the walk

I walked until a bit past midnight, so...

Almost 250 minutes of walking, most of it in the pouring rain, out from my workplace in the Daechi district, then all the way over to Jamshil Bridge, then back to my apartment. Almost 25.7K steps. I was at close to my healthy average of 6,000 steps per hour, but I doubt my speed was up to 5 kph. The pedometer put me at a distance of 12.3 miles or 19.9 km, which is absurd. The walk to and from Jamshil Bridge is around 17 km at most. I trust my pedometer for time and steps walked, but not for distance. It exaggerates distance. Assuming 17 km walked, at 249 minutes, that's a speed of about 4.8 kph, which is possible.

Jamshil Bridge's cathedral-like underside

Rain rain rain. Brain brain brain.

helluva night for a stroll—I was soaked, though it might not be obvious in the pic

And here's a short video I took:

In the next post, I'll show off my toe. If it bled, the rain—which soaked through my shoes—washed any evidence of leakage away. My feet felt fine over the course of the walk, maybe thanks to diabetic numbness, and even though I did some stairs along the Yangjae Creek (five staircases, i.e. roughly 325 steps), I wasn't all that tired by the end. I credit the stairs training that I've been doing. As I said, I've become a big believer in staircase workouts over the years. Great way to measure fitness, and great for both leg strength and cardio.

There's a lot of construction on the segment of the path that goes along the last reaches of the Tan-cheon to the Han River. I can't walk my usual route as a result, and that makes me a bit antsy. At the beginning of the walk, around 7:50 p.m., there were plenty of people on the bike path, but once the rain started up in earnest, Nature whittled us down to the most dedicated people. A feisty grandmother bustled past me at one point, and I thought she might make it as far as the Jamshil Bridge, but she wussed out well before the bridge, stopping at one of the riverside convenience stores for some refreshment.

It felt good to be out and to walk as if things were normal. I felt almost normal, even with the rain. I don't know whether my wound is healed enough to withstand this sort of punishment should I do more walks, but I'll keep an eye on the seepage in my bandage and whatever stain appears on my sock. If things get out of hand, I'll back off, but tonight's walk felt therapeutic on multiple levels. If possible, I'd like to keep walking. My body obviously thinks it's past time.