Day 25: Walking

We are down to the last seven days of the July journal challenge. Are you well on your way to a thorough personal history to pass down to future generations? Or do you at least have some notes jotted down on your phone? If you've been following along, reading my stuff but not writing your own, why not try to do it for this final week? You'll be happy that you did.

Today's topic is to write about a time (or times) that you walked a very long distance. I know I've mentioned this trip before, but Matt and I walked a TON when we traveled in Europe. We took leisurely walks in nature, hiked to scenic views, explored cities on foot, and criss-crossed enormous museums until we were exhausted.

In Switzerland, there was one destination halfway up a mountain, and our guidebook suggested taking a train, warning that the trip back down could really do a number on your knees. I convinced Matt that we should just hoof it; I figured once we made it up there, how hard could it be walking downhill? Pretty hard, as it turns out, but the scenery was decent.

Ditto in Barcelona when I insisted that we shouldn't waste money on a cab trip out to see Park Guell (many, many, many blocks from our hotel).

I can also think of a walk-a-thon I did as a teenager where I chose stylish shoes over comfortable gym shoes and regretted it by about mile 2. In more recent years, I find that any significant distance I walk with kids has the potential to turn arduous if my companions get tired, hot, or grumpy. For example, the walk between the parking lot and a swimming hole can feel easy or endless, depending on whether we have cloud cover:

If you are a Mormon like me, it's quite possible that you have participated in one of our weirder traditions, a pioneer trek. We dress up in period clothes and walk and walk and walk in an effort to appreciate the experience of our pioneer ancestors as they migrated west in the 1800s.

Or maybe you have had to march in place for half an hour in your living room at 10:00 at night when you glanced at your fitbit and realized that you hadn't hit your 10,000 steps yet? Does that actually count as walking? I don't know, but you should probably write about it.