I have decided to walk every street in Longmont, Colorado, starting January 1, 2013,
and ending by December 31 of the same year. I will do this by going to a selected
subdivision once or twice a week, and cover every street (and alley) in it. During
the course of the year, I plan on also taking time to walk all the off-road bike trails,
walking paths, sidewalks through parks, and also perhaps all the railroad tracks in
Longmont. As time allows, I will also probably include McIntosh Lake, Golden Ponds,
Roger’s Grove, Sandstone Ranch, Jim Hamm Lake, Rabbit Mountain, Button Rock Reservoir,
and probably some other areas I’m not thinking of at the moment.
As I walk, I will make note of things that interest me, and will write about them in
this blog once a week or so. I will also include photos of anything that strikes me
as unusual or noteworthy (at least to me!). I might also just digress into writing
about anything that happens to interest me at the time, even if not directly related
to the week’s walking.
I’m not really a ‘green’ fanatic, but as a twist to my goal, I will not use any motorized
transportation in achieving it. I live in northeast Longmont… I plan to walk only
in covering streets east of Main Street (highway 287). For areas west of that, I may
take the luxury of riding a bicycling to whatever area I’m covering that day. and then
walking from some starting point… still covering every street by foot at least once.
The boundaries I will cover are roughly Highway 66 (Ute highway) to the north, 75th St.
to the west, Plateau Road to the south, and County Line Road (between Boulder and
Weld county) to the east. There are pockets of neighborhoods outside these boundaries
that I will probably hit as well, depending on my resolve.
So, Mark. Has the math genious in you calculated your estimated overall walking mileage for your quest? Are you recording your distance walked, using a pedometer?
Tim… I am using a cheap pedometer, so it may not be totally accurate, but close enough for my purposes. I am also going to put
out a monthly update page with my steps, distance, and time spent. January is about 160,000 steps and 26 hours.
Glad you’re enjoying the pictures!
Also… it’s a very rough estimate, but I think my total mileage for the year will be somewhere over 500 miles.
I have been enjoying your updates, very much! And I’ve learned more about Longmont than I would have thought possible. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this with us!
Hello, Mark! I applaud your undertaking – what a great idea in getting to know your town! I’m currently in training for Challenge Walk MS and this would be a much more interesting way to train than what I’m doing; following the same path day after day after day… I was born in Longmont and lived there nearly 40 years before moving away. I miss it sometimes and love to visit at least once a year. I’m excited to see your reviews traversing my former “haunts”. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!
Mark, I’m so excited you have chosen to do this and, selfishly, more excited you have chosen to share your journey! I was born in and lived in Longmont nearly 40 years; I miss it and enjoy visiting at least once a year. I’m training for Challenge Walk MS and would love to have opportunity to have such variety in my training view rather than the same streets over and over and over… And thanks to your sister for bringing this to my attention on the “You Know You’re from Longmont When…” Facebook page. I’m looking forward to seeing what you saw visiting my old “haunts”.