Just about a year ago I decided to take up walking. I started in the summer by walking the high school track everyday. I was pretty dedicated to to the task and made sure I walked nearly every day of the summer. I kept a little log book of how many miles I walked per day and in August I logged about 58 miles. When Autumn came, and the days got shorter, I was no longer able to use the track since there were football games and then it got dark much earlier. I began making up the best routes around my neighborhood and by the time winter was winding down I found that I'd become very familiar with the details of each route. In short, I was seeing things I hadn't noticed from just driving by everything all the time. I took in details on the houses, the architecture of buildings, saw Christmas lights up close, rustic porches, the flowers that began to bloom in the spring and even paintings on mailboxes. I came to appreciate our historic district and all its beauty and even found a walking trail that ran through some fallow corn fields beyond main Street.
I at first thought getting in a decent walk in the winter months would be difficult, but it proved to be a worthy experience. I'm ready to get back on the track but I enjoyed my time traveling the local roads and streets, even in the cold of January, because there's nothing like watching those deep orange winter sunsets. How many people actually watch sunsets when it's 20 degrees out? Call me crazy, but the experience was worth the misery. And there's nothing like getting back into a warm house after freezing out on the streets! Kind of like getting into the air conditioning after sweltering out on the track in July.
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