Walking Path

Personally, I was not in a healthy state. I had a deskjob, access to fantastic food, and not enough time for exercise. My body weight was approaching a point where I was at risk for negative health effects. I became determined to take hold of my health before something else I could not control did. My immediate options were biking, jogging/running, gym membership, sports, and walking. I tried a gym membership at a place by work. however, that proved to be a waste of time because I would always choose to leave the office and beat rush hour in stead of killing a few hours at the gym. Getting home gym equipment worked for a little while, but I ended up selling my treadmill and rowing machine after motivation issues. I really enjoy biking, however, my work schedule would get me home after dark and bike riding at night around the city is not a very safe activity. Running was out because I hate jogging/running and because it would cause extreme pain from an old knee injury. So, I started walking on the weekends. Just short walks to the local park in downtown. Walking was easy because the city I live in has a lot of lit sidewalks and protected cross walks. However, motivation was still an issue. What really changed things, was Apple Health on iOS and Pokémon Go. This was a game changer because it gamified walking! Pokémon Go tracks your walking distance and rewards you for walking to locations around your city. Additionally, you must go to "pokéstops" (landmarks) daily to keep "spin streaks" going for better in-game rewards and to collect "gifts" to send to other players. This was the perfect combination:

• Gamification of walking/exercise

• Good/safe local walking environment night, day, or in bad weather.

• Tracking of activity via Apple iPhone/Apple Watch

• Nostalgia for the childhood Pokémon franchise

• "Collect them all" nature of the game keeps the game content fresh and new over time

• In-game "rewards" for walking/exploration

• Free to play

• Social obligation of getting/sending gifts to in game friends or getting to specific locations at specific times to assist in "Gym Raids".

I started playing Pokémon Go in October of 2018, shortly after in late November, I found the the factors mentioned above, worked to solve my motivation issue for getting outside and exercising!

Starting out, I cold only walk a few miles to the local city park without taking breaks or becoming exhausted enough for a long rest. Walking was a weekend endeavor. But it became a consistent endeavor. After a few months, my stamina got built up and my body weight started to drop. I expanded my weekend walks to "the square": a 4 mile route square route from 20th to Main Street to Parkway to Onsdorf. Walking was getting easier and I was getting a handle on "big guy" issues like blisters and skin issues.

More time passed and summer arrived! I was walking "the square" not just weekends, but every few days. Pokémon Go in-game events like Community Days and "special research" tasks really helped break walking out oof just being a weekend thing. Also, it was lighter later and adjusting my work schedule to better avoid rush hour gridlock ensured I had day light hours to walk on weekdays.

More time passed and I would continue to expand my walking route to reach more landmarks registered in Pokémon Go. This meant more in-game resources to play with! I was loosing weight and building stamina. This is when I started walking faster. I set a new goal: keep my heart rate up to at least 120 when walking. This was easy to monitor because of my Apple Watch. This decision would change the game because I was now trying to "beat my high score" each time I went out. The higher exertion also meant I was burning more calories on each walk. The other factor was my diet. I was slowly cutting out sugar from my diet. Swapping Cola for home-made Soda water, replacing fast food with low sugar home-made food, etc.... Another benefit: walking was reducing my appetite. I just wasn't eating as much in the evenings after a walk. I was closely monitoring my calorie intake and expense to keep calorie expense higher than calorie intake (forcing my body to use/burn fat).

Throughout 2019, I lost over 120 lbs and was fast-walking between 6 and 12 miles daily depending on the route I chose. I was out of the medical "warning" zone, and I had my doctor's blessing to step it up. Then... Covid-19 hit... and quarantine kicked in early 2020. Additionally, the region was dealing with some nasty wild fires and air quality was extremely hazardous due to excessive smoke. This is where I was regretting selling off my exercise equipment. The treadmill specifically. I stopped walking when quarintene kicked in and did not go out for most of April. For the first time since starting exercise, my body weight was back on the rise.

4/2020 - Local covid response and quarantine restrictions allowed for our-door walks and exercise provided mask/social distancing was observed. I started walking daily again. Quarantine also presented a new opportunity, I was able to perform my job function remotely and being home all day allowed for going on a walk during my lunch hour! This was a game changer because I had to walk even faster to get out and home within the allotted time. There were not many folks out walking even before quarantine kicked in. It was common for me to go out on a "lunch walk" and not even see another person outside a car. Restarting walking was difficult not just because of quarantine, but the smoke in the air from local wild fires. At this point (prior to quarantine), I was waking a 14 mile route on the weekend and a 6 mile route on the week days. The first 14 mile walk I completed wearing a n-95 mask + a cloth mask over that. The extra strain caused my heart rate to elevate to 130 bpm in stead of my usual 120bpm. Aside from my own bad-breath, mask wearing while walking was not that bad for me. I was back to daily walking!

Because of covid and after the "great toilet paper shortage of 2020" finally subsided, I procured several tube scarfs to supplement my cloth masks. This was another game changer. I had a "quick deploy" mask in case I needed to duck into a business, my neck was no longer getting sun-burned, and I could wet it down on hot days to keep me cool. I continue to wear a tube scarf even into summer 2021 (despite the mockery from noisy teens).

2021 was also the year of a freak snow storm which dropped 16" of snow (Feb 2021) and the record setting "Heat Dome" event (June 2021) where temperatures reached a staggering 115f. This high temperature happened to fall on a weekend. I was able to fast walk though it without much trouble. Though I did consume 4 liters of cold water during my walk to prevent any symptons of heat exhaustion!

On June 30th 2021, I hit a personal milestone:

My "distance walked" metric in Pokémon Go ticked over 12,742 km. This is the diameter of the earth.

Some fun stats covering 10/2018 to 6/2021:

• I've gone through 17 pairs of walking shoes

• Worn our ~50 pairs of socks

• I've taken long walks in temperatures between -7F and 115F

• Built up an average walking pace of 4.67mph

• Built up an average of 300 miles walked a month

• Walk an average of 12.2miles a day

• Earned 793 "Move Goal 200%" awards in Apple Fitness

My weekday walks of 8.6 miles take about 1.5 hours to complete and my weekend walks of 14 miles take about 3 hours each to complete. Pokémon Go or not, that's a lot of time to keep from monotony.

In addition to focusing on my walk rhythm and doing some "urban beach combing", Podcasts, music, audio books really help pass the time!

Below are the Podcasts I listen to:

• This Week In Tech

• This Week in Enterprise Tech

• Security Now

• Mac Break Weekly

• Nintendo Power Podcast

• Command Line Heroes

• Off Topic

• The Stack Overflow Podcast

• Red Web

• The Engadget Podcast

• Apple Insider

• What's Good Games

• Nintendo Voice Chat

• It's Super Effective

• Macworld Podcast

• The Maccast

• Trained

• The Fenom Effect

• The Sneaker Closet

• Mac Admins Podcast

• Bumblekast

• Nitro Game Injection

• Cinnemassacre Podcast

What is "urban beach combing"?

While I'm out walking, I keep an eye out for junk or thing of value in the gutter, on the side walk, or in the road.

If I spot a nail, bolt, dangerous debris, etc... (anything that can cause a flat tire or break a windshield if it's kicked up) I pick it up or move it to the side of the road. I draw the line at hazardous items though... razor blades get kicked into the rough and "biohazards" are left alone or reported to police (drugz).

I've accumulated ~30lbs of thing like nails, screws, lug nuts, giant washers, scrap metal. When I accumulate enough, I will weld them together into statue, lamp, or whatever comes to mind.

"So, you pick up junk?"

It's not just junk that I find. I've found things of value like wallets, cell phones, tablets, credit cards, and money. These items get dropped off with their relative lost and found services: ATT/verizon/t-mobile store or the police station. Shattered tech, unidentifiable stuff like tools, or paper bills $20 and under I keep/donate.

Some clothing options work well for me when fast walking. I'll list my reasoning here!

• Ball Cap. Keeps the sun/rain out of your eyes!

• Tube Scarf. (example) Serves as a quick deploy mask. Keeps the sun off the back of my neck and can be wetted down to keep me cool on hot days.

• Long sleeve non-cotton under shirt. (example: Nike Pro Dri-Fit) - pull sweat away from the body to provide cooling, keeps the sun off your arms.

• Short sleeve non-cotton over-shirt. (example Nike Rise 365 Run Division) - The undershirt will get sweat stained and may be too tight for modesty. the Over-shirt takes care ob both problems.

• Thick Shorts. (example 1, example 2) - Thicker shorts like fleece or heavier cotton allowed for better use of pocket storage. Light weight shorts don't have enough structure to keep a iPhone under control when stomping about. Also, even on the in the coldest of days, I overheat when fast-walking in full pants. Shorts are a personal requirement for me.

• Socks. (Sox Town Crew) - The right kind of sock is the difference between a nasty blister or not. I've tried several high end socks, running socks, and finally fast on thick wool or cotton socks. Tee Sox Town Crew specifically offers a great balance between affordability, durability, and control.

• Shoes. Nike Revolution 5. Shoes and Sox are the most important part! Dedicated running shoes are typically not designed for "heel strike" style walk cycle and will wear out very fast (less than 100 miles in some cases). Urban fast walking (abrasive sidewalk walking) is hard on the out-sole. A thick, full-sole rubber layer is preferred. I get ~600 miles out of a pair of Nike Revolution 5s before I wear though the outsole into the foam. The life of this shoe can be extended to ~1000 miles if the outsole is repaired by adding more rubber or replacing a worn through insole. By the ~1000 mile mark, the upper, insole, or foam sole are usually shot. The shoe can then be used as spare material repairing other shoes (recycle!).