Well, saying 1,000 more miles to go … put that way, it doesn’t seem like I’ve made much progress in my walking regimen in 2019, nor does it seem probable that I’ll reach my goal of 1,242 miles (or 2,000 kilometers) before year end.
As to walking, the weather has been horrid the past two months and in April we had 3.72 inches of rain and rain is still on the horizon. Happily, I got out yesterday and today because the rain held off until after I walked. That’s good because I had set a mini-goal for myself to reach 242 miles by April 30th.
Meet Mike Posner.
So, I’ve been following the trek of Mike Posner, a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter who is a Michigan native. While in high school, he ran varsity track and cross-county and he has a degree in Sociology from Duke University.
Mike’s claim to fame is not just his music, but the fact that he is currently walking across America.
It took seven months for the 31-year-old to prepare for this journey, which began in Asbury Park, New Jersey on April 15th .
He hopes to be in Venice Beach, California by year-end, where he plans to jump into the ocean and celebrate with his friends. He had originally counted on six months to accomplish this trek, but got a late start after injuring his foot earlier this year. Mike also concedes that his original time line goal will be delayed since he will now be crossing through mountainous regions and there will sometimes be snow to hamper his travel. He has a friend who drives a van and they sleep in it every night, unless folks he meets along the way offer the pair to stay at their home that night.
Hmm – I feel like a slacker!
As you see in this post from three days ago, Mike walks rain or shine …
… in the morning and evening, and is building his stamina to walk about 20 miles per day. (Yikes – I feel like I’ve accomplished something when I walk six miles in one day!) He begins as early as 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. and often stops at various venues (like parks) and grabs his guitar, sings and does impromptu pop-up concerts. Mike advises his daily progress on Twitter and Instagram – he uses the same handle at both sites: @MikePosner.
Mike is asking people to walk along with him when he is traveling through their city or state and by following his daily posts, you’ll know where to meet up with him to do so. If he is nearby, I think it will be fun to join him, don’t you?
I’ll leave you with this quote from Mike which is the reason for his journey:
“I hope my walk can remind myself and others that life is now. Life isn’t in five years or after I accomplish some goal. This is it. We have to enjoy each step.” ~Mike Posner
Those are good words to live by – maybe they should become my mantra as well.
[Header photo from Pinterest; Mike Posner photos/logo from Mike Posner’s Twitter page]
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Mike will see a lot of things that most people miss! Neat posting and we hope he does well! 🙂
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Yes he will and he says it will be rigorous in parts, walking on the side of a highway, slogging through rain or other elements, but he is very positive about doing this. I watched a video interview with him on one of the local stations – he is walking for two people who died, his father who had a brain tumor and a good friend of his. I wish him luck too.
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What an amazing and gutsy project to walk across America. Thanks for making me aware of Mike. I’ll wish him well from afar as he’ll be nowhere near where I live.
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Yes it is Ally and you’re welcome. He is from the Detroit area originally so there was more focus on him in the news since he is a local guy. He has videos on Twitter and Instagram almost daily. That is a long and rigorous trip – it’s too bad he couldn’t stick with his original start date as he would have bypassed the snow in the mountains, but would have gone through some snow anyway at the start of his journey. Too bad he is not stopping by your neck of the woods. I think the impromptu concerts or walking along would both be fun.
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Wow Mike has amazing will power!
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He sure does Diane – I don’t know how he does it – this sure is a long and rigorous trip, not for the feint of heart. I looked outside and saw mist and fog and said “not again” and a few other words as well which were not so nice. 🙂
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You met your mini-goal, Linda! I think you will meet your yearly goal by Dec. 31. You will have a lot of nice walking weather this summer. Too bad Mike is walking well north of me in PA. I would have to travel at least 2 hours to see him.
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Yes I did make that mini-goal Laurie and had my doubts about completing it given all our very rainy weather. I try to do all my errands in one day so I can concentrate on walking the rest of the days (though I do count how many miles spent running errands). We had 3.2 inches of rain overnight in my area – flooding everywhere. The water was not on my street as we had new sewers installed in 1990 but there are many people with flooded houses, basements and nearby cities with people being rescued from their cars or houses. Just amazing with this weather – hope you don’t get that heavy rainfall – you said you were expecting two days of rain. I hope to complete this goal – the past few years I have been 100 miles over so I added 80 more miles to my total goal for 2019. Hmm – perhaps I should not have done that though and been happy with one more mile than 2018 (how I usually do this). We are having the same type of Spring as last year – rainy. I would like to walk with Mike on his trek if he is close enough and fits with my work schedule. It sure is quite an undertaking.
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I hope you get to walk with Mike. That sounds like it would be very interesting.
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I hope so too Laurie – it would be great if he gets to Detroit at a time that meshes with my work schedule.
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Linda,
After each day’s walk, do you note the miles in a note book or an Excel sheet to total up your miles?
And the same with Mike too – how does he do it?
What walking shoes does he use that doesn\’t harm his toes and foot bones ?
I admire both of you to persist towards your goal.
I often wonder about how you do your walks each day, without getting depressed or sad.
I would have looked for some excuse to stay at home – you push yourself come rain or even snow.
What do your arm yourself with for your nature walks- How do you ensure you don’t hurt yourself?
Susie
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Hi Susie – I do have a chart that I keep and note my miles from the pedometer each day and add up the miles, usually monthly. I looked last week to see if I thought I could get to this mini goal I had made and thought I could and was glad it didn’t rain yesterday or today. We just had a whopper storm and it is still rumbling out there. One of the videos that Mike Posner did (he does these 3 to 5-minute videos to his followers to tell them how far he went or answering general questions), he did say what type of walking shoes he was wearing and said he had hiking boots for the rainy days as he walks in the rain. He walks twice a day (early morning and meditates at that time) and again in the evening. In between he gives little concerts with his guitar and singing. He’ll have to walk in the bad weather sometimes since he wants to return to California by year end. That is a lot of miles to cover on foot.
The one thing that worries me in my walks is not the parks, but walking in the neighborhoods on my weekday walks … I worry about dogs being on the loose, especially vicious ones and them coming after me. I also worry about people not paying attention and driving while texting and hitting me. I see them with their head bent down and that worries me more than anything else.
The geese at the Park or any park will only attack you if they think you will come near their nest or their goslings. This morning I went around a pair of geese who parked themselves in the middle of the path and wouldn’t move. So I went up on the grass and gave them wide berth. We had an instance not long ago where a student was walking through a parking lot and was attacked by a goose as that student was too close to the nest – the nest may not be in plain sight either, but the goose determined that person might be a threat so flew up and attacked them. Geese are really big birds – have you seen one before Susie? They can fly at you. I respect them and stay away. They hiss at me and flap their wings sometimes – if I take pictures I stay a respectable distance away so they don’t get mad.
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When I had to work in peoples house and yard I carried mace. I never had to use it but it gave me piece of mind.
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I have some pepper spray on my lanyard, but right after I got a fresh canister of it (just a small spray metal canister), I read in the Facebook Crime Forum for our city that the spray could blow back in your face, so to get the pepper gel, so I got some of that and keep it on a holster. Like you, I hope to never use it Diane. I also have something called “The Storm Whistle” and it is an orange plastic whistle, mostly good because you can go underwater and if you blow it, above water can hear you – I’m not a person that goes in the water, but it is supposed to be as loud as a policeman’s whistle. I tried it and it is deafening. I hope I don’t have to use it either.
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That’s quite an amazing and interesting story. Thanks for sharing it.
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You’re welcome Rebecca- I thought so too! Another walker completed a walk in Canada last year and I can’t recall the details, but saw it as a trending topic on Twitter one day. This man walked through ice and snow and his beard and eyebrows were frozen solid. He went through many pair of boots as well. Just incredible!
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That’s true dedication! 🙂
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Hmm, that does sound quite inspiring! I see he will be passing through his home state, though it seems a tiny bit out of the way. 🙂
I’d say you shouldn’t feel like a slacker if you get in six miles! You have other responsibilities, which make walking all day a bit unlikely.
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Thanks Michelle – yes, he will pass through his home state (which is also my state) and he will be in Detroit and the other suburbs are not close. I’d think about walking depending on whether it is in the day/on a weekend … I think it is fun that he is doing it but I can’t imagine all those miles. I can get in six miles on a weekend, and now that we are getting toward an earlier sunrise, I will be able to get 5 miles in during the week before work but in the Fall, four is the best I can do. I set a really high goal. You are right – working does crimp getting more miles walked. Luckily I work from home, so can get a walk in first.
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Miss Linda…………………………………………cool Guy that Mike Posner…………………….thanks for letting me know about his great walk – a -thon across the country!!!
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Isn’t that incredible Ann Marie – that is a lot of miles … more than you and me put together and then some. I saw a video about him online which was interesting … they featured him as he is from the metro area originally.
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Thanks for sharing the inspiration. I ditto Ally’s comments. I noticed that Mike took seven months to plan, that’s longer than a winter! I wish him safe travels and fun along the way. Just like I wish you safe travels, too. And I’m positive you’ll meet your goal! You’re too determined of a soul not to. 🙂
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Thanks Shelley – yes, this is quite the trip and since he is a local guy, Fox News did a Facetiime interview with him at the beginning of the trip. He was just doing 8 or 10 miles a day and working his way up, sometimes taking one day of rest. Well I did not walk this morning, despite good intentions – we had 3.2 inches of rain late last night/overnight, flooding everywhere, schools are closed, so I stayed in but I have to get out with a mindset to finish my goal – thanks for your confidence, Just eight months more to get there and hopefully Mother Nature doesn’t interfere too much as the spirit and feet are willing.
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Schools closed because of rain/flooding! OMG – this weather is insane! It will change for the better…!
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Linda I did not realize you had a flooding situation too! We got off lucky, but there is major flooding in parts of Ontario Cottage country, Quebec and New Brunswick, and now the Ottawa River too.
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Yes, we have it bad here and especially the Downriver area where I live. Wherever I go to walk this weekend, it won’t be by Lake Erie Metropark or anywhere down by any body of water – they are all high above their natural stage.
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Mike Posner”s walk is interesting. I wouldn’t have heard of him without you.
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Yes, it is quite an undertaking and since he is a local guy (originally – he has since moved to California), they spotlighted him on the local news.
Very exciting and rigorous too. I’m following him on Twitter and Instagram as well. He posts daily videos and info on his progress or concerts he did.
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Hi Linda, What a great post. I love that quote to. Life is now. what a great one!! I am really hoping this weather starts to better for some walks. It’s frustrating walking hiking in the rain all the time. Looks like the weather might be good today i was thinking of checking out more high water levels and see what else is flooded. Even if it rains if this Mike guy is coming to our area it would be really fun to walk with him for a little bit. How cool is that!
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Yes, very cool what Mike is doing Pril – 3,000 miles altogether and walking at least 20 miles a day. I walk 6 miles and think that is a big deal. But I have to walk more during the week, not just the weekends or I’ll never make my goal. The weather has hampered me and I didn’t walk this morning as they said that we had 3.2 inches of rain all of Downriver, so you likely had it bad where you live too. I could not believe the schools were closed. Mike is coming to three places in Michigan – guessing Detroit is the closest to us but you often hike further from our area, so you might just catch him elsewhere. I will let you know if he gives a time frame for here in Michigan. hopefully not while you’re on vacation. Hope you are feeling better – I read your last post in my e-mail, but need to comment on the post before. I got way behind this weekend in reading posts and intended to do so last night, then we had that bad storm.
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Oh yeah it’s hard to keep up these days with everything so no worries. Be careful if you driving today there is a lot of water on the road ways.
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Yes, I am perpetually behind, especially if I do two posts on a single weekend. I did read both and I was not in Chrome and could not comment (except as “Anonymous”). I have followed another blogger for years and he is on the Blogger and I can only comment if I am on Google. Otherwise I am anonymous, even if I use my own blog url. Go figure. Thanks, I work from home so I never ever walked today. As of 7:00 p.m. Outer Drive is still shut down on the Southfield Freeway and Outer Drive and Fort are still flooded. SMH
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I like his song, one of them.
Is he coming near you?
Your miles are awesome no matter how many he does…
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I listened to some songs when I went on his Twitter account and liked them too Eliza and I have enjoyed his little impromptu concerts he has been doing. I pop on there every day to see how he did with his mileage and where he did. Mike is coming to three places in Michigan and Detroit would be the closest to me. I’d consider going if it is on a weekend and during the day. I think it would be fun to walk along with him for a few miles. Thank you – I am going to try to meet the final goal – I have each year, but this year I tacked on 80 more miles (128 km) … making even more to get done with. I never count on December as we might have snow or ice, but last year we had snow in early November as you know as I mentioned the snow on the roses.
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Yup I do.
Good luck with the extra miles!!! That’s quite a lot more…
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I hope I can do it Eliza – it seems a little daunting right now – I have to put it in perspective … Mike Posner is doing almost 3,i000 miles but he is also just 31 years old. We are having rain and storms again today and most of next week … the weather is not normal and I only have the option of walking before/after work. After work is not so great as sometimes I’m here a little longer and it may work in Summer when days are longer, but it is also hotter then.
I prefer the peace and quiet of morning – maybe I am too picky. Did you Google any of Mike Posner’s music Eliza? This one is very moving … his dad, a local criminal attorney died of a brain tumor and a good friend died as well. I like this video and song … and the subtitles too.
I think you will like it too. https://youtu.be/A2CwZ1UTSSA
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I have never heard of Mike – thanks for sharing his story. We are going to have a great summer, Linda. You will get your miles in. 🙂
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Yes, how fun to do this and meeting lots of people along the way. Summer will be sunny you say? OK Ruth, I’ll believe you and I hope to do just that. 🙂
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I should add – just stop listening to the weather people.
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I’m going to quit being a weather worrier, once and for all Ruth – old habits never die though, I have to admit that.
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First, love this quote in your featured image! I’m gonna remember this. Mike’s story is sooo inspiring!! I definitely think you live out Mike’s mantra too. Thanks for sharing, Linda!!
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Glad you like this quote Mackenzie – coincidentally I saw that quote on another site I follow on Twitter and I decided it was perfect for this post. Mike is amazing – I hope he can do this entire trek – it sounds fun but rigorous.
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Wow! Very impressive and I imagine a great adventure! I didn’t realize the weather was this bad in your town! That’s a lot of rain!! We’ve had really nice sunshine here and I’ve been spending all my time trying to catch up in the yard. I hope the weather normalizes (whatever that means anymore) all across the country. I can’t believe the tornadoes! As to your walking and getting all those miles under your belt, it will happen! One step at a time! 😉
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Yes Mike’s trek is really quite an undertaking Sabine and I like that he stops to chat with people or give pop-up concerts as he passes through their towns and invites people to walk along with him. You’re lucky having such great weather as it gives you that needed time to get the yard together, always a big task in the Springtime. The weather forecast around here has been dire – we had flooding on highways and expressways measured in feet, not inches and much destruction in basements. I am lucky as we got new sewers in 1990, but we had such a mess in the late 60s and lost furniture and other belongings in the basement. The weather nationwide is terrible and scary. We’ve had rain daily for about two weeks and it will continue several days next week as well. All the parks where I walk that are along a boardwalk have water creeping over the seawall and onto the pathways/boardwalk, so I’ll not be straying too far this weekend to walk. You are right, one step at a time and hopefully it can happen, not just the goal, but a steady regimen of walking.
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I don’t know how people with your kind of weather put up with it year after year! Here in Portland we freak out when we get a couple of inches of snow! Your walking will fall into place and it’s always better to be safe when Mother Nature is uncooperative. 🙂
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Out weather has not been kind the last 3 years – it has been abnormal, but this Spring is like last year – very wet. They just said April was the third rainiest on record. We have had 9 days of rain in a row here – this is unusual for us. We have an okay weekend, now the rain will stay to the south they say, then rain begins again Monday, then an all-day rain on Tuesday. Very odd and very disheartening as well. And just 50 degrees – hardly a warm breeze that you feel in a normal Spring.
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Bummer! Hopefully there will be a little bit of sunshine this weekend!
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There will be sunshine Sunday Sabine, but I believe the chances of landing in a park venue with the ability to walk in it will be slim to none. I will try Council Point Park tomorrow and likely Sunday too. The banks of the Ecorse Creek that runs through it should not have flooded – the banks are much higher than the Creek. If flooded, it will be the neighborhood like the past two days.
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Oh! I’m crossing my fingers for you! 😉
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Thanks Sabine – I need a nice park outing to air my head out. Walking in the neighborhood just does not do it … we may even have sunshine tomorrow, before we return to rain again.
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Wow what an amazing goal he has. ❤
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I have been following him on Twitter and he always sounds so cheerful every morning – yesterday it was just pouring raining. He has been walking in Pennsylvania for weeks now. I would not be so cheery if it was raining and I was walking 20 miles (32 kilometers) per day!
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Wow fair play to him. I don’t think I would be as cheery either 😁
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I sure wouldn’t be smiling about it, especially if he is walking in rain like we just had – it was a torrential downpour! Round I is over and now we await another round of bad weather later.
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What an inspiring story. I’d like to walk Britain’s Coast to Coast walk at some point and I thought that was a long walk at 180 miles but 3,000?! Amazing! 🙂
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I don’t know how he does it Clare. I was waiting to see if he posted a total to date (I’ve been following Mike on Twitter) and these are his stats below. I watched the video and he is doing a benefit concert in Detroit, but no longer walking through there. He has been in the state of Pennsylvania for weeks now. So this is his total as of 05/17 around 8:00 and one more mile and he’s at 400. Wow. The Britain’s Coast to Coast Walk sounds fun too – you should think about it!
THE WALK ACROSS AMERICA.
DAY 33 || PITTSBURGH, PA || 399/2790
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i ahd no idea that Mike is doing this – I think I know a song he did a duet with – I will check –
anyhow – the message here was uplifting – one step at a time – to reach big goals – 🙂
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Thanks Yvette – I hope I meet my goal too, but I have had a lot of fits-n-starts due to all the bad weather in Winter (a lot of ice as we had many bouts of freezing rain) and we’ve had rain almost every day since early April.
I just looked at Mike’s progress on Twitter; I check it once a day and here is what he posted:
THE WALK ACROSS AMERICA.
DAY 34 || PENNSYLVANIA || 420/2790 MILES WALKED.
He’s been in Pennsylvania for a long time, weeks it seems. He walks rain or shine and the other day he was dripping wet in his video. He was supposed to come to Detroit and two other spots in Michigan (not as close as Detroit to me), but yesterday he said he is giving an one-night-only acoustic guitar concert in Detroit as a fundraiser for the college fund of a relative that died two months ago. So, he won’t be walking in Detroit now. What great progress and he is still trying to do 20 miles a day.
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I will check on that and see when or if he comes to richmond –
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