Walking with kids and lovers

I was stretching out at a picnic table Rock Run

I was reading Scott's Walking in Retirement blog and he photographed a 8 mile walk on the Appalachian Trail. Scott trains in his walks for longer walks. That is a great way to look at walking. Long walks are wonderful for fitness and weight control.
Dr. Ken Cooper documented a story of an eighty year old woman learned to take a five mile walk everyday. She has maintained that habit into her nineties. As her daughter put it, "she went for a walk and she is still walking." One thing she did was eliminated a slow decline to a nursing home.
For me I am timing my walks for 30 minutes. I have been able to walk 5 times a week. I've been laid up with one problem after another for a while. I am out of shape.
But true to form, with each walk I am breathing better and as I stretch my body's range of motion is improving. My pace is steady but it will improve. I can walk forward fairly pain free but side to side is painful. I use the stairs to climb 4 flights a day. Going down is more stressful on ankle joints.

Just a little different angle

This time of year has the most walkers. When it warms up from winter and not to hot, the paths are full of walkers, families and bikers and runners. From now until June the trail is busy. The rest of the year the trail belongs to those who are walking for some kind of fitness. I like to see the kids and lovers walking hand in hand. They often walk on the wrong side of the walking path. Like a flower that has a brief season they will come and go. They will return when the weather gets back to the 60's and 70's.

I know it is sad but I have enjoyed the sweat of exercise. It could be that my body enjoys being loose from the warmth. When I played competitive tennis I always liked to play in the 80's and 90's. I am a sweater. I think in part because my muscles are always switching on and off. The skies are clear and the air is fresh and I can only say, thank you, Lord. Keep walking