Murray and I are both jocks and understand the concept behind training for an event. Whether it is a bike race, triathlon, marathon or 10K fun ride we know that to enjoy the event and to do well, we must train. We believe that same holds true for a trip, so we are training to walk.
We walk kilos and kilos when we are in an exotic location. Walking enables you to see, hear, smell and experience the city like a local would. While on safari in Tanzania, we will be climbing Mt Makarot, a 15 km hike up to 3, 100 meters and down again. We will also be doing some walking on the Botswana safari. To enjoy the walking to the fullest extent, we must be prepared.
So we are training to walk. We are lucky to live close to the North Saskatchewan River Valley and a network of trails, both paved and gravel. A couple of weeks ago, we started with a 45 minute walk around the crescents that border the river valley. Today we walked for about 1.5 hours through the river valley trails we cross country ski on in the winter, over the river and back again. We went with our friends we usually ride with as we are now in between the riding and skiing seasons.
We only have a couple more weekends left to polish our walking training, but I think we are doing well and our legs will thank us for practicing.