Tuesday, 13 January 2009

My attitude to walking

For years, I have had a saying:
"The fear of walking in the rain is worse then the actuality of walking in the rain."
That is, when I look out of the window in the mornings and see heavy cloud cover or light drizzle, I can either choose to cancel a planned walk or continue. Generally, when I do choose to go on the walk, things go well and I have an enjoyable day. For that reason, unless it is heavy rain, I would still go for the walk.

However, that has not been the case for the last year. For various reasons, my heart was not as much in walking, so I would look out of the window, see frankly poor weather, and cancel a walk.
I have decided to change this. rather poor attitude.

One complicating factor is that, in 2006, I managed to average over twenty miles per day's walking. This was something I had always wanted to achieve, and I rather stumbled into it, unplanned. In 2007 I achieved it again, and also in 2008, despite having completed under 400 miles. As time has gone on I have found myself only walking if I could guarantee a twenty-mile day. This is sometimes difficult, especially if the terrain is difficult or the length of the day is short. This is a significant factor (along with moving house and illness) that I did such a short number of miles last year.

This year, I will not let the weather stop me from doing a planned walk unless the weather is absolutely awful - heavy rain. Likewise, I am not aiming to average twenty-mile days. Indeed, I intend to do some shorter, more enjoyable and exploratory walks in order to firmly put that target beyond reach.

These two concessions are about the only way that I will manage to complete my target of walking 1,500 miles this year.

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