36.8 Days of Midway

Days 13, 14, and 15 have all been spent walking and running along Midway.  This road runs from Richvale to Chico, CA.  By the end of the 7.5 miles over the last 3 days I have traveled three quarters of the way from Richvale to Durham.  This road is long and straight running along many rice fields and not much to see as you pass.  There is a small town called Nelson along the way but its not much.  Here is where I have been and where I am tonight:

Midway; 31.8 Miles in.

6929 Midway; 34.3 Miles in.

7935 Midway; 36.8 Miles in.

29.3 RIchvale

Day 12 brings me into the tiny town of Richvale.  I have never been here and it appears that I will not be lingering here long.  I am using Google Maps to chart my path and when choosing the walking directions it does not allow for walking on freeways.  This is much safer and it will lead me to see some interesting locations like Richvale.  Here is where I am today:

5246 Midway.  29.3 miles in.

26.8 Butte City Hwy

Day 11, almost to Richvale which is I am sure the first of many towns I have never been to.  I had envisioned trying to run extra to try and reach various landmarks. but it appears instead I will stop before heading into some road work.  Here is where I am today:

1101 Butte City Hwy.  26.8 miles in.

24.3 Riceton Hwy

I took day 9 off as I was just dog tired so I will have to make up that traveling as I go.  Day 10 I decided to try and run the track at my work.  It did not go nearly as well as I was hoping.  My first step was off and I stepped wrong and limped the whole first lap.  My goal was to try and run the straight sides and walk the turns, and I was successful for 1 mile but I couldn't keep going. Running the track was so different from running on a treadmill.  I went home and walked the rest of my 2.5 miles at home on the treadmill.  I will return the track and keep going.  For now here is where I am:

3981 Riceton Hwy:  24.3 miles in.

21.8 Biggs

Day 8 was just another day of walking.  It feels strange walking and my legs hurt but I keep on going.  I think I may attempt to run the track at work and try and change the scenery but for now I am on the treadmill.  Here is where I am today:

3001 8th Street: Biggs.  21.8 miles in.

19.3 Pryde Avenue

Day 7, its been a full week now.  I still am not quite enjoying the process and running sucks, but I am determined not to quit.  I tried alternating between walking for 2.5 minutes and running for a minute and lasted for 4 rotations.  My legs were killing me by the end of 14 minutes and I ended up walking most of the rest of the way through Gridley.  I finished 2.5 miles today ending at Pryde Avenue where I will turn towards Biggs.  Here is where I am today:

2528 Golden State Hwy. 19.3 miles in.

16.8 Gridley Taco Bell

Day 6 of walking to Vancouver was another good walk.  I kept a fairly moderate pace for just under an hour and reached my destination in Gridley.  Many times I have stopped here when on the road doing work for a quick and cheap burrito.  I moved my treadmill and it must have gone out of alignment as the tread kept moving on me, but it has not kept me from traveling 3 miles today.  Here is when I am today:

1470 Golden State Hwy: Taco Bell. 16.8 miles in.

13.8 The Gridley Grill

Day 5 was an uneventful day.  I started out walking and slowly increased my pace until I was running after about 20 minutes.  When it got too much for me I slowed down and walked for a bit.  My left leg was feeling better so I alternated between a fast walk and and a moderate jog.  I did go further than my daily goal of 2.5 miles but only so I could stop at a landmark, The Gridley Grill. Tomorrow I will head into Gridley but for today here is where I am:

484 Golden State Hwy, The Gridley Grill. 13.8 miles in.

10.8 Miles: The Pizza Factory

Day 4 was a great day!  I looked ahead to see where my trek would lead me and saw that my usual 2.5 miles put me just south of the city of Live Oak. I realized that if I went just a short ways further I could stop at one of our families favorite places to have pizza, The Pizza Factory.  Our friends Bob and Kathy Woten from The Father's House own and run this great place for a yummy slice of pizza.  Their garlic breadsticks are unlike we have ever had anywhere else.

So I kept on going into the city and finished at 3.3 miles traveled today.  I only walked and made it in 1 hour and 3 minutes.  My left leg was bothering me still from yesterday and I didn't want to push it.  By mile 3 it was starting to hurt but I pushed through and finished at my daily goal.

Here is where I am today:

The Pizza Factory, 10345 Live Oak Blvd 10.8 miles in.

7.5 Miles

Day 3 already, and I hit the treadmill ready to go.  This is the first time in probably 3 years that I have been this dedicated to exercising regularly.  Unfortunately one of my legs was bugging me as I began today but I was determined to stick with it.  On my treadmill's little LCD screen there is a digital representation of a track showing a quarter mile.  There is 5 little boxes for the long straight a ways and 3 boxes for the turns.  I decided that I would try to run the straight a ways and walk the curves.  This is a technique I have seen the PE Teachers at the school I work at use to help get the students ready for the mile run.  Being fat, out of shape and having a leg that is not 100% made that a pipe dream.  Each day I do 10 laps around this little digital track and today I ran 5 of the straight a ways.  While it is better than not running at all, it sure kicked my butt.  I finished in around 45 minutes which was an improvement that I will continue to try and build on.  Here is where I am today:

Golden State Highway just past Clark Road Heading towards Live Oak. 7.5 Miles in.

5 Miles

Day 2 was a little easier than the day before.  I did not have to make any tweaks to the treadmill, just get on and go.  I varied my speed a bit, alternating between a brisk walk and a moderate jog, finishing in under an hour.  As before I went for 2.5 miles for the day, and was so happy when that last quarter mile was finally finished.  Here is where I finished today:

Live Oak Boulevard south of Morse Road. 5 miles in.

2.5 Miles

So I wasted no time in starting my trek. I changed into some shorts and threw on my new Nike's and hit the treadmill.  It was an awful time as I have not been exercising for many months an am way out of shape. I had to stop a few times to adjust the treadmill but I kept an accurate tally of my total mileage.  But I slogged through and finished in less than an hour.  I then hopped online and tracked my progress to see where I was.  It is amazing what you can do with Google Maps and the Street View Feature.  Here is where I finished for the day.

This is East Onstott Road, Near Santa Barbara Way.  2.5 miles in.

Walking to Vancouver

On New Years Day my wife, Heidi, and I were watching ABC's Modern Family.  Season 5, Episode 510 The Old Man & the Tree, had several story lines, one of which involved Phil Walking to Canada on his Elliptical Machine.

STORY 2: Phil Walks to Canada on His Elliptical Machine
A full Christmas ago, Phil got an elliptical machine and vowed to walk the distance from the Dunphy house to Canada in one year's time. If he fails, he won't be able to keep the machine in the bedroom, so Phil spends Christmas eve trying to finish the final leg of his trip.

Memorable Quotes:

Claire: "Last Christmas, Phil got an elliptical machine and vowed to walk the equivalent of our house to Canada in one year."
Phil: "This body just doesn't happen, ladies."
Claire: "If he didn't make it, no machine in the bedroom."
Phil: "Except for this machine in the bedroom, ladies."
Claire: "Who are these ladies?"

Phil: "...I'm so close to the Canadian border I can smell the bacon and the reasonably priced medication."

Luke: "You gotta finish! You'll never use this thing in the garage. It's too drafty!"
Phil: "That's why I'm going to Canada, buddy -- to avoid the draft!"

ABC Modern Family Website. Episode Guide. Retrieved from http://abc.go.com/shows/modern-family/episode-guide/episode-510-the-old-man-and-the-tree.

After finishing this episode, I thought how far is that? Can I do it?  I too have an exercise machine sitting in my home that no one uses...  So after some Google Mapping and quick calculations to determine timing I determined that I could do it.  I exclaimed to Heidi,  "I am walking to Vancouver."  She was skeptical of my initial finish date of June so I decided that by the end of the year was more doable.

The walking distance is 887 Miles via US-97N, a total of 292 hours.  If I do this over the entire year I will have to walk 2.5 miles per day.  My hope is to do this daily on my treadmill and eventually move to running outside.  Right now I am just excited to try and do something that seems so monumental and try and get fit while doing it.