Oddblock Station: 1000 Miles!

Perhaps cliche and familiar but true nonetheless

The morning following my cardiac arrest and emergency stenting to save my life, I awoke in the hospital's Cardiac Care Unit to see the dawn of a new day; the night before, awakening was something I could not be sure would occur if I closed my eyes, but sleep actually did come.

My first real single step in this proverbial journey was that first morning after, when I was actually able to get out of bed and sit in the chair, feeling as if nothing happened and nothing had changed. The many wires attached to my chest and hooked up to machines starkly reminded me otherwise.

In that Cardiac Care Unit I was one of the lucky ones; pain-free, I could get out of bed and go to the bathroom without assistance; I clearly witnessed that the other cardiac patients were unable to do the same.

Two days later being bluntly informed I have heart disease and Atherosclerosis was a painful sobering dose of confronting reality.

"Other people have heart disease. I'm reasonable healthy." I protested in denial.

"Tell that to your heart." the guy from cardiac rehab responded with brutally cold honesty, no doubt having heard similar denials from patients like me too many times before.

Anyway, part of the Cardiac Rehab program included walking on a treadmill, and of course we were urged to do additional exercises and walking on our own during the remainder of the week between sessions. Not wanting another heart attack and determined not to return to the hospital as a patient, I literally took those suggestions to heart and started walking.

In November 2013 a friend introduced me to Nike's Running app; he was using it to record and keep track of his running. Kie downloaded that app onto my iPhone and I have been using it since to keep track.

Here is a sample of what the app looks like. (from the internet) My numbers are considerably lower, usually between 1.1 and 1.5 miles in a session. The small numbers do add up though.

When I started, my modest goal was simply to walk the equivalent of The Megantic Subdivision's 68.5 miles. That objective was accomplished within the first three months. Soon followed the 100th mile. Since then I have just kept going.

On June 11, 2015, having used this app to keep track of my outings, I reached 1,000 miles of recorded walking since commencing my record keeping on November 22, 2013. Doing the math, the distance travelled works out to roughly 50 miles per month.

"The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore."

(Psalm 121:8)

And I believe not just my going out and my coming in but also through every mile in between.

Yes! A journey of any distance starts with a single step.

If not, then there is never a start, and of course, no journey.

The Oddblock Station Agent

Addendum January 12, 2016

A few more mile boards to mention and marvel at rather than brag about.

When I started, I would never have thought this far possible; all walked following my heart attack.

Simply said, I am grateful and thankful to God to be here and to have been able to keep going.

Total measured and recorded miles walked in 2015: 748.3

To place 748 in a more meaningful Canadian context: I walked the equivalent of downtown Toronto to downtown Montreal and return with 78 miles left over.

1500 mile board passed on January 06, 2016

And also to place 1500 in a more meaningful Canadian context: If I was at the corner of Front & Yonge in Toronto and started walking to Vancouver through Canada only, then I would have just arrived in Kirkella, Manitoba, which is almost at the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.

Addendum March 03, 2016