Why I Walk

To answer MarmiteToasty's question about the Virtual Walking -

I walk every day to literally keep my toes and perhaps to keep my hearing and minimize the ceaseless ringing in my ears. The threat is to the nerves in my feet and inner ear and is caused by diabetic neuropathy. With this massive motivation, I walk seven to eight miles every day around my home somewhere - and even with all the nice places to walk available, they have grown stale.

Diabetic neuropathy is a common, serious complication of diabetes. In fact, it is estimated that one out of two people with diabetes has this condition. Symptoms of this nerve damage include sensations of pain and/or numbness, tingling or "pins and needles" in the feet and hands, and can be debilitating. The nerve damage can make a person extremely sensitive to even the lightest touch. Simply wearing socks or having a foot touch a bed sheet can cause pain. The pain typically worsens at night, making it difficult to sleep. Many people with this condition have difficulty walking, working or socializing.

Untreated peripheral neuropathy may result in permanent loss of nerve function, tissue damage, and muscle atrophy. It is important to manage this condition to reduce the risk for irreversible damage and other serious complications.

To make what would be a daily grind or torment bearable, I started to record the number of steps I took along with the resultant mileage as a progress chart of sorts. It originally gave me satisfaction knowing I had made my monthly goal. Over time, this sense of reward started to pale and I turned to other ways of motivating myself to walk, especially on days when the weather was less than pleasant.

Somewhere along the line, I decided to convert the "real miles" walked into "where would I be if I had actually gone somewhere". Thus the Virtual Walker - I "walked" across the United States, going from the beach on the east coast to the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and back - covering 6060 Miles (9752.6 kilometers).

I completed this "walk" last December after several years effort. I was quite happy I had finally finished the trip - I wrote of it briefly and LadyStyx had the brainstorm that the next Virtual Walk I undertook, I should share with people where I was (in a virtual sense) as I walked (in a very real sense) from time to time. So on December 3, 2007 I started a new Virtual Walk. And now, roughtly eight months later (and 119 virtual walk-related blog entries!) later, I am "in" Maine and have walked over 1758 miles.

I've learned a lot in this "voyage". I've learned about wildlife, history, geography, social events, what my friends enjoyed, where they have been and where they would like to go, and I've had a truly wonderful time sharing my walk with them. There is NO other form of encouragement that surpasses that given to me by my friends - I keep on keeping on, because of all of you - and for that encouragement I am deeply grateful.

And the good news is that while my feet hurt some days, I still have my toes after coming within days of losing them way back in June of 2005.