Living in the Scoot Utopia

I'm always on the lookout for fun ways to get my exercise. This past week I decided to issue myself what seemed at the time like a challenge: to walk from the Plaza back home to the City Market.

The direct route is a straight shot, and only a little more than 4 miles long. That was too easy. So I plotted out a course that would take me to several interesting areas and double the mileage.

On Saturday afternoon I took the MAX to the Plaza, fired up my ipod, and started walking my pre-planned route. About 3-1/2 hours later I arrived at the City Market and sat down to a nice burnt ends dinner. Depending on the tool I use to measure the distance the total mileage was somewhere between 9.1 and 10.4 miles. It took 18,113 steps to complete the walk.

The walk proved not to be very difficult at all, and I'm glad I took a twisting route because I think the ease of the straight shot would have been disappointing. I only stopped for water twice (Sun Fresh in Westport and Union Station) and the closest thing I had to a nervewracking moment was getting barked at by a rottweiler. The weather was a little chilly but pleasant, and though it was only about 45 degrees I was far from the only person I encountered in shorts.

Other than being very sleepy last night, I feel great. No soreness whatsoever today. Because this was so easy I now have an even bigger urban walk in the works that I'll embark on in an upcoming weekend.

I took lots of photos of the walk, click the links below to see them:

1. Part 1: Country Club Plaza to the art galleries
2. Part 2: Westport to Penn Valley Park
3. Part 3: New Federal Reserve to Crown Center
4. Part 4: Union Hill to Convention Center
5. Part 5: Convention Center to City Market