Mathemalchemy update

Goodness, the last time I posted about Mathemalchemy was in 2020. A lot has happened since then!

Still walking

A year has come and gone, and I'm still walking. My walkiversary was January 21, and I had intended to write something profound about that, but my mileage tracker app thinks a year means January 1-December 31, not January 21 to January 20. So I made a push at the end of 2021 to rack up 2,021 recorded miles for the year. I ended with 2,022. 

Looking back on my first post about this topic, I don't have much to add. Walking is still better than not walking. Walking is still a choice; choice is still a privilege. Walking still makes a big world smaller and unfamiliar places familiar.

I'd add that walking doesn't require a lot of gear, but some gear is helpful. I use sneakers until well past they're worn through and then some, which explains why my idea of "dress shoes" is sneakers without holes. I recently threw out two pairs (salvaging one set of laces), which led me to wonder how many shoes go into landfills every year. The answer is some 300 million. To learn more, I'm now awaiting a used copy of Foot Work: What Your Shoes Are Doing to the World.

For non-urban hiking trails--places where I encounter tree roots, large rocks, creek crossings, etc.--hiking boots are helpful for supporting ankles and keeping feet dry. Last year, online-shopping fan S decided my 20-yr-old hiking boots looked like they were falling apart, so he bought me a new pair (same company, same size, same last). Shortly afterward, just before the end of a 2.5-day backpacking trip, the soles fell off the old pair--although I maintain the old pair perished from the shock of seeing the new pair arrive (in the same way that my beloved 1982 Honda Accord was fabulous right up until the moment in 1998 when my dad observed it was falling apart--at which point, a gaping hole opened up under the gas pedal.) Trekking poles are also helpful on rough terrain, both for speed and for maintaining balance.

In last year's post about all of this, I mentioned walking to prepare for walking. I've long fantasized about doing a long-distance walk where I walk out the door and just keep going. S has a sabbatical this spring, so I'll finally start realizing this goal with two cushy walks in Germany (cushy, because I'll be staying in Pensionen overnight rather than in a tent)--about 400km total. I'll revive my Ur-blog to document those treks. (Looking at that blog just now, I'm amused to see the last post, dated December 29, 2019, in which I deem an 8-mile walk "long.")