The Magnolia Seed Pod

What a great walk!  The temperature was great, so I woke Justin up to go with me and to get in his own exercise.  I had him choose three non-consecutive days to do exercise, and after a lot of protesting he chose Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday.  Yesterday, I wanted to get in a specific early morning walk, so I wasn’t available (he won’t do it on his own yet), so we started his new routine today.  He will end up having a consecutive situation this week, but then we will be on track starting next week.  

I was a little misleading to start with, knowing full well that walking up to Highway 33 and across the bridge is almost exactly one mile.  I didn’t not tell him that, but I didn’t mention how far it was, just to say it isn’t too far.  I’m trying to encourage him to get in 25 minutes at least, and that should be one mile.  This little trick doubled that at least.  I will say, as nice as that walk is, highway traffic is very loud.  

After we crossed the bridge, and after I had paused to try and get a good photo of a blue heron (I didn’t; I never do), we made our way down along the side to cross under the bridge.  I wanted to see if there was another way back across the creek nearby, and after walking a bit, I pulled out my phone to check.  No.  The next bridge a on the other side of town, so we’d have to go back up and across the way we had come.  But by that time, it seemed just as easy to go around through downtown, so we did that.  A magnolia had dropped pods on the sidewalk, and it reminded me of the magnolia I would pick flowers from on the way home from school.  I loved picking up the discarded pods in Fall and picking the flowers in Spring. 

As we turned onto Division to go up to the crosswalk, I failed to see the split level of the sidewalk and fell onto the sidewalk.  Crushed my phone’s screen protector, but it had done its job.  I was actually impressed that the fall didn’t phase me or my breathing.  It doesn’t even register on my heart rate tracked by my watch.  It just did not phase me one bit.

We made our way back across, Justin completely over me “stopping to take photos like you’ve never seen anything before.”  I thought that was funny.  We walked back through the neighborhood once across the bridge, and over to Banner Park, where I completed my walk by going once around.  I wanted to get that last mile in.  

It did teach me that I can easily just walk to downtown.  And I will.  Especially as I get more used to doing three miles a day, and if I start adding more.  It won’t take much to go down, stop in to the bookstore we passed by, or in one of the places for a coffee.  It could make for a more interesting routine.  And if that seems too far, there are easy places to park to do a downtown walk.  I do wish there were more businesses going in.  I don’t want to see Guthrie die.  Downtown is such a big part of its identity. 

I had expected to get in a short walk, but I’m so glad I did something longer.  I feel good.

[Walk #334, 3.12 miles]