“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 895 (Monday) – take a walk

Artist in a bucket.

Monday returned as expected, on the usual weekly cycle and the heat is hanging in. There was a lunchtime walk, which, despite my best half-assed imaginary intentions, have been exceedingly rare. The Map my Walk app was reinstalled to track the steps and distance and hopefully inspire continued activity.

The temperature was in the high 80s, and I was walking about downtown in black ankle pants and a long-sleeved black floral print silk blouse, which were perfect for the climate conditioned office, but less comfortable in the blazing sunshine. At least I was wearing sensible flats and not heels.

The pace was quick to start, but there were new and exciting things to see and photograph. Not far from the office, a bucket truck held a man aloft. He was painting a new mural on an old building. Murals are popping up everywhere and it really makes the old brick walls look more fun and colorful. 

The path along the canal was chosen. I was very nearly run over by an older man who was talking on a cell phone while riding a bicycle rather unsteadily along the canal walkway. There was a huge pile of dirt marking another construction site and the usual litter in the plants and bushes along the walking path because people suck. The water in the canals was low, which isn’t a surprise with the drought. 

The heat, improper attire for walking in the heat, and my general appalling level of inactivity all combined to keep the walk short. In the before times, upon noticing the distance of under a mile, I would have kept walking to hit a full mile. Not today.

Canal water level looks low.

According to the app statistics, the day’s three-quarter mile walk was at a 22-minute mile pace. This is considerably slower than the 17-minute mile pace recorded on a two-day streak in September 2020, the last time the app was used before being removed due to phone space issues. The 2020 effort was part of a feeble attempt to take regular walks from the house while working remotely and finding it boring and wanting it to end. Plus, it's easier to walk faster when not constantly stopping to take photos.

Walking downtown is much more interesting because it’s possible to walk in a loop without backtracking. From home, it was verified that the landscape is all dead-end streets off a state highway with limited sidewalks often occupied by parked vehicles, overgrown weeds and shrubbery, and people who drive too fast. Some might consider it exciting, but I did not.

At least there is a new baseline for hot weather overdressed walking and plenty of room for improvement. The first goal will be hitting one full mile, and then the focus will be improving the time. Before 2020, the challenge was to see how far I could walk in 30 minutes. Too bad those stats are no longer in the app.