wasn't a track. For those of you who know the area, I walked up Davis street from College Street to First Street. And oh what I saw! I have never walked on that street, only driven it. And while I notice the basics as I drove, I never see it from a walker's perspective. So to compare, here's what I normally notice on my drive to and from work. I pass two fraternity houses, a Linfield residence hall/Education building, a creek, the cutest house ever, an apartment complex and an empty rental house.

Now, here's what I noticed on my walk tonight: two fraternity houses, a Linfield residence hall/Education building, three dogs, two with four legs and one with three, a beautiful garden full of sunflowers, a creek, a bed and breakfast, a broken speaker laying in the dirt, Jim & Olive's house (or so their shutters said), some green beans growing over a fence, the cutest house ever, an apartment complex, the most perfectly manicured front lawn I have ever seen, some pretty trees and an empty rental house.

What a fun walk! I can't wait to to it again. I think my next challenge will be to walk to work one of these days. It's along the same route and probably makes it half a mile each way. I'll let you know when I am going to attempt that, mostly so it keeps me accountable. :)

Campus Walk

Lately I have been so busy I have been putting my challenge on the back burner. But I decided this week if I ever want to make my goal, I need to make it a priority. So tonight I decided to go on a walk around campus despite needing to do lots of other things around the apartment.

I was going to walk around campus but decided to walk around the track instead. I felt pretty good and walked three laps until some soccer kids came and I got self-conscious. I really hate how even though there's nothing to be embarrassed about, I am still so embarrassed about how I walk. I wish I could walk past anyone and no matter how funny I look, be confident. But I just can't get over it. So I left the track and decided to walk around campus instead.

In all, I walked about .79 of a mile. I'm not sure how accurate it was, but no matter how far I really walked, it was a great one. I listened to a really cool This American Life podcast about summer camp stories and it really helped pass the time. I also forgot about my huge to do list, which was nice.

Tomorrow though, is the real challenge of my challenge. One advantage to living on campus is that we live just a mile from Third Street. I've never tried to walk downtown before, but my church is just at the end of Davis. So I'm going to walk to my meeting at church tomorrow night. It's a full mile and while Josh will be on standby to pick me up and drive me the rest of the way, I am determined to walk it all. If I'm not passed out with exhaustion after my meeting I'll post all about it!