Week 25 walking progress

Week 25 walking progress:

Total miles walked in week 25 = 71
Average per day for this week (71 / 7) = 10.14
Running total = 910 + 71 = 981
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 981) = 69

Under 100 miles to go! Yay! And I completed the most miles this week so far this year 🙂

To achieve a total of 71 miles walked in one week:

Mon 18th June: walk to the local swimming pool and back at lunchtime and evening walk = 8 miles
Tue 19th: walk to and from stations to work and back; gym; lunchtime walk and evening walk = 17 miles
Wed 20th: walk to and from stations to work and back and gym = 9 miles
Thu 21st: walk to local retail park and back = 3.5 miles
Fri 22nd: work + gym + lunchtime = 11 miles
Sat 23rd: retail park = 4 miles
Sun 24th: local walk with my friend (9.23 miles) and an additional impromptu local walk later the same day (9.21 miles) = 18.5 miles

The weather has been cracking this week… beautiful and sunny and during this time of the year, it doesn’t get dark until around 10 pm. I’ve therefore been making the most of being outside and increasing my walking mileage! Today, I had made plans to continue decluttering and tidying up around my home this afternoon but instead decided to go for a second lengthy walk of over 9 miles in the sun! Decluttering can wait for a rainy day 🙂

Weeks 21 and 22 walking progress

Week 21 walking progress:

Total for week 21 = 40
Average per day for this week (40 / 7) = 5.71
Running total = 711 + 40 = 751
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 751) = 299

Week 22 walking progress:

Total for week 22 = 67
Average per day for this week (67 / 7) = 9.57
Running total = 751 + 67 = 818
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 818) = 232

What an amazing couple of walking weeks! I did this during a fantastic Seattle break (week 21) followed by an Alaskan cruise (weeks 21 and 22). As well as several hours of wandering around exploring Seattle I decided to focus on the hiking excursions on offer while on the cruise.

And 67 miles in week 22! Wow… what an effort and the best walking week so far of 2018… and while on the cruise for the whole of this week! I must say I did push myself in the gym, walking around the ship and walking around at all of the ports of call mostly because I wanted to eat a bit more than usual and enjoy the delicious food and desserts without increasing my weight! (My big post-cruise weigh-in is tomorrow…)

Week 20 walking progress

Beautiful day on Sunday walking through millions of buttercups!

Week 20 walking progress:

Total for week 20 = 54 miles
Average per day for this week (54 / 7) = 7.71
Running total = 657 + 54 = 711 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 711) = 339

Hurrah! This is the most miles I’ve walked so far in a single week… probably ever… I did extra miles at the gym this week and included these… and I’ve done 3 x walks with local walking clubs (Wednesday evening, Friday evening and Sunday) all of which have really pushed my mileage up!

Week 17 walking progress

Week 17 walking progress:

Total for week 17 = 33 miles
Average per day for this week (33 / 7) = 4.71
Running total = 538 + 33 = 571 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 571) = 479

A fairly average week of walking to and from work, a bit extra at the gym and 10 miles with my local walking club on Sunday.

Lovely bluebells on Sunday’s 10 mile walk!

Week 16 walking progress

Week 16 walking progress:

Total for week 16 = 44 miles
Average per day for this week (44 / 7) = 6.29
Running total = 494 + 44 = 538 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 538) = 512

A milestone in week 16… yes, I’ve completed over half of the 1050 miles I had pledged to walk in 2018 already 🙂

Some of these miles were walked in and around Oslo city centre. On Saturday my daughter and I clocked up 9 miles and a further 8 on Sunday. It’s surprising how many miles you can walk by spending a day in a city!

Weeks 14 & 15 walking progress

Week 14 walking progress:

Total for week 14 = 43 miles
Average per day for this week (43 / 7) = 6.14
Running total = 408 + 43 = 451 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 451) = 599

Another super effort! 10.5 tough miles were achieved by climbing to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn, the second highest mountain in Wales. And on Easter Monday I did a 15 mile walk in the Chilterns which boosted this weeks’ total.

Week 15 walking progress:

Total for week 15 = 43 miles
Average per day for this week (43 / 7) = 6.14
Running total = 451 + 43 = 494 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 494) = 556

Oddly the same total for weeks’ 14 and 15 but very different miles walked! Most of week 15’s miles were walked in and around my local town including a walk that Chris and I did to a local village pub and back… it took slightly longer to walk back…

Week 13 walking progress

Week 13 walking progress:

Total for week 13 = 40 miles
Average per day for this week (40 / 7) = 5.71
Running total = 368 + 40 = 408 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 408) = 642

So, the first three months, or 25% of 2018 has gone already and I’ve achieved over 50% of my target for the year. This means I have been walking over twice as many miles on average each day to meet my target of 1050 miles.

I seem to be walking more and more miles each week which I think is partly because I am recording them in this blog. Counting them up and putting updates on here is inspiring me to walk even more…

I’ve got a big 16 miler coming up tomorrow, Bank Holiday Monday, with a semi-local walking club that I haven’t walked with before. I’ll be exploring the rolling hills of the Chilterns with 20 other people I haven’t met. It’s like a mini, or micro adventure!

The great thing about these walking groups is that you also get to meet loads of interesting people and even though the weather forecast is for rain tomorrow, walking 16 miles with random strangers is better than sitting on the sofa!

Week 12 walking progress

Week 12 walking progress:

Total for week 12 = 52 miles
Average per day for this week (52 / 7) = 7.43
Running total = 316 + 52 = 368 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 368) = 682

Wow! Massive effort this week! Am I becoming obsessed? I’ve been in the office 4 times this week which, given that I walk over 5 miles a day (to and from stations as the walking element of my commute) every time I go into London to work, this has pushed things up a it.

In addition, I decided to walk through Central London instead of getting the tube during the working day (on top of the daily London trek from and to the station). For example its nearly 2 miles from one of our Central London offices to another one. And meeting my daughter in the West End after work racked up another couple of miles. So one day I actually walked 14 miles just by not taking the tube! (And burned off a huge 1200 extra calories too)

And on Sunday I did 12 miles with my local walking club…

Posting these updates every week or two is certainly helping to keep me motivated and look for ways of walking extra miles!

Week 11 walking progress

Week 11 walking progress:

Total for week 11 = 39 miles
Average per day for this week (37 / 7) = 5.57
Running total = 277 + 39 = 316 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 316) = 734

Throughout the last couple of weeks I’ve been making a really conscious effort to push up my walking mileage. This has included going for a short walk at lunchtime (when in the office) and putting extra miles in while at the gym. I’ve now started to include the extra gym miles in my weekly total. I’ve also been walking ‘the long way round’ for example when walking to the Post Office just to add more miles.

We’ve had yet more snow in the UK throughout the last weekend meaning another snowy walk on Sunday. This time we went walking with a few friends before going back to theirs for a warm bowl of chilli. We’ve had more snow than usual this winter and I’m looking forward to spring time!

March book review

Book number 5

Book read: Balancing on Blue by Keith Foskett

A fantastic account of the authors incredible 2,200 mile journey as he made his way on foot the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. This makes the recent 632 mile South West Coast Path book I read look somewhat tame although both are amazing achievements…

Both books, and also the Kamikaze Kangaroo book which had a section where the author trekked Australia’s 623 mile Bibbulmun Track are really starting to inspire me to do a long distance walk. My feet are getting itchier by the day…

At the moment the UK’s South West Coast Path is probably the most realistic to aspire to (no bears or rattlesnakes to contend with) although I don’t think I would get another career break from work any time soon… And I haven’t actually done anything more challenging than a weekend of hiking… maybe I should try a week of daily hikes first?

This was another of those books I got through fairly quickly as it was hard to put down… I loved the way Fozzie effortlessly weaved his feelings, experiences and connections with the harsh facts of what it’s like to experience life as a thru-hiker on the trail.

Again, much of this book resonated with my constant desire to travel and explore… “the desire to roam is all I dream of” says Keith. This is me. I am always dreaming of exploring but the difference is, Keith is out there doing it while I’m spending far too much time dreaming while in the office…

I found many more inspiring quotes in Fozzie’s book and another was from one of his trail buddies, who, upon his return back into civilization said:

Page: 261

“I had no desire to own anything other than the crappiest car in existence. It also acted as a people-filter. I had little time for anyone who judged me on the basis of my car, and you would be surprised how few people that left.”

I can definitely identify with that too!

I’m keen to read more of Fozzie’s books… I’ve been thinking that maybe I should expand my literary horizons and read a book that isn’t a travel book but I haven’t quite managed to do that yet… I’ve now started following the adventures of a family travelling the world in a camper van…