Today, Carol and I took my first training walk. My plan is to build up the duration of my training walks, by an hour a week, to a 10 hour walk 2 weeks prior to My Big Walk. (I figure that I'll need to walk 14 hours to do the 40 miles.) I am planning My Big Walk for May 28th, the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. Backing it in to this weekend, today was a two hour walk.

Our route took us past my first apartment in Burbank. I lived at 4301 Kling Street 15 (!!) years ago, back when it was called Lakeside Apartments. Interestingly enough, they don't call them Lakeside anymore, possibly because IT IS NOWHERE NEAR A LAKE. Unless you consider the private lake of Toluca Lake, a mile away...

Then we worked our way up to the new Chandler Boulevard Bikeway.




Well, it isn't really new, it opened back in August 2004. It is, however, the first time that Carol and I have walked the entire length of it. (It really isn't too long so don't be impressed.) The Bikeway is a clever new use for what used to be train tracks. We started by walking a little over the line into North Hollywood on a section of the Bikeway that really is new. At the top of a building, we saw these cool cow-playing-a-ukulele gargoyles.




Quite unexpected in a quite cruddy industrial area!! Back in Burbank, we came across these exceedingly colorful houses that definitely warranted a picture!




As I said earler, we were shooting for being out for 2 hours and actually came within 10 minutes of our goal! It was a 7 mile walk. A good start.

Today was the first opportunity to check out my new shoes. Last weekend, I went over to Phidippides in Encino to pick out a pair of walking shoes. Carol found out about the place when she was training for the Avon 3-Day and had raved about it. I wasn't disappointed. If any of you in the Los Angeles area need shoes, I HIGHLY recommend this place! Craig Chambers (one of the owners) helped me choose among the 350 styles (!!) available. I wish everyone understood customer service as well as these folks do!! Craig pulled out 5 different shoes for me to try on. He even watched me walk up the sidewalk outside the store to see how I was walking in the shoes. I ended up with a pair of New Balance shoes that should fill the bill perfectly. They worked quite well today. (I have to admit, however, that I was feeling a little creaky today. YIKES! I sure hope I can pull off this walk!! :-) )

Craig is a pretty amazing guy. For 5 years, he commuted across the Santa Monica Mountains by running 26 miles a day. He has run over 200 Marathons and over 50 Ultra Marathons. He organized and ran from the Santa Monica Pier (where I'll be ending my walk) to the top of Mount Wilson. WOW! If you want to read what he has to say, you can find an essay here.

I plan on taking pictures and posting them after each walk so check back next week!

Labels: Burbank, Training Walk