When did I start walking like this?
I would say that in 4th or 5th Grade, St. Jude's Hospital had a walkathon and I always wanted to participate. I remember even purchasing a shirt. As an adult, I always walked everywhere because it's NYC. But I truly began to walk more than 5 miles and keeping track of it in 2011, when I signed up for my first 5k walk with the Wall Street Run/Walk to benefit the American Heart Association. It took place in May 2011 and a few months prior, March 2011, my dad had passed away and my colleagues asked me if I was interested in walking the 5k while they ran it. I signed up and walked it. My dad was a walker and I always felt better walking after a stressful situation or if I needed to cool off after being angry. I started walking more when I joined meetup in 2014, and as I went from meetup member to meetup organizer within 6 months to host hikes/walks, it has brought me so much joy and friends along the way and challenged me in ways I never thought was possible. You truly never know who you might meet at these meetups because there are so many people coming from all walks of life! LOL.
Walking is therapeutic and when you're on an urban hike vs. a nature hike, you have escape routes aka subways, boats, buses, bikes and cars. I find that walking and talking is the best way to get to know a person because if you go anywhere, whether it's on a date or hanging out with friends or family, more likely than not, there are other people around, and it's noisy. Or if you're eating out with someone, there are always interruptions. But if you sign up for a hike, you're kind of committing your time to be off your phone and hopefully just having these natural conversations while walking. All my closest friends today are from meetup and yes, they all came on at least one of my hikes.
What's my longest hike(s)?
The Great Saunter is my longest hike of 34 miles in 2016.
The 3rd Great Saunter is the 2nd longest of 33.2 miles on May 6, 2023.
The 2nd Great Saunter is the 3rd longest of 32.5 miles in 2022.
The 4th longest hike was 28 miles in 2015 (14 Bridges).
What is a hike that I won't probably ever do again on my own or with people?
Park Avenue Hike: There is nothing to see along the route and it's pretty short.
Perimeter of Central Park: I've done this rectangular hike countless times and what bothers me are the uprooted tree sidewalks. It's not as scenic when it's bumpy but I would walk the loops of CP.
7 Line Route: I did this hike at least twice...but it's more of a foodies hike if anything. The overhead trains make it hard to have a conversation going without getting interrupted.
What is a hike that I will most likely do again?
Bridges Hike: I'd like to complete all 18 one day...I only walked 14.
East River Greenway Hike: when construction completes!
Great Saunter, but not in the rain ever again...
What are my favorite hike(s)?
The 14 bridges one, for sure! So much happened that day, it's kind of insane how it all went down and the coolest part is that 18 of us out of 26 finished the hike. Impressive.
I always enjoyed the Broadway hike just because there's more to see than just water on one side and humans on the other.
Queens hike to find mamitas is in my top 3.
What was the reason for hosting all these hikes?
Meeting new friends and meeting people who enjoy the same thing you do! Walk!
It's better to spend a day getting to know people while walking because I can't get that accomplished at a museum, at a restaurant, at a bar, at a movie theater or anywhere else, really.
Getting to know NYC, my home. I would say 80% of my hikes are reasons that I got to know the other boroughs and was able to enjoy those neighborhoods.
Apparently it was creating an opportunity for people to fall in love! Matchmaker! LOL, true story.