Today Dave and I walked through the neighborhood over to a local park. This park has a man-made pond/lake, lots of playgrounds, picnic tables, enough trees to feel like it's got good shade, and LOTS of geese and ducks! There is a gravel path around the lake that we originally estimated to be about a quarter mile long. We decided to break today's walk into a few sections, taking breaks at homefor restroom and water breaks. My goal was to get in 9 miles this morning.
We began our loops around the lake, stepping carefully to avoid the ever-present goose poop that was all over the path. There was a light breeze, and a few clouds here and there. This was good, because the temps were already high, as was the humidity, making the morning feel quite warm.
We saw a mama duck and her 6 babies, so small and fuzzy. The mama was carefully watching the babies, letting them explore the pond and its feeder stream, but not letting them get into trouble. We saw a large gaggle of geese eating in the grass and gathering on the path.
When we approached, one of the geese felt threatened and starting squawking and hissing, stretching out its wings and flapping them around to try to scare us. He even charged at us at one point. It was a (much less threatening) replay of what had happened with the dogs out in the country last Saturday. :-)
As we walked, we thought that the loop felt more like 1/3 mile rather than 1/4, and so after 9 laps and 1 hour 20 minutes, we called for a break and headed back home. Once at home, we looked on MapMyWalk.com and discovered that our loop was actually about 1/2 mile! So with the walk over to the lake and back, we had already competed 5 miles!
After a quick break at home, we headed back out for four more miles. We passed by the animal control officer who was busy rescuing another set of baby ducks from the storm drain where they had fallen, with their mama duck standing by in distress. The animal control officer was successful, and the babies and their mother were taken back to the lake safely with the rest of the ducks and geese.
We walked another 7 laps - chugging water, listening to our iPods, stepping around goose droppings, and taking pictures on the last lap. We met other walkers, some runners, some moms with their babies and kids in strollers, and lots of geese. That one squawking goose continued to holler at us every time we passed him, and on the last time around, as I stopped to take his picture, he tried to eat my shoe laces. I guess we were on his territory and he had had enough!
All told, we walked 9 miles this morning. It was hot, but it felt good to get it done. This is the longest walk I've done so far in the training program, and I'm really proud of what I've been able to do!
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