Writer, musician, wizardly guide to platform independence
At 50 my car is filled with running shoes, bags, various gear, and jackets so at certain points of the day I can go for a spontaneous adventures. Today was a run and a hike. Not much has changed since I got my drivers license some 33 years ago.
Good run up and down my favorite hill (880′ feet or so up to the Appalachian Trail). Then a solid hike 3.5 mile hike around the lake. Dusty roads and lots of sun. Day 61 of moving at least 10 miles a day and feeling great.
A few days after my 50th birthday (on May 26th) I set out to walk (and run) 10 miles total per day. Well, 50 days later I’ve covered 555 miles.
A total of 341 miles in the last 30 days, averaging 11.4 miles per day. I hit 12 miles per day the last four days, too (with some 3 and 4 mile runs sprinkled in).
I’ve walked in the rain, and a few heat waves (in the middle of one right now), and I’m tearing through shoes. Whew.
My longest streak is 60 days, but I don’t wanna get too ahead of myself.
Since May 26, 2026 I’ve been walking at least 10 miles per day. I started this because I’m 50 now and it’s never going to get any easier to “lose weight.” But also because I hate that it’s so easy for my phone SCREEN TIME to creep up to three hours per day, so I thought – maybe I can just walk three hours a day.
It’s not all at once, and some days it takes me till 8pm to get all my miles in, but I love it. Up and out of bed for a three mile walk to start the day, and any time I’m grumpy sitting at my computer, I just get up and go for a walk.
I haven’t been running as much.
I haven’t been making music as much.
I haven’t been writing here as much.
I haven’t been walking as much.
We are humans, living through seasons, under the weight of the ambient doom that most of us have been feeling for years.
But today I got out for a run.
Today I streamed my music for about an hour.
Today I wrote this post.
Woke up to a few inches of snow outside my window, and thought of how difficult it’ll be to walk10 miles. Sidewalks filled with snow and ice slow down my walking pace, and sometimes forces me into the road, which isn’t ideal.
This photo was from my first walk, around 9:11am. I had a Zoom call at 10am, and knew I had to get some distance in before that. It was just 0.5 miles, but every bit helps for later in the day.
It’s a Saturday, so town is pretty quiet, aside from snow blowers and plow trucks.
I walked through the college campus twice. Doubled back on some streets. Slipped a few times, but never fell.
The photo above was from my 2nd walk of the day, at 1:17pm, just after an hour-long live stream I did on Substack talking about Break Up With Social Media Day.
After this walk I was at 4.46 miles for the day, with 5.54 miles to go.
My third walk of the day was my longest. When I set out at 4:17pm it was 33°F, but 84% humidity, so I felt comfortable wearing my new shorts (Path Projects, sooo nice).
The photo above was at 4:34pm, with the sun setting nicely.
By 5:07pm there was a good amount of steam fog, where moisture evaporates off the snow. Can’t really tell from this photo, but it was wonderful.
This walk was 4.17 miles in one hour and 15 minutes, which brought me to 8.55 miles for the day.
I stopped at my house, grabbed something to drink, and checked my mileage: just 1.4 miles to go. I went back out for my fourth walk of the day, which took about 30 minutes, bringing me to 10.1 miles total.
Total walking time was three hours, six minutes.
According to my Apple Health app that’s 24,628 steps.
So 17 days into the new year I’m at 177.3 miles, about 10.4 miles per day.
Back on the 10 mile per day grind, this time by way of walking and running. Also interesting to note that this year is the 10 year anniversary of when I started running at the age of 40. I can’t believe 10 years has zipped by this quickly.
My friend and her dad hiked here earlier in the day. Hours later, he called and said he lost his glasses, so we went looking for them before it got too dark. We didn’t find them, but we got in a good walk at least.
Walking is so good, from Kate McCusker in The Guardian:
These days, walking is, for me, the exercise equivalent of hiding vegetables in my mashed potatoes: suddenly I’ve covered four miles in one stretch without really noticing. In the evenings, walking 90 minutes home from work is like making peace with the day, however good, bad or unremarkable it might have been.
A 90 minute walk in no joke. (via rebecca toh)
Woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. After clearing off the deck and stairs, had to get out and take some photos.
Once the snow stops, “the boys come out to play” as my neighbor said.
