Walking the “Dave” way…

Well as some of you know I started walking again at the first of the year. My type II diabetes had not been responding well to the medication that I was on. It also didn’t help that my diet and exercise programs were not great and non existent.

By the first couple of weeks of walking I had the bright idea to start wearing some boots I had got for cheap on closeout. I know what your thinking, cheap boots, are you nuts? Actually these are good boots bought for a cheap price. I highly recommend 5.11 HRT boots.


If any of you see them for sale in a 10.5 or 11 for less than $50 give me a call ASAP!

Another week or two of walking and I had the bright or not so bright idea of putting together a GO BAG and carrying it while walking. So I did a little Ebay shopping and found a Camelbak Motherlode backpack for cheap. And let me just toss in a recommendation for all things Camelbak, they make great gear and stand behind it!



My initial load out in the bag tended to run around 30 pounds or so. The stuff that I was carrying was essentially what one might carry while backpacking and camping. Some of it, mainly food related was geared to my diabetes and possible low blood sugar events.

Another week or two go by and I start thinking of a challenge to give me something to focus on for my walks. Being rather goal orientated anyway it had to be something that would give me a significant challenge and mean accomplishing a major goal. I soon ended up with the not so bright idea of trying to walk home from work. Of course with goals you have to set deadlines and I choose to finish this “hare brained” idea before my 42nd birthday.

Of course I also knew that as long as I kept my mouth shut I wouldn’t be committed to it and I could keep it in the “interesting idea” department of my brain. And then I opened my mouth. My dear, sweet, wonderful wife soon posted my idea up on Glocktalk for all the world to see. Now I was committed, oh joy.

By now I had eight to ten weeks to train for this bright idea of mine. Training for something like this is easy. Walk, walk lots, walk some more, and then walk even more. It got to the point on my weekend walks of first five, then six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, and fourteen miles that even the dogs were staging weekly mutinies. Cody, even as dense as he is, knew where the turn for home was on my walks. And if I didn’t take it, I’d soon find myself dragging 70 pounds of stubborn as a Missouri mule ridgeback.

I did a lot of planning, looking at maps, aerial overheads, satellite imagery and walking portions of my route. My best calculations and guesses were it should be right around 16 miles. I’d thought I’d learned the lesson of never trusting maps and intel in the Marine Corps but I must have forgotten that one.

Time soon ran out on my training program and it came to the time to actually get it done. Fortunately the weather cooperated with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s. Beautiful weather for north Texas in the springtime.

I’d picked a Sunday morning for the walk in hopes of encountering less traffic in the stretches where I needed to walk alongside a road. Another lesson learned, traffic never really stops here in the Dallas area.

I’d also picked a start time of 0730 but didn’t actually start till 0815, lots of minor delays just getting everything ready and checking and rechecking my gear to make sure I had everything, other than my cell phone which I forgot. Actually it would be probably have jinxed me had I not forgotten at least something.

My load in my pack that day ended being right around 40 pounds, about 10 pounds more than I was used to carrying. The extra weight was mainly due to extra food, water, and a few other essentials.

It was actually very easy to get started, much easier than I’d anticipated. Just start walking and keep on going.

Happy Dave



Five hours, 45 minutes, two Cliff bars, two MRE squeezy cheeses, around 75 ounces of water, and 18.1 miles later, I was home.

Tired Dave



Sore feet



And almost three weeks later, note the pressure bruises under the toe nails.



It was overall a very good experience and a fun time. Of course I do have a somewhat warped sense of fun.

And I did learn some important lessons.

1. Make sure your shoes fit! I’d changed out of boots to shoes with the change to warmer weather. They were just a touch to small.
2. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can be a good thing at times.
3. Blisters might not pop up until several days later.
4. I still tend to over pack.
5. You can do it if you put your mind to it. After-all, it’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!
6. It will stop hurting when the pain goes away!
7. People don’t pay attention to anyone else.
8. Foot powder isn't just for feet!
9. Dad walked 18+ miles a day, five days a week for 15 years. I’ve got a whole new level of respect for what he did to keep a roof over our heads and dinner on the table.