Walker Hydration

Since my walks are only around an hour right now, I don't need crazy hydration. But since this is Southern California, when I do walk in the summer I think I'll need to carry some water. Lately I've been carrying a few dollars in my pocket, just in case. I could always buy a bottle of water somewhere. But, to carry music, my keys & water...maybe I will try out a hydration "waist pack" or fanny pack!

I went to REI today and looked at what they had. Nothing totally grabbed me, but now I'm thinking something like this: Amphipod RunLite AirStretch Hydration Belt would be perfect. Being inspired by all the PCT Thru hikers I'm thinking, keep it simple & light. I am also thinking, is there a way I could make it myself???

I don't need a ton of water, and if I decided to only take one, it seems like the holster wouldn't been intrusive in it's absence. I'll probably order it and give it a go.

Inspiration

A few months ago I drove past Mt. Whitney on my way to Mammoth Mountain. When I got back home I searched around and read about what it's like to hike on a few blogs. One of them was part of a bigger blog describing the hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. I don't know if I had ever heard about the walk, but I was familiar with long hikes. I grew up near the Appalachian Trail.

Nonetheless, it's springtime and I think the energy of the season just inspires me to want to get in shape. But reading about the PCT is so inspiring. I've read a lot about the trail here: http://postholer.com/

I'm kind of addicted to reading about the treks on everyone's journal. The kickoff was last weekend and now lots of people are on the trail.

I only walk an hour a day. It's amazing to think of doing that for 5 - 7 or more hours / day. I don't know if I could. I was thinking, what if I walked 100 miles of the PCT each year. It would take me 26 years to finish the trail. It's mind boggling. You thru hikers are an inspiration.
 

It's time to get in shape. I've started walking, daily for exercise. I started by increasing the length I walked with my dog. But since he's slow and 40 minutes is his max I've started longer walks without him.

So far my walks consist of 1 hr/day + 20 minutes with my dog.

I've used a $20 pedometer to track my distance and quite consistently, 1 hour equals 3 miles.

I'm looking into all the fun new gadgets on the market to track my spring fitness plans. The Fit Bit Flex looks really cool. But it hasn't been released yet, and I can't tell when it will. The Jawbone UP looks really cool, but it sounds like it's plagued with problems. Maybe taking a piece of technology and making it wearable is harder than it seems. Is that why the Fit Bit Flex is taking so long to get to market? Which lead me to look at simple GPS watches and a lot of them look cool (Nike Tom Tom version).

So, I'll be looking around at these devices, tracking what I learn and tracking my fitness here on this site.

Right now I'm about 150lbs and I hope to get down to 135lb. I hope to do it through daily, long walks. I'll keep you posted here.

Oh, I live in LA, hence the name...a nod to the classic Missing Persons tune, Walking in LA!