Walking with Gina

I just signed up for the Grand Floral Walk. This is the third organized walk I have signed up for, despite my continually changing my mind about whether to do them or not.

It started with a thought to do the Turkey Trot back in October. We can earn gift cards by participating in wellness activities, and that was one option. It sort of got into my mind that my sisters and I could do that. We are trying to be more fit, and we go on walks together. At the time we did not sign up, because it looked like Mom might be either in the hospital or recovering from surgery, but we did go for a walk that day.

Fast-forward a few months, and a coworker was looking for some kind of 5K before the Shamrock Run. I knew I had seen something, and found a run/walk for Fanconi Anemia on February 13th. I could find it because after realizing that the Turkey Trot was not going to work out, I was a little disappointed. However, I also walk by Foot Traffic on my way to the train, and I had started realizing that there are always different events going on.

Anyway, as I was passing on the information, I started thinking that I could do that. I had walked a 5K route before (the day after the actual event) so I knew I was physically capable. Why not try it?

So I signed up.

Almost immediately after that, someone started getting a group together for the Shamrock Run. I had just signed up for a 5K, and paid good money for it, so I did not originally intend to do it, but I gave in to peer pressure and suddenly, I was doing two walks exactly a month apart. I still kept seeing more events coming up, and I was thinking, I could do this all the time. Well, that was before I did one.

For reasons we will cover later, I did not do the February 13th event, so my first official 5K was the Shamrock Stride. Fortunately, as part of a group we got our numbers and shirts early, so I did not need to go down for check in, but could just show up at race time. This only eliminated some waiting around.

There were just so many people! One concern with the various events was that they all take place on Sunday, and since we are on the late schedule now I was sure I could get back in time for church, but we started forty-five minutes late because it took so long for all the 5K runners to get started. There were thousands of people in every event. It was 32000 total.

It was somewhat cool hanging out with my coworkers before the event (by the end of my walk, I had no idea where any of them were), and seeing the different costumes and things, and there was definitely a sense of solidarity and participation, and I definitely walked faster than usual, even if I was still slow compared to a normal person. Still, I came away thinking that it was silly to pay deal with a crowd. I didn’t regret doing it—I just wasn’t hungry for more.

However, the Grand Floral Walk is on a Saturday, and Regence sponsors it, and my coworker is telling me how fun it is, and then you get good seats for the parade, which normally I would not feel a need to watch downtown, but maybe one time would be okay. It doesn’t mean I will do it next year. I will say that it makes me nervous that there is only a half hour lead-time between the walk and the parade. I know parades don’t move quickly, but neither do I. I’ll need to make sure to start out near the front so maybe I won’t be the last person to finish. That’s how I did it for the Shamrock.

That being said, I do look forward to taking many other walks throughout the course of the year. I can’t usually see a path without wanting to go down it, and then there have been articles about different trails, so I have a lot that I want to try. These include a tour of Portland’s oldest buildings, the Waterfront/Esplanade loop, and Laurelhurst.
The first one will be one that was not featured in any article, but with the frequent knee-surgery related trips to OHSU, I found myself drawn to the path that runs alongside Terwilliger. I want to put it first because if you keep going down Sam Jackson Road you end up at Duniway Lilac Garden. It seems logical to do it while lilacs are in bloom, and that is coming fast. I have not picked a day yet, but technically I guess I am in training now for the Grand Floral Walk, so I should be trying new exertions. As near as I can tell, it’s a bit more than 2.5 miles, but with a fair amount of downhill. After that, we will see.

If you want to join me for a walk, let me know. I move slowly, but am otherwise good company.

24 minutes walking outside
Matthew 13-20