Last day of walking!

I’m about to head out for my last full day of walking. Shortly before I get to my house tonight I will hit 400 miles! So it took a little longer then I had hoped, that is ok. I’m glad I’m going to complete all the miles.

I’m really glad that mother nature has cooperated with me and kept the worst of the summer heat away. Growing up in LA I have clear memories of 90+ degree days in April, May and June. The fact that it has been in the 70′s for the majority of my walks, with occasional trips to the low 80′s has been utterly amazing. I run warm and sweat easily as it is. Really hot days would have made this so much more difficult. Surprisingly June Gloom seemed to have disappeared with June exactly this year. Not sure I’ve ever seen that happen. So today will probably be my warmest walk.

A couple cool things have happened recently. First, one of my co-workers has said he was inspired by me and has started walking to work occasionally as well. He has 3 flat miles, so I’m rather jealous, but I think it’s amazing that I’ve helped inspire someone else to walk!

The other amazing thing is that Sanuk (they of my favorite walking not shoes) have posted an article about me on their blog! It’s officially my first article about me! Hee. I found the article highly entertaining, so please check it out.

The last bit of news I have for you all today, is that I will be hosting walking tours around LA. Many people said I should plan walks around LA for others to join. It was a great idea but I had no energy or time to do that while I was in the midst of my own walk. But now I do! So I’m going to do 1 or 2 a month for the summer. Probably mostly closer to the beach since it will get HOT soon. But I’m taking requests for places or types of things people would like to see. I’ll do some research and try to find interesting and different walks. Check back here for updates.

With that I will leave you with a few more pictures from Catalina, this time all from land.

Current Total: 387.52 miles
Today I will finish: 12.48 miles!!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

Update on Floating Doctors

Once again I find I’m talking about myself way too much, I’m such a narcissist! I’ve been catching up on the Floating Doctors Blog and crying my eyes out all morning.

First, after about two months in Haiti, they have set sail for Honduras!

What Ben and the crew are doing moves me beyond words. They are inspiring to me and I want to be like them when I grow up . So many of us (and trust me I include myself in these statements) get wrapped up in all the noise and little dramas of modern life. Money, clothes, toys, stuff, image, other people’s thoughts about us, road rage, etc. Here is this group of people who have given up all that, plus the conveniences that come with it: tv, internet, Trader Joe’s, etc. They’ve given it up to live on a boat, sail the world, not sleep much, perform lots of manual labor all while helping to heal people who would otherwise probably not see a doctor or dentist. They treat people who have been sick for a long time, because there is no doctor to see, no CVS they can walk to.

Ben lives by the belief in human kindness and mutual respect. How many of us can say that? How many of us go about our day and try to treat everyone we encounter with kindness and respect? No petty gossip, or complaining? I know I don’t. I can think of a rant just yesterday about a co-worker I find frustrating to deal with. How much better would life be if we all tried to be a little kinder and more respectful of each other?

It’s so easy when we focus on our copious to do lists to forget that the person we’re complaining about is human and has just as many feelings and emotions as us. That the guys who cut us off on the road and we flipped off, is just as stressed and focused on his own problems as we are. We think of our problems as the end of the world sometimes, but they aren’t. I think those of us in the US, or developed Westernized countries in general forget how good we really have it. No our lives aren’t perfect and we all have problems, and that will never change. But our lives are never as bad as we think, and I believe if we tried to treat each other better on a daily basis we would all be happier.

So the long and the short of this is: Dr Ben and the crew are my inspiration in life right now, and I would absolutely love to be on the boat with them right this minute. Since I cannot I am trying to take charge of my own life and health while trying to assist them in their mission. Tomorrow I will finish the 400 miles! This weekend I will go find shoes that I can stand to wear to run in and find a 5k that I will run. but today, I will try to not gossip or bitch about anyone and I will try to remember that everyone is human and has feelings and I will try be kind, respectful and loving to everyone I meet. I hope you will as well.

Please take some time to visit Ben’s blog: http://floatingdoctors.com/

Here are my two favorites of his recent posts:
Man is a Measure of All Things
Happiness is a Deliberate Choice

Stats update:
Wednesday: 12.5 miles

Total: 387.52 miles
Remaining: 12.48 miles!!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

25 Miles to go!

I lost my focus for a few days there, but I’m back to walking. Life just likes to get in the way of everything. Last week I was traveling and then it was my birthday and I have so many things I put off for 39 days that are starring me in the face asking to be taken care of: going to the recycling center, returning a cooler to a friend, laundry, a stack of papers and mail that need to be sorted, filed and recycled, etc. I started to let myself to try get to all of these things and realized I would never finish these last few miles. I had to refocus my energies back to walking. One of the main reasons I want to get these finished is so I can take on other activities that don’t eat up almost every spare minute of the day.

That being said on Saturday my fabulous friend Maddie and I went to Catalina and spent the day wandering around Avalon. We also got some snorkeling in which was so soothing to my soul. Absolutely nothing in the world makes me as calm inside as being in or on the water. The ocean works best, but any body of water will give me a bit of it. I didn’t want to get out of the water, I would have stayed there for hours if I could have. But alas we had to catch the ferry home.

I finally got back to walking to work yesterday! I will say after having a few days off, I enjoyed it more than I had in a while. That was a pleasant surprise. It makes me think that I will still walk occasionally just because I want to.

I have to hit the road to work, but here are some snorkeling photos from Catalina.

Stats update:
Catalina: 3.6 miles
Tuesday: 12.5 miles

Total: 375.02 miles
Remaining: 24.98 miles!!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

What’s next

It’s been a crazy week! Yesterday was my birthday and I celebrated perhaps a tad too much for my advanced age. I finally had my first real hangover today. Yes, my FIRST hangover, sigh I was really hoping to avoid that experience in life altogether. This is not because I’ve never drank too much, oh no, I did go to college. I just have odd body chemistry. My body may decide to hang on to every morsel of food I eat and stash it in my thighs, stomach, arms, really any where and everywhere, but for some reason my body has always been a bit indifferent to alcohol. It takes a lot to get me drunk, a lot to keep my drunk and after a reasonable amount of sleep, I’m totally fine, or I was totally fine. But my body’s birthday gift to me this year, was to tell me that it’s not gonna do that any more and I can no longer drink like I’m 21. I suppose it is a good thing that I rarely drink like I’m 21, and now that I’ve finally had a hangover, it will probably be even less frequent. But I had a fabulous time!

Do to birthday shenanigans and such I have not done much walking this week. I wanted to be done last week because I knew finding the time to walk 5 hours a day would be hard this week. But I will be done with my miles soon! Next week will be a calm normal, non birthday, non traveling week and I will easily get my miles done! YAY! Because I’m ready to move on.

One of the great things about this walk has been the desire to move again. I’ve found I’m wanting to get back into yoga, into dancing, swimming, etc. I will admit I’m a little over walking. There is a lot about walking I love. I enjoy being outside, I love getting the chance to see things you miss in a car, I love not having to find parking! But it’s time consuming as a means of travel, and has left large sections of LA very difficult to get to. It’s one thing to walk everywhere in Boston, or New York, but in LA it really limits your access to the city. I’m hoping I will find a balance, taking the bus more (I’m totally getting a monthly metro pass) and walking a few miles a day, saving the car for longer trips or laundry and using some of this free time I suddenly have to participate in other forms of exercise that I really like.

But one of the weirdest outcomes is that I want to run. I have always hated running. I have exercise induced asthma, and as a kid running was the fastest way to set it off. Running to me became synonymous with not being able to breathe, so as soon as my breath would start to get labored I would panic. But I have some friends who’ve taken up running recently and I read “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall earlier this year. And now I’m starting to get the itch to try running.

So here is my next big goal:
Run a 5k by fall.
And
Lose 30 lbs by September

While doing this I will keep blogging about what I’m up to and I will continue to try to figure out this whole fundraising thing! More on that next week.

For now have a fabulous weekend. It’s my birthday weekend and I don’t plan to spend much time on my computer. Tomorrow is Catalina and I’m gonna go get my snorkel on!

I leave you with more images from my trip to Seattle:

Stats update:
Wednesday: 6.2 miles

Total: 358.92 miles
Remaining: 41.08 miles!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

I’m back

I’m back from my weekend of baseball in Seattle and Portland. It was good times; lots of rain, lots of baseball, and some walking. Ok a couple months ago it would have seemed like a lot of walking, but not now. We walked 13.32 miles over four days. I’m almost embarrassed at that small amount after everything I’ve been doing. But it was vacation, so I suppose I’ll go easy on myself.

Last week my friend Al pointed me to a website that I can more accurately keep track of my walks: mapmywalk.com. How did I not find this site before?? I’m disappointed in my own internet skills now. I had been mapping on Google maps, which is a useful tool, but they don’t recognize stairwells and other places cars cant go. So I’ve been having fun trying to put in my walks and I’ m really glad to have a more accurate distance, even if I am nearly at the end.

I have less then 50 miles left! For most of this week I hope to get around mostly by walking, but I am going to allow myself onto public transportation and maybe I’ll accept car rides from others. More news on whats next by Friday!

For now, it’s back to work. I will leave you with a few photos of the people I saw around Seattle and Portland:

Stats update:
Friday-Tuesday: 13.32 miles

Total: 352.72 miles
Remaining: 47.28 miles!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

39 days complete!

Yesterday was my last day of walking everywhere! It is kinda crazy that it is over. I have to get to the airport so I have no time for a long post. I will be back mid-next week with my thoughts and my future plans. I’m really excited so please come back to see what’s next!

Since I’m off for a weekend of baseball, here are a few baseball themed photos from my walk.

Stats update:
Thursday: 10.6 miles

Total: 339.4 miles
Remaining: 60.6 miles!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a fabulous weekend!
-Kim

Day Thirty-nine

Well today is the last official day of the walk! 39 days! The last couple weeks went faster then the first couple. I didn’t quite get in 400 miles, but I will finish by end of the month.

I feel like I should have some sort of meaningful wrap up, but right now I have too much to do to think very heavily. I will say I’m glad I did this, I feel like I want to exercise now, when for so many years I didn’t. I can feel my body asking for a yoga class to stretch and I want to take some dance classes, and I want to go swimming, etc.

There are a few reasons I’m glad this phase is over. I don’t like walking through the Chahuenga Pass into Hollywood, it’s frightening in a bad way. I’ll be glad to not have to walk my groceries back home, and I’ll be glad to drive to the laundromat. Also, I’m really looking forward to having a little bit of time back to do other things like to talk to and see my friends!

I’m going out of town tomorrow and I fly back Tuesday. Next week I’ll have more info about whats next. I have some new goals now and I need to figure out how to really raise money, so this was just the first step. I have some fun ideas for interesting ways to interact with you all more! I’m really excited about whats to come

I need to say few thank yous! First thank you to all my friends who have been amazingly supportive! I have appreciated the comments, the phone calls and all your encouragement. Thank you to Sam and Jason for helping me write the Press Release. Thank you to Margaret for doing my laundry. Thank you to Art for daily texts of support and inspiration. Thank you to Scott and Emily for giving me a place to sleep in Venice! And of course thank you to everyone who has donated and thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about what I’ve been doing!

Finally here are a few pictures from my walk around work. It’s an interesting area that has Burbank Water and Power, Burbank firefighter training station, and a really nice park.

I will post my stats tomorrow before I leave town.

Stats update:
Wednesday: 12.6 miles

Total: 328.8 miles
Remaining: 71.2 miles!

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

Day Thirty-eight

I had a really entertaining moment on my walk home last night. I’ve been walking through residential neighborhoods lately to add some mileage and for a change of scenery. So last night I’m walking down the street in front of an apartment complex and suddenly this older guy comes out of the complex and cuts me off. A guy walking cuts me off! bizarre! He literally came out and stepped in front of me and I missed walking into him by a few inches. So I slow down my pace for a couple steps so that I’m not stepping on his heels, I don’t feel the need to be rude like him. We are nearing a street corner that I need to turn down, so I’m hoping he’ll go straight and I can get on with my life.

Doesn’t happen. He turns down the street also. I immediately realize I’m about to look like a stalker. But I want to get home and that is the way home and I wasn’t feeling like going even further out of my way for this rude guy. Sure enough after I turn the corner he glances back at me and picks up his pace. Now this guy isn’t some small, frail senior citizen. He’s probably in his late 50s, a little taller then me, and stocky. He seemed in good shape and probably stronger then me. I’m fat enough that he could probably out run me if he needed to, but of course he doesn’t need to! I slow down more, but I’m getting to a pace that is difficult to maintain. I’m trying to figure out what to do, should I speed up and pass him? Should I just stop and let him go? Do I walk across the street? He keeps glancing back at me. I felt bad freaking this guy out, but he’s the one who cut me off! I step off the sidewalk and walk in the street for a bit, which just seems to cause him more anxiety. At that point I decide I’m not doing anything wrong, he didn’t care that he cut me off so why should I care that he’s now paranoid about me. I start to find the whole situation really funny and I laughed out loud a little, which I don’t think helped ease his concern! Eventually he turned down another street that I didn’t need to go down and we went our separate ways. Once he was gone I had to stop walking because I was laughing so hard at the complete ridiculousness of the entire situation.

Anyway, in Venice there was this one house with all these cardboard animals in the yard. It cracked me up. So today’s photos are all from the same house. Enjoy!

I managed to get a couple single mile laps in during work yesterday. I need to remember to bring my camera on that walk, but I always forget.

Stats update:
Tuesday: 12.6 miles

Total: 316.2 miles
Remaining: 83.8 miles

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

Day Thirty-seven

I have less then 100 miles left!! Wow, the end finally seems in site. Of course the end will probably be next week, but that is ok.

I thought I would share how my “not shoes” have been doing. I’ve walked approximately 260 miles in them and I’m still in love! I’m still a flip flop girl, but for now on if I know I’m going to be walking a lot Sanuks are what I’m wearing. They were one of the best purchases I’ve made in a while. The bottoms are starting to see just a little wear, as you might expect after over 200 miles, but I think they’ll hold up for this last hundred

OK, how about some prettier pictures now.

Another castle!

Stats update:
Monday: 10.6 miles

Total: 303.6 miles
Remaining: 96.4 miles

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim

Day Thirty-six

Well it has become abundantly clear that 1) I will not reach 400 miles by Thursday 2) I will not come anywhere close to my fundraising goal. So what next?

I am going to hit 400 miles, but I’m just going to take a little longer. I’m going out of town this weekend and I’ll be doing a lot of walking on my trip. When I get back I will continue walking until I get my 400 miles. However I don’t think I will be as strict as I have been. The walking has become a bit of a second job, and I’m ready to have some semblance of a life again. Between being at work 9 hours a day (on a short day), walking 4.5 hours a day, and getting 7 hours of sleep, I’m left with 3.5 hours to shower, dress, prepare food, check email, socialize, write these blogs (which usually take over an hour), clean, shop, relax, read, etc. I feel like every second of my day is planned and it’s getting a little claustrophobic. So I’m going to lessen my restrictions when I get back in town. I’ll post whatever new rules I set for myself.

As for the fundraising. Well, I’m going to have to figure out what to do next. I’ve got a few ideas, but I’ll happily take more. The most important thing is that I NEED more people to come to the site. I have to do something or make this site something that people want to share. I will never raise the money I want if only 9 people visit the site daily. I’ll keep going until I raise the money, I’ll try and try again. Although at this rate Floating Doctors will be back in LA by the time hit my goal! Once I decide on the next step I’ll let you all know.

Anyway I had a lovely weekend, I got back on my feet and I walked all the way to the beach on Saturday, 15 miles there plus a little wandering! I stayed with my friends Scott and Emily, who have the most adorable little house right on the Venice canals. We went out of drinks and dinner and for one evening I felt like a normal person who actually gets to socialize. It was fabulous!

After brunch on Sunday I walked along the beach a bit and then came home. I was hoping I would get on the way early enough to enjoy some of the PRIDE festivities, but by the time I hit West Hollywood, the parade was long over and I was too tired to tired for any bars.

It was a really nice change of pace for the weekend, but I still got a lot of miles in, which was good since I’m so far behind!

Stats update:
Saturday: 16.5 miles
Sunday: 17.4 miles

Total: 293 miles
Remaining: 107 miles

Please, help me reach my goal of $100,000 for Floating Doctors by donating here:

Have a great day!
-Kim