Traffic at Eye Level

Today I decided to test out my walking route from home to work. We're moving offices so I'm not sure what the parking situation is going to be like at the new place. It took about 30-40 minutes to get to work. I left so early in the morning that I actually had time to pull into a McDonald's and get breakfast.

To tell you the truth, I've never really been a walker. I've lived most of my life out of the walking range so driving has been my only option. Today's little adventure was pretty interesting. Here's what I noticed during my one hour commute to and from work:

1. People in cars seem to stare at anyone not in cars. It doesn't matter if they're driving along or stopped at a red light. They'll always turn to look at the person on the sidewalk.

2. There are all these quaint little shops along the road that I've never, ever noticed before.

3. There's a bunch of homeless people who sleep at Thomas Square. On my way home, they were still there along with three bicycle cops. Not sure what that was all about as the cops weren't doing anything besides exercising their jaws. I did, however, distinctly smell alcohol coming from the area.

4. Surprisingly my legs haven't turned into jelly from lack of exercise (maybe just pudding).

5. Walking toward traffic is a lot more entertaining than walking away from traffic. You get to see everyone in their cars. Most people don't match what they're driving. You'd think that at some point people would morph into their cars like they morph into their pets, but I don't think that's the case.

Kickin' Up My Heels

Since my clothes are getting a bit snug and I'm definitely getting fat, I decided to turn over a new leaf today - May Day/Lei Day. Starting today, I vowed to myself that I'd do some sort of exercise at least every other day. So, to begin my new exercise regimen I decided to take a walk 'round Kapiolani Park after work.

Now, it's been a while since I've been to Kapiolani Park. I used to frequent it in high school for soccer games and tournaments or just to hang out at Walls with my friends. Since then, however, I haven't really been back. Today I was shocked to see how busy it was. As I circled the park toward the smaller mauka lot that I always park at, I noticed that it was pretty busy. Continuing to the larger mauka lot, I discovered it to be completely full! Wow, who knew people used the park this much on a weekday? In the end, I had to swing around and park at the lot in front of the Shell.

After doing a bit of stretching, I started on my walk. I didn't realize either a) how out of shape I've become, or b) how damn big the park actually was . . . probably a bit of both. Before I knew it, my calves were killing me, but I kept going. You gotta start somewhere so May 1st is that somewhere for me. It took me about 45 minutes to go around the entire park - with some stopping to stretch more and to watch some soccer players. Not bad, I suppose, for the first day. Hopefully I can pick up the pace after a couple days of this.

The bad part was that because I started at around 6 p.m. the sun was already going down. By the time I was hitting the home stretch, it was actually pretty cool and breezy, almost chilly. Guess this means I need to leave directly from work instead of stopping at home first. I was tempted to go across the street to see the bodyboarders and surfers making good use of the south swell, but I decided against it. Maybe next time.

As far as first days of exercise go, this went pretty well. I don't want to over do it, thus giving myself a reason to "rest" a few days, which normally develops into a few months. It was good to be outdoors again rather than at a gym that reeks of sweat.

One highlight was that I saw two Brits walking and talking as they made their way toward Walls. Love their accents, and they were talking soccer . . . ahem, I mean futbol.

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