I have been visiting my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky for the past few weeks. I have been doing a lot of walking in preparation for biking which will start again on June 2 in Boulder, CO.
On Memorial Day, I participated in the Louisville Mayor’s Hike, Bike, and Paddle event. There were over 7,000 bikers, and about 500 or so walkers, plus about 200 paddlers. The official walk was 5K. Of course, there were a few renegade runners, and some walkers chose to walk a longer course. It was billed as a family fitness event, so there was no official contest. I started out behind several walkers on the start/finish line. I worked my way up to about 10th place (maybe 50 yards behind the leader), when all the leaders took the alternate longer route. I decided to stay on the official 5K route like the great majority of those behind me. Amazingly, I crossed the finish line first. There was no fanfare, but I threw my hands up in the air celebrating that I was the CHAMP! It certainly wasn’t lightning fast, but I walked the course in just over 53 minutes, or a little less than 17 minutes per mile. Before this year, I wouldn’t have dreamed of even trying something like this. If I can borrow a bike and I am in Louisville next year at this time, maybe I’ll go for the biking championship! I stopped at my buddy, Tim’s downtown condo for some extra water. He took this picture of me. As you can see, I am grinning ear to ear!