Walking

After I pinched my Sciatic nerve in June 2011, again in June 2012 and then severly in July, it took until September where I could walk any distance, so I started walking first along the Ruston Way parkway in Tacoma. It's a beautiful walkway park along the waterfront from Old Town to Ruston in northeast Tacoma.

From there I started walking to and from Gig Harbor where I live. It's 3+ miles direct from my place to the commercial area off highway 16 in Gig Harbor and 4+ miles to downtown Gig Harbor. I've stayed with the former destination for now but have found different routes which varys the walk from 6-7 miles to 8-10 miles round trip depending on the route.

So far the walks each month has had to fit into the schedule of work, life and trips, which is as follows for the months to date.

-- 2012 --
January      -  14 trips for 88 miles
September  -   7 trips for 28.5 miles
October      - 10 trips for 46.5 miles
November  -   4 trips for 20.0 miles
December  -   9 trips for 45.0 miles
-- Total for 2012 - 228 miles --

-- 2013 --
January      - 17 trips for 101  miles (lots of cold rain/snow walks)
February    - 10 trips for 60.4 miles (includes one 7 mile test walk)
March        - 13 trips for 76.0 miles
April          - 19 trips for 132 miles (includes two 8 mile walks)
May           - 16 trips for 122 miles (7.5-8 miles except one)
June           - 17 trips for 136 miles (8 miles with two 7.5 or 9 mile walks)
July            - 16 trips for 130 miles (8 miles with two 9 mile walks)
August       - 20 trips for 162 miles (8 miles with four 8.5 mile walks)
September  - 22 trips for 175 miles (8+ miles except one 6 mile walk)
October      - 26 trips for 201 miles (6-9 mile walks)
November  - 21 trips for 166 miles (8 miles but one 6 miles)
December   - 27 trips for 208 miles (8 miles but four 6 miles)
-- Total for 2013 - 1,669 miles --
-- Total distance - 1,957 miles --

-- 2014 --
January       - 26 trips for 205 miles (8 miles but three 6 or 9 miles)
February     - 12 trips for 90 miles (6 or 8 miles)
March         -  9 trips for 55.5 miles (6-6.5 miles)
April           -  2 walks 2 miles
May            - 10 trips for 64.5 miles (6-6.5 mile)
June            - 17 trips for 125 miles (6-8 miles)
July             - 15 trips for 120 miles (8 miles)
August        - 14 trips for 113 miles (8-8.5 miles)
September   - 14 trips for 112 miles (6.5-9 miles)
October       - 14 trips for 112 miles (8 miles)
November   - 11 trips for 64 miles (most 6 miles)
December   - 12 trips for 72 miles (all 6 miles)
-- Total for 2014 - 1,135 miles --
-- Total distance - 3,092 miles --

-- 2015 --
January         -  9 trips for 54.5 miles
Februrary      - 15 trips for 90 miles
March           - 15 trips for 90 miles
April             -  5 trips for 30 miles
May              - 12 trips for 72 miles
June              - 10 trips for 60 miles
July              -  8 trips for 50 miles (two bike trips)
August          - 4 trips for 22 miles
September    - 14 trips for 84 miles
October        - 25 trips for 150 miles
November    - 23 trips for 138 miles
December    - 26 trips for 156 miles
-- Total for 2015 - 996 miles
-- Total distance - 4,088 miles --

-- 2016 --
January         -  24 trips for 140 miles
Februrary      - 20 trips for 120 miles
March            - 20 trips for 120 miles
April              - 18 trips for 108 miles
May               - 16 trips for 96 miles
June               - 15 trips for 90 miles
July                - 22 trips for 136 miles
August           - 22 trips for 131 miles
September     - 13 trips for 78 miles
October         -  7 trips for 42 miles
November     - 11 trips for 66 miles
December      - 18 trips for 108 miles
-- Total for 2016 - 1,235 miles
-- Total distance - 5,323 miles --

-- 2017 --
January         -  22 trips for 132 miles
Februrary      -  20 trips for 120 miles
March            - 26 trip for 156 miles
April              - 21 trips for 126 miles
May               - 14 trips for 84 miles
June               - 23 trips for 148 miles (few 7-8 mile walks)
July                - 27 trips for 162 miles
August           - 30 trips for 178 miles
September     - 15 trips for 90 miles
October         - 20 trips for 120 miles
November     - 19 trips for 114 miles
December      - 28 trips for 168 miles
-- Total for 2017 - 1,598 miles
-- Total distance - 6,921 miles --

-- 2018 --
January         -  18 trips for 108 miles
Februrary      -  16 trips for 96 miles
March            -  4 trips for 24 miles
April              -  0 trips for 0 miles
May               -  0 trips for 0 miles
June               -  17 trips for 102 miles
July                -  11 trips for 66 miles
August           -  11 trips for 66 miles
September     -   7 trips for 42 miles
October         -   8 trips for 56 miles
November     -   1 trip for 6 miles
December      -  14 trips for 84 miles
-- Total for 2018 - 640 miles
-- Total distance - 7,561 miles --

Notes:

Year in review. January and February was the same as 2017, getting 15 or more days a month, but then in late February I came down with the flu, even after getting a flu shot the previous fall. The CDC later reported the 2017 vacine was for the wrong strains and was the worst effective vacine in years.

After not walking in March and April for the flu and two episodes of food poisoning, I resumed walking in June, only to succomb to severe shin splints. July turned out worse than June with another bout of food poisoning and adverse food reactions. August, September and October didn't faired any better.

I kept coming down with colds, flu, or some bug that leaves me tired and my digestive system doing crazy thing from not working to working overtime. In addition to that my back has gotten worse where I have mild back and leg pain almost all the time. It's been there ever since the severly pinched Sciatic nerve in July 2012, but slowly it dimished to be pain free some days.

That changed from the two months off for various unknown reasons, and it's less related to weight, only hurting more the more I weigh, and the weight that makes me almost pain free is getting lower with a smaller margin to gain and pain resumes. This continued through fall and into winter.

November was the worst month since spring. I forgot to get my flu shot earlier and came down with the flu early in the month that lingered until early December, but after getting the flu shot then I got out for the walks in mid-month before the side effects of a drug I started for my digestive system hit my body and walks came to a halt.

I also discovered during walks on cold morning when the temperature gets below freezing, my body has problems generating heat to stay warm. It's intermittent but on the those days, for whatever reasons, the body just can't generate the heat and becomes completely cold and takes hours to warm up when I get home.

This occurs despite the layers of clothes I wear. I'm still sorting out the conditions it happens because it's intermittent and we don't get sub-freezing mornings that much in the Puget Sound. The body is fine when it's between freezing and 40 degrees.

That's it for the year. Hopefully this year will be better. The goal is to get back to walking 7-8 miles per day instead of 6 miles, and eventually get back to hiking, but that dependent on my back and my body to feel better. So it goes, but at 69 I can't complain that much (ok, I do here).