#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

Today was a nice surprise. I had a client on the southshore today, so I decided to bring my walking clothes with me (hopefully one day they will become my JOGGING clothes and then my RUNNING clothes) and decided I'd go walk at Lafrenierre park. Lafrenierre is by far my least favorite of the parks in the greater New Orleans area. Basically because it's a man made park. Most of the trees there were planted, the ponds were built, etc. It's where I used to go walking all the time though when I did walk and when I lived on the southshore because it was convenient. But today I REALLY enjoyed it. It's been probably three years since I've walked there and they've had so many beautiful ducks and swans make their home there and......chickens!! I don't think anyone really knows the story behind that exactly, but Lafrenierre park has almost become known for it's chickens down here. After hurricane Katrina, chickens showed up at Lafrenierre and since then, they're always out there :) So cute. I have to say though that they've made the park much much nicer since the last time I've been there. It used to be so damn sunny and was basically nothing but sports fields, but they've added lots of bridges and gazebos and the trees have grown in and it's gotten really nice.

Also, I got rained on for about 1 mile of my 2 mile walk today, but I have to say that it felt absolutely glorious :p And it was actually somewhat exhilarating to walk in the rain. I'm going back to work next Tuesday and I need to make sure that I keep up these walks. Not only do I feel better right now than I have in a really long time, but I know it's good for my body too. But it really does refresh the spirit just to get out there with nature. Also, I set a personal best today! This will show you how pathetic my pacing is, but I averaged 16 minutes 4 seconds per mile today walking which is the best I've done so far this go round of walking. Also, I passed 10 miles total in my walking! So now there are only 24,891.31 miles more to go before I walk the circumference of the earth :p Here are some pictures of the park today:

#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

I found my absolute FAVORITE trail so far today. Ever since I've moved up here to Mandeville, I've been wanting to go walk the Tammany Trace. Yet I've been here over a year and still haven't done so! The St. Tammany Trace is a path that's over 40 miles long that used to be a rail road track that's since been paved. It's mainly for bikers, but people jog and walk along it as well. The beautiful thing about it is that for the most part, the whole trail goes through the woods. I'm lucky enough to live fairly close to the "Trail head" which is where they have the farmer's market every Wednesday and Saturday...there's plenty of parking, so I can drive there to start my walk...and if I ever wanted to bike it, there's a place there to rent bikes for a pretty cheap rate too!

I absolutely LOVED my walk today. After just about 1/10th of a mile, I was out of civilization and into the woods and right away the air just smells amazing and feels so good and you're just surrounded by nature on all sides aside from the paved walkway you're on. And there was barely anyone else on the trail today too! I enjoyed myself so much today that I walked the slowest miles I've walked yet :p I ended up walking 18 minute miles because I kept stopping just to take pictures of all of the beauty around me.

I'll likely go walk the Trace in a few different places, but I'm only going to count it this once. For instance, I ended up only actually walking about 1.2 miles of it today. 2.4 miles total but the same 1.2 miles there and back. Tomorrow I think I'm going to walk it in the other direction from the Trail Head which will take me in the direction of the State Park. But there are other places throughout St. Tammany Parish where you can park and get into the trace as well, so I'm going to try to do that as much as possible and just enjoy the woods :) Here are a bunch of pictures from the gorgeous walk today!

#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

I guess this is also an update for intentionally walking the circumference of the earth :p But I'm finding that I'm really enjoying going on daily walks. Today I went and walked the trail at the Mandeville Lakefront of Lake Ponchartrain. I went at noon when the sun was at it's peak, but with the cool breeze coming off of the lake, the temperature wasn't bad at all. I walked a total of 2.3 miles, not the whole trail. I'll work my way up to that. Here are some pictures of the view:

#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

I decided to drive down to the city today and walk Audubon park's trail. I really don't think there's a more beautiful place in the city. It's so serene, so beautiful, and it's an area in a very busy city that hasn't been touched. There are trees that are hundreds of years old dripping with moss, tons of birds and turtles and squirrels and butterflies, and a beautiful two mile walking track that winds around it.

When I saw my psychiatrist, he said that the number one thing he wants me to start doing right now is exercising, and I see why now. I felt SO much better after walking today and I'm going to try to start doing it every day. In fact, I made a new goal out of it...one that will likely take me 20+ years to accomplish :p But it'll still be a neat one to accomplish someday. It's to intentionally walk the circumference of the earth, which is 24,901.55 miles.

Like I said, walking two miles a day, it's going to take QUITE a bit of time for me to get there :p But if I can get myself to eventually walk/jog/run MORE than two miles a day, this could go much quicker.

There's actually a state park right by my apartment that has a GORGEOUS trail that's almost five miles long, but it would probably take me about five hours to walk it :p And that's because there's also tons of wildlife, birds, flora and fauna along that trail. I'd be going at a snail's pace because I'd be taking pictures of everything, LOL. But I plan on going to walk that before I go back to work.

I'm going to make this part of my routine though. Even when I go back to work and don't get off until 11 o'clock, I live in a gated apartment complex with a nice paved giant parking lot that I can walk and we also have a gym! I could always jump on the treadmill. But I'd really like to start seeing a bit of nature every day. And I felt so much better after walking today :)