By Small and Simple Things: What I learned walking 1000 miles

At the beginning of this year I was invited to join a group called "1000 mile hopefuls" by a friend. After 324 days of walking in the snow, rain, cold, and heat on November 27th I met my goal.

I wanted to see just how far 1000 miles is in a distance that I can see in my mind. So here is what I found out using google maps.
It is same distance as
From Boise ID to Albuquerque, NM
From Boise ID to Phoenix, AZ
From Portland OR to San Diego, CA
And equivalent to walking 5 times from Seoul S Korea to Busan S Korea.

What I enjoyed most about this experience was spending time with Mike. We went on a hike almost every weekend this year. Even though we have been married 26 years, I never get tired of having him as company (partially because he ties my hiking boots for me and carry all the snacks and water for us).

Here are three things I learned walking 1000 miles this year. (I learned a lot more but I'm not going to bore you with all of them.)
First, I found it interesting that what made the difference toward my goal was not the long 18 mile hike over the weekend, but 3 miles everyday. It is same way with everything in our life. When our children were learning to play piano what made the difference was everyday practice, not one long practice before their lesson day. In the same way if we want to have a better relationship with our family members or friends the small things we do everyday have more impact on the relationship.
Our daughter learned the same principle from her seminary teacher years ago and she shared it with me. Her teacher said you can't brush your teeth once a week for 21 minutes and expect the same result as brushing them everyday for 3 minutes. This applies to everything from studying, exercising, learning, and also walking 1000 miles.
Second, I learned that if you want to rest you have to work first. It sounds funny but after a long hike I am physically tired and worn out, but I am better emotionally and spiritually. It sounds like hippy talk, but I feel connected to nature and gain a deeper appreciation to our God. And nothing beats taking my hiking boots off and drinking cold water after a very long hike on a hot summer day.
Third, I really like having someone to report my progress to. It really helped me out with meeting my goal. As a group we had a FB group page where we can post our progress, encourage each other, share pictures, and what not. It help me to be accountable and overall it was really good for me in many ways.

Here are some pictures of the places I walked this year.