Wanted to get my 10,000 steps today. After leaving a friends house in South Austin I stopped at the Hike 'N Bike trail around Town Lake at the edge of downtown. I decided to do about a 3 1/2 mile loop-- from the Pedestrian Bridge under Mopac to the Pedestrian Bridge at Lamar Boulevard. I've done it before. Today the temp hovered around 35-40 degrees and had to be dressed more warmly. Nothing like a brisk walk to raise your body temps to comfortable levels on a cold day.
I went about halfway. I began on the north side of Town Lake, on the downtown Austin side of the river. My pace was falling off. The inevitable slacking off occurs after you've walked about a mile. But then suddenly I noticed an older woman, that is somebody about my age. I could see her blue jacket-- a thermal style jacket-- and detected she was moving at a brisk pace. This was my rabbit, the strong walker capable of pushing my pace to a good level. I got about 30 yards behind her and stayed there for the final 1 1/2 of my walk. She never faltered. She didn't move her arms very vigorously, not the power walking style I have adopted. So she generated that brisk pace, my guess is she goes about 4 MPH, mainly with her legs and by being in good shape. We both ended our walk at the same place-- and my final tally was 54 minutes to cover that approximately 3 1/2 miles.
She helped me out but being a strong walker and a role model. You can keep doing this stuff well into your older years. I got about 7-8,000 steps added to my tally.
Hey John!
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