Letters to my children--Walking

Dear N, M, E, S, and B,

Just today I was thinking that I should liven up these posts with pictures.  I still think that I should and probably will, but here is another thought.  My grandma and I used to write letters back and forth to each other and they rarely contained pictures, but still kept my attention.  One thing people used to do when writing letters was to spice it up by buying cute stationary or cards to write on.  Interesting that the world has changed so much.  While you can still buy stationary and cards, it's not that common to actually get a letter on stationary.

I have been thinking about this post for about a week.  I finished thinking about it while I did my 20 mile hike on Tuesday.

One of the things my Grandma taught me was about walking.  She lived in Hyrum, Utah.  Almost everywhere you could go in Hyrum when I was a kid, there were square blocks.  If you walked all of the sides of a square block, you would walk one-half mile.  When I went to stay with my Grandma in the summer for a week, there was something that was the same every day.  Every day, Grandma Jennie went for a 2-mile walk.  The great thing about walking where there are square blocks is that you can choose a different route each day.  Grandma would let Jodi and I choose which roads to walk along.  Sometimes we were in the neighborhoods and sometimes we'd be out in the country near farm lands.  Sometimes (ew!) we'd end up near the meat packing plant.  Sometimes we'd scale steep hills, which from a distance looked like they sent straight up, but when you climbed them didn't seem difficult at all.

I really liked the daily walks.  Imagine my surprise when a few years ago, I read a book which included information that one of the most healthy things and older adult can do is to walk on a daily basis.  How did my Grandma know that?  She didn't have access to a book that told her so--at least I don't think she did.

Then, just recently, I met a man on one of my walks and had a short conversation with him.  He was probably 65 or 70 years old.  He said that he walks 10-12 miles per day.  I don't know if he meant literally, seven days a week.  Or if he meant Monday through Friday.  Either way, this was really impressive to me.

I feel lucky that in 2010, I was able to do many long walks, building up to a 24 mile walk, and many long hikes, culminating in a 22.5 mile hike.  It took a lot of training to get to that point.  Now, two years later, I can still do a 20 mile hike and with a lot less training than it took me to get there before.

This has made me wonder about my life in the years to come.  I recently made a goal to go on a backpacking trip every year for the next 20 years.  That will take me to almost age 60.  Can I do it?  I'm pretty sure I can if I train to do it and keep it up.  It's a very exciting prospect to me.  I just talked to Angie today about a pilgrimage that people do in Spain (?) called "The Way," which maybe is more formally called "The Way of St. James."  She said that she wants to walk it.  It's 500 miles long.  I told her that when she goes, I want to come along.

So, my point with this whole blog is to say that I think one of the single most important things you can do for your health is to walk.    Develop the skill of walking and continue doing it.

You all have a very good start on this habit.  You are the people that have done some of my long walks and hikes with:

Nathan and I did a 21.5 mile hike in the Porcupine Mountains.  Boy, that was quite the day.

May and I did a 17 mile hike in Pinckney Recreation Area on the Potowatomi Trail.  It rained that day and we slipped in the mud.

Elijah and I did a 22.5 mile hike in Waterloo Recreation Area.  We got kind of lost on what was supposed to be a 20 mile hike, making this the longest hike I've ever done in a single day.

May and Elijah and I did a 20 mile hike in Waterloo.  Waterloo is the home to many hills and is a good place to train if you are going to hike in the mountains out West.

Nathan and I did a hike along the Manistee River.  That's some crazy fall time beauty there.  It was nearly a perfect day weather-wise and I wished we had a tent and camping supplies with us.


Sariah and Brigham joined everyone on a 10 mile hike on the Chapel-Mosquito Loop in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, not once, but twice.


All of this is impressive, but equally impressive are all of the smaller walks and hikes that we have done to train for the longer hikes and also just to get around to the different places that we have wanted to see such as waterfalls in the U.P., hikes to see spring/summer/fall wildflowers, hikes to find reptiles/amphibians/birds, etc.

A walking habit will help your health for life.  A walking habit will provide for you hours of enjoyment.  A walking habit will keep you connected to nature.  A walking habit is a good way to connect with other people. A walking habit will connect you to your Grandma who you never knew.  A walking habit will help keep us close as a family.

Love you all,

Mom