Today I walked with my buddy Todd. We decide to walk the entire length of two streets here in Burbank. As you can see from the map, we had to zig zag a bit due to the train tracks and the freeway, but we did a pretty good job of covering it all.

As Burbank grows, it is hard not to complain about the increased traffic. It was refreshing to see Magnolia Boulevard with NO traffic!! Of course this was 8AM on a Sunday morning and not 5PM on a Friday night!



Todd and me on the train tracks.



A little further up the street, we came across this. I was starting to get a little creeped out and considered running away lest we meet a similar fate, when Todd noticed that there were other Haloween decorations still out. Kind of a variation of the theme of leaving your Christmas lights up all year! I'm glad they aren't our neighbors.




I had to laugh. The local Mac users group had been tagging. (Get it...OS X...sorry, I'm a geek...) We were a little apprehensive about walking through their turf. Fortunately, we didn't experience any problems. Phew!




In Burbank, we have recently been dealing with Mansionization. Last year, City Council rewrote part of our R-1 zoning to deal with this issue. Mansionization is where folks remodel or rebuild HUGE houses on regular size lots. The kind that go from lot line to lot line. The ones that don't fit with the character of the neighborhood. I certainly would hate for one of these to go up next to us. (I actually think this has more to do with the more, bigger, supersize aspect of our culture than anything specific to Burbank.) Anyway, we walked by a study in extremes. The house on the right wouldn't even fit in the shot!! Yikes!




Thanks for tuning in. Next week, I'll be up to a 4 hour training walk!

Labels: Burbank, Training Walk

Here are my goals for the walk:

• To train in a healthy manner. (It is very important to me that I am still able to walk after this thing is over!!)
• To make my 40th year memorable.
• To raise money for Outward Bound. (In a perfect world, I'd LOVE to raise $40,000. For obvious reasons, it seems like the perfect number. It also feels a tad unreachable. But hey, no harm in trying!)
• To walk 40 miles in one day.
• To explore and learn more about Los Angeles, from the up close and personal perspective of a walker.
  

The easiest way for you to donate to Outward Bound is to use their web form. It is important that when you get to the second page, you put "40at40" in the Comments of the Payment Information section. That way, I know you have donated in support of my venture, and I can send you a proper thank-you! (Please do not fill in the In Honor of section as their computer would expect you to fill in my full address and I don't want to make you do that!!) You can use a Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover AND (are you sitting down...) Diner's Club (!!) to make your donation.

As you can imagine, because Outward Bound is a 501(c)(3) organization, your donation is 100% tax deductible which basically makes it free to you. Well, maybe not free, but it does help!

Don't forget to take advantage of the Matching Gift program should you work for one of those generous corporations that offer such a thing.

Note that the link is hosted by Blackbaud. I just found out that they are the leading global provider of software and related services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations. Outward Bound has contracted with them to handle their online donations.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I REALLY appreciate your support!!!

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

A few months ago, as I was pondering my 40th birthday this year, I decided I wanted to do something memorable – at least memorable for me. An idea popped into my head. I could walk 40 miles in one day and see how much money I could raise for charity!

I have always loved to walk. I’m guessing I get it from my dad. A few years ago, my wife Carol participated in the Avon 3-Day Walk. She and a few thousand other participants walked 20 miles a day for three days in support of the fight against breast cancer. I tagged along on a bunch of Carol’s training walks and realized that I got a kick out of walking in the city. It is such a different perspective than the normal way of seeing everything from a speeding car.

When we were doing these long walks, I often wondered how far I could walk. For me, it is painfully obvious that I can’t run very far. In fact, not very far at all! (This, in spite of the best efforts of my high school track coach, Mr. Simon.) But when I walk, my limits are less obvious. So one day, a couple of years ago, I decided on Wednesday to push those limits that Friday. I ended up walking from our house in Burbank down to the beach. It was a 33 mile walk and was quite tired at the end. Actually, I could barely walk. But I had a blast!

Now, I’m embarking on an even longer walk. I know there are a bunch of folks out there that do things that are more extreme than this. (I’m thinking of the ultra marathoners, the mountain climbers, the around the world sailors, etc.) For me, however, this is going to be a challenge.

I bet, though, that with a little bit of training, I can pull this thing off.

Hey! It's a blog!!!!