about getting from point A to point B in the most interesting ways possible

If you're a large woman in America, your whole life is an opportunity to feel self-conscious, embarrassed, resentful and way too big. You can hide in the corner or on the couch, you can go to therapy, or you can put on your lycra bike shorts and get out there and move.
—Jayne Williams, Slow Fat Triathlete

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September 5, 2005

A long weekend with little to show for it. permalink

Pictures from my walk, 8-29-2005
Well, I'm at the end of another long weekend, and what do I have to show for it? Not a whole lot. I'm within spitting distance of finishing moving alt.portland to MT, so that's very exciting. But I keep falling into reading about New Orleans and Katrina, which just fills me with so much anger and helplessness.

Really, it's been that kind of weekend. Saturday morning, I decided I was going to either walk 30K or 6 hours, whichever came first. I started out at 5am, pitch black outside, and started walking from my place to the PFit meeting area. My neighborhood is still described in the media as sketchy, and I admit, I was a little nervous. I decided to stick to main, well-lit streets.

Mind you, I love walking at night. Love it. The quiet, the cool, the stillness. And it was. Barely any traffic, barely anyone else walking around. I saw several people, and that was fine—it was cool, they were cool, I was cool.

I walked past a car dealership, which had a second floor balcony that I had never before noticed. Security guards were patrolling it, and seemed particularly interested in me. Hello, if I were an ecoterrorist, would I be wearing a wildly flowered skort? I mean, really?

It was beautiful crossing the Broadway Bridge, with the sky becoming light, and then walking into the deserted Pearl district. Once I was into NW proper, I got nervous. There were three guys, drunk, carrying another case of beer, side by side, shouting at each other as if they were a block away. Add some misogynist terms for women, and oh boy. I slowed down. They turned off two blocks later.

So that's the good part. I did a 12 mile route with PFit, walking with one of the slowest walkers. She told me about losing 50# in the last year, which totally made me feel like a slacker. About 5 miles in, I ran into Hollie and stopped to chat with her, which was great.

By the time I got started again, I really was the last walker, and I never did catch up. By the time I hit the route's 10 mile mark, I was really hurting, and I had been out for 5 hours at that point. So. I had walked only about 13 miles in 5 hours. Yikes. I thought about finishing just for the sake of finishing, but for some reason, I had told Sweetie that I would be home around 10, and here it was after 10. Of course, there are no pay phones, because everyone in the US other than me has a cellphone. Finish, be in pain, don't call Sweetie or call late? They just didn't seem like good options.

I have to admit, it all demoralized me. 13 miles in 5 hours?! Jeez! Was I just going too slow out there? Is there a too slow? Or am I this out of shape?

I don't have an answer. I wish I did. It makes me really sad.

I was hoping that today I could do a middlish walk, 8 miles or so, but it's looking inproblable with my goal of getting alt.portland done, and helping Sweetie restructure the kitchen.

Posted at September 5, 2005

Comments

You are such an inspiration! don't get down on yourself! I can't believe all you have accomplished

brit

Posted by: brit at September 5, 2005 3:41 PM

I was following the news about Katrina all day Friday and Saturday and it just made me so depressed. I've had to take a break from reading the coverage for a couple of days. Just like when 9/11 happened, I find it so hard to reconcile the beauty and peace of September in the Pacific NW with the suffering that's going on across the country.

Anyway, in your case, I hope that you don't let the long walk get you too down. I'm guessing that the weight of those in pain in the South was slowing you down, and not something particular to you. You'll have better days and better walks.

I'm so glad that you're enjoying your bike commutes. As much as I love Seattle, Portland's got us beat when it comes to cycling support. I love those photos you've posted of the bike lane people.

Posted by: Tricia at September 6, 2005 12:35 PM

13 mile walk is no mean accomplishment! You should be proud of that.

p.s. I don't own a cell phone either so that makes two of us :)

Posted by: anonymous at September 8, 2005 9:36 PM

I think 13 miles in five hours is a good pace. Between two and three mph is a perfectly respectable walk. It's so cool that you make the time to go on long walks.

Posted by: Fran at September 9, 2005 9:16 AM