Walking through the 'Burgh: 1200 Miles in 12 Months

Day Nine...BBC Documentaries...

2009-11-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

Day Nine was really the start of my second week on this journey, since I took Sunday, November 8th off. I always am busy on Monday nights, so for me to have any chance of getting any mileage in, I have to walk in the morning, and during lunch at work. On Day Nine, November 9th I took another early morning walk, Beechwood Short again. I've found that if I do it consistently, I can actually get up early (5:45AM!) to go on a walk before work; I think it's a really good way to start off the day.

A quick note, since this post otherwise is somewhat unremarkable. I tend to listen to podcasts as I walk/hike, so I'll try to spotlight some of them over the course of the next few posts. All of these I subscribe to using iTunes, though I imagine you can find them in other locations as well.

BBC Documentaries; these programs are a bit of a pot-luck, highlighting interesting topics with a truly world-wide perspective. I've listened to programs on the development of MI6, the decline of Yiddish, and how Russians obtained Beatles recordings in the 60s and the influence the band had on Soviet culture. Check the program out-the podcast is updated about 3-4 times per week, so I don't always listen to the episodes immediately.

Day: 9 of 365

Mileage: 49.77 mi/1,200 mi; 1,150.23 mi to go

Percent Complete:4.14%

Day Eight...Day Off

2009-11-19T22:06:00.000-05:00

Day Eight was a day of rest...after 22 miles of walking on Day Seven, I thought my feet deserved a rest...so in the meantime, here's a useful website for hiking/walking in Pittsburgh:

Friends of the Riverfront

Friends of the Riverfront is responsible for many of the trails that line the Three Rivers, and I'll be writing about these trails as I walk them over the coming weeks and months. Take a look!

Day: 8 of 365

Mileage: 46.19 mi/1,200 mi; 1,153.81mi to go

Percent Complete:3.84%

Day Seven...The Montour Trail!

2009-11-19T21:57:00.003-05:00

Apologies for not posting recently...I've learned that I'm bad at keeping consistent posts! I'm going to try to catch up over the next couple of days.

Day Seven brought my most ambitious walk ever: 22 miles in one day. My personal record previously was 20 miles, so I decided to try and break that record while the weather is still relatively good in Pittsburgh.

The Montour Trail follows the right-of-way from the former Montour Railroad, a short line railroad built to transport coal from Western Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh for industrial use. The railroad hit its peak in the early-mid 20th century, but by 1984 was completely abandoned. There's a wealth of information about the trail on the trail's website, including an interactive map with directions to each trailhead & parking location.

I decided to do the first 11 miles of the trail, and then return back to my car at the trailhead in Coraopolis. The trail itself is very level, so it's perfect for long-distance walking. Some of the more interesting sights:

The trail has mileposts at every half mile, which is really great to keep you motivated as you walk along.
There is a pistol & rifle range around the first milepost; this didn't exactly make me feel comfortable...so I won't be walking this section again!
The trail maps mention water fountains and portable bathrooms at various access points on the trail...but they must be seasonal, as I didn't find any of them! This made life a little more interesting...
Some portions of the trail are really urban; I felt like I was walking through people's backyards, but other portions felt like I was in the middle of the country. It was really relaxing to eat my lunch, leaning against Milepost 11 (pictured above) in what felt like the middle of nowhere, when I really was still relatively close to home.
I completed the walk in just under 7 hours, which is about what I expected to do. I tend to walk a little slower on longer walks, so a pace just over 3 mph made me very happy.

I have to admit I was really, really tired at the end of the day, and I've never been happier to see my car at the end of a walk! However, this was a really good way to end off the first week of this challenge. I'm sure I will return to the Montour Trail again; I'd love to start at Milepost 11 and walk another 22 miles, eventually walking the entire trail over the course of a couple of days.

Day: 7 of 365

Mileage: 46.19 mi/1,200 mi; 1,153.81mi to go

Percent Complete:3.84%

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/walk/united-states/pa/coraopolis/716125763609143090"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Montour Trail Miles 0-11&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/find-walk/united-states/pa/coraopolis"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Walks in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Bonus Post!

2009-11-12T16:03:00.003-05:00

Check out this link from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; I can't wait until this is finished. You can bet I'll work it into a walk soon:

Mon Wharf riverfront trail nearly complete

Day Six...Day Off

2009-11-11T15:43:00.000-05:00

So over the course of this journey, I won't be able to walk every single day. There will be vacations, days that I'm sick, bad weather days, days that the rest of my life takes over (these walks, while fun, actually do take up significant amounts of time), where I'm not able to walk. Also, as in this case, I took the day off to prepare for my next walk; when I do this, you know it's going to be a big one! Read the next post to find out...

In the meantime...a quick thought. Pittsburgh has so many different colored fire hydrants! I've seen the standard all-red, or red-white combos, but over the past 6 days I've seen the following combinations:

Red
Red & White
Yellow & Red
Yellow & White
Yellow & Orange
Yellow & Green

Who would have ever thought there would be so many combinations? I'll try to include thoughts like this to keep these Day Off posts interesting...

Day: 6 of 365

Mileage: 24.19 mi/1,200 mi; 1,175.81mi to go

Percent Complete:2.02%

Day Five...a repeat with a twist...

2009-11-11T15:38:00.000-05:00

I am not a morning person. I freely admit that. So, the fact that I did the same walk on Day Five (Wightman-Wilkins) that I did on Day Four, but forgot the route and cut off a portion of it, should not surprise anyone...other than that, not much to say about Day Five!

Day: 5 of 365

Mileage: 24.19 mi/1,200 mi; 1,175.81mi to go

Percent Complete:2.02%

Day Four...two new routes!

2009-11-11T15:28:00.001-05:00

First off, I'm a bit behind in blog posts; I'm going to try and catch up as soon as I can!

Day Four of my challenge brought another early morning walk, and a new route. I was worried about my foot that morning; you may remember I had turned it just hours before during my evening walk. Luckily, it felt just fine, and I was able to complete my morning walk. I took a different route, posted below; it features a number of hills, and takes one past some nice homes, a fitness/yoga studio, and between two of Pittsburgh's cemeteries. I always get a solemn, reverent feeling walking around cemeteries, even though they're often recreation spaces for families and pets. I've named this route Wightman-Wilkins:

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyhike.com/walk/united-states/pa/squirrel-hill/851125734658936938"&amp;gt;Wightman-Wilkins&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyhike.com/find-walk/united-states/pa/squirrel-hill"&amp;gt;Find more Walks in Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

That afternoon I took a walk on my lunch break, and walked another new route. This one took me over a couple of Pittsburgh's numerous bridges, the 6th and 16th Street bridges. The 6th Street Bridge is one of my favorites; normally if I walk across it, I actually get to walk in the middle of the road! The 6th Street Bridge, aka the Roberto Clemente Bridge, leads directly to PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. While the team has, shall we say, not had a good few years (no winning seasons since 1992), the park is a beautiful place, and I love going to games there. My route took me along the Allegheny River to the 16th Street Bridge, which is right next to an old Heinz Ketchup plant, which has now been turned into loft apartments. The bridge leads into the Strip District, a potpurri of stores, groceries, and several vendors selling Steelers garb.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyhike.com/walk/united-states/pa/pittsburgh/920125736990350430"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Three Bridges &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; River Trail Walk&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyhike.com/find-walk/united-states/pa/pittsburgh"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Walks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

Day: 4 of 365

Mileage: 20.57 mi/1,200 mi; 1,179.43 mi to go

Percent Complete:1.71%

Day Three...Walking at night, and a scare...

2009-11-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

Day Three brought my first (and for a while, my last) nighttime walk in this journey to 1200 miles. Why my last? Well...there are challenges to walking at night, mainly visibility. The combination of the end of Daylight Savings Time and the falling leaves from the past couple of weeks have made sidewalks a little, shall we say, treacherous. It is nice to hear the crunch of leaves under your feet, but you can't always tell exactly where the sidewalk is. Sometimes it goes up (maybe a tree root is pushing it up), sometimes it goes down, sometimes it's broken up in parts, sometimes it's missing completely!

So, on to my route below; I call this Beechwood Medium, because I have the option to tack on extra portions to make this a longer walk.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/walk/united-states/pa/squirrel-hill/856125730123537832"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Beechwood-medium&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/find-walk/united-states/pa/squirrel-hill"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Walks in Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

This route has some really beautiful overlooks of the Monongahela River and the South Side; when I have a working camera, I'll post some pictures. About an hour into my walk, I learned the hard way about walking at night. I stepped into what can best be described as a divot in the sidewalk, and turned my foot. It hurt for a bit, but I was able to complete my walk. Now, two days later, it doesn't hurt at all, but I was incredibly lucky to not hurt myself more badly. I guess I'm going to be doing a lot of dawn walks from now until the days get longer in the spring...

Day: 3 of 365

Mileage: 14.24 mi/1,200 mi; 1,185.76 mi to go

Percent Complete:1.18%

Day Two...Daylight Savings Time...

2009-11-04T10:32:00.000-05:00

Day two brought new challenges along this journey to 1200 miles. Daylight Savings Time ended on Sunday, and while it's great to gain that extra hour of sleep, it makes a significant impact on my walking plans. I now have one less hour of daylight to walk in the evenings; that hour of daylight made a difference last week! Now I leave work in the dark, so that changes things a bit.

Monday I walked the same Beechwood Short route that I did on Sunday, Day One. I won't paste the map again, since it's on my previous post, but I will say I did it 3 minutes faster on Monday. I'm not sure why that happened-I wasn't trying to go faster!

November is a warm enough month in Pittsburgh, but the cold weather is coming soon. So, in an effort to get as much mileage in before it gets cold, I'm walking during my lunch breaks at work. I work in downtown Pittsburgh, so my options for routes are a little more limited. The route I did on Monday is posted below; Fort Duquesne-Grant-Fort Pitt is a nice, 2+ mile route that can easily be done in 40-50 minutes, depending on your pace. I like it because it's a perimeter route; it feels like you're a little further away from the busy center of downtown, and it's a little more relaxing than walking through the center of the Golden Triangle.

Day: 2 of 365

Mileage: 9.32 mi/1,200 mi; 1,190.68 mi to go

Percent Complete:0.77%

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/walk/united-states/pa/pittsburgh/381125719420698152"&amp;gt;Ft. Pitt-Grant-Ft. Duquesne Route&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/find-walk/united-states/pa/pittsburgh"&amp;gt;Find more Walks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

Day One...

2009-11-02T16:13:00.000-05:00

So, I wanted to start this challenge off with a bang. Unfortunately, my Sunday was packed with other things, and the only time I could walk was early in the morning. I am definitely not a morning person, so I guess I'm trying a lot of new things.

This route is a shortened version of one I often walk in Squirrel Hill named Beechwood. The full Beechwood is much longer than this map; the advantage of walking on Beechwood is that there are several places you can turn off, and therefore a lot of variations on the route, which you'll see as I walk them. Beechwood is a very picturesque winding road; my route yesterday morning took me along Frick Park, one of Pittsburgh's major parks, as well as through a neighborhood full of large, beautiful houses. Sometime soon I'll post some pictures, but I have to get a new memory card for my camera first. For now, the route is below; you should be able to view it from MapMyWalk.com. They have a "post in your blog" function; if this doesn't work, I'll simply post the URL in the future.

Day: 1 of 365
Mileage: 3.58 mi/1,200 mi; 1,196.42 mi to go
Percent Complete:0.29%

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/walk/united-states/pa/pittsburgh/187125718507832017"&amp;gt;Beechwood-Short, with Pocusset-Phillips extension&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/find-walk/united-states/pa/pittsburgh"&amp;gt;Find more Walks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

A quick correction...

2009-11-01T14:38:00.001-05:00

A quick correction; yesterday I said I'd have to do about 20 miles a week...it's more like 23, and this is why I don't do mental math! I should have a post later today describing Day 1, and my first walk (or two-we'll see how the day progresses).

The Plan, and why I am doing this...

2009-10-31T17:45:00.007-04:00

So, the plan...well, I've been walking a lot lately (we had a 6-week walking program at work recently), and really enjoy it. I gave myself a goal of 100 miles in October, but blew past that in 3 weeks; I ended up walking about 159 miles this month. So, I asked myself, what was the next step? Well, why not get aggressive-100 miles a month for a year, or 1200 miles in 12 months.

So why am I doing this? Well...the answer is a bit complicated. Here's what my reasons are (I think!)

Physical fitness-I simply want to lose some weight and get healthier. I've worked a number of jobs where there's been a lot of hours and a lot of stress. I didn't respond to those challenges in the best way, so I'm looking to lose some weight. I'm not a natural athlete, and have bad knees, but I found that I can walk long distances with no problems. I spent a summer working in Colorado and really discovered my love of walking; if I wasn't at work that summer, I was out hiking in the mountains.
To achieve a big goal-1200 miles is a big number, but it's really only 100 miles a month, 20 miles a week (give or take), or about 3.28 miles per day. That's really just an hour's walk per day at my normal pace. So, it's a big number, but it's totally achievable, and I'd love to say that I've done it.
I really like what I term "long-distance" walking-that is, a walk of 90 minutes or more. I've found that it really calms my mood, allows me time to think, or just zone out, and while I'm doing so I'm burning calories, expending energy, and learning more about where I live. In this era of multi-tasking, I can't think of a healthier way to multi-task, or one that's more fun!
To discover more of Pittsburgh-I've been in the city for a while now, but really have never taken time to explore. Part of this challenge/adventure is to take time and explore different parts of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
To share more of Pittsburgh-if you're reading this and you're in Pittsburgh, maybe I'll find something you'd be interested in. If you're not in Pittsburgh, maybe I'll find something that you may have visited while you were here, or maybe something that will make you want to visit! Not that I'm a Visitor's Bureau, but I like this city, and I hope to share that with those who read this blog.
To meet like-minded people; I'd love to meet some people who like walking as much as I do, and like Pittsburgh as I do. There's bound to be some people out there like me, right?
To peg the pedometer! I think it's fun to see how many steps I can get on my pedometer every day. From what I've heard, a healthy # is 10,000/day. My record (as of writing this) is 43,634 in one day, earlier this month. I'd like to think my next big goal would be 45,000, then 50,000 in a day...and to infinity and beyond?

So, to the rules, as I've set them out for myself:

I will only log miles that I can actually measure-that is, a walk longer than 10 minutes or so. I'll measure these walks through an account on MapMyWalk.com, and calculate my totals from there. In the long run, I'm sure my actual total will be higher, since I'm not counting the steps I take at work or around the house, but that's just the proverbial icing on the cake...
I'm allowing myself to count miles both outdoors and indoors. Outdoor miles are self-explanatory; indoor miles are those spent walking on a treadmill. Obviously there are going to be days that walking outside will be challenging due to the weather. So, if I walk miles on a treadmill, I'll count those towards my total.
I do not have to hit 100 miles in every month. There may be times, such as vacation, where I'm not able to walk as I normally do, so if I have a month where I only have 75 miles, that's ok. On the flip side, if I have a month where I hit 150 miles, that's ok too, but it can't be a crutch; I'm not going to hit 100, and then just stop for the rest of a month.
If I have a bad couple of days, where I can't get much, if any, walking in, I will not stop this challenge. I will get back on the proverbial "horse" and keep going.
I'll update this blog with each unique route that I take, so that others may see what I think are good walks in Pittsburgh. If I use the same route more than once, I won't post it multiple times, but will refer to it by name.

So, to wrap up this lengthy post, what can you expect from this blog? Well, you can expect the following (I think-this is a work-in-progress; I've never had a blog before...):

Periodic mileage updates (progress reports, essentially)
Maps of the routes I walk (one map for each route)
Pictures of things I see along the way (that'll come eventually-have to get some new camera equipment)
And, anything else I think is relevant!

It's October 31st, 2009, Halloween. I start this challenge tomorrow, Sunday, November 1st, 2009. 1200 miles by next Halloween, October 31st, 2010. Can I do it? Let's find out...