28 for 28

I have always loved walking. Since I don't have a car, and I live in such a blessedly walkable area, I pretty much walk everywhere and can rack up the miles quickly. But I don't typically walk for sustained long distances - usually it'll be a mile or two here, a mile or two there, adding up over the course of a day.

This fall I did two long-ish day hikes in Harpers Ferry, WV with my mom, and I felt great. It reminded me how much I love to plod on, and it made me start to wonder what my limits were in terms of walking. I've always wanted to do a lengthy walk in the Greater Boston area (like Somerville to Walden Pond) and cooked up this idea to try and walk 28 miles on my 28th birthday.

It's over a marathon, and I haven't been training for it like it's a marathon, so maybe this is really stupid. But I want to at least try! I'm also trying to raise some money for Boston Food Not Bombs and for the Shamia family in Gaza.

Plan

My plan is to do this walk the day of my birthday - the 24th. If the weather is bad on my birthday, I'll do the walk on the 26th. I'm going to start walking fairly early (right before sunrise) and hope to be done by the early evening.

My route is still in the works, but in order to make it easy to take breaks and use the bathroom, I'll probably start on the Minuteman Trail and split off to the Bay Circuit Trail in Bedford. I'm also tempted to do a "city walk" but I think that will take substantially longer, as I'll have to stop at crosswalks. I'll be tracking my route/miles via Strava on the day of the walk.

Support me!

There are two ways to support me:

Keep me company on my walk

You can sign up at the Calendly link below to keep me company on my walk. This can be via phone call, or for walking with me for a portion of it! You can also text me and I'll coordinate. It'll be fun, I hope, and you'll help me avoid perhaps too many hours of Meditative Walking.

Donate or pledge

I'm raising money for Boston Food Not Bombs and the Shamia family in Gaza. If you're interested in donating/pledging, you can donate to either group. I'll match any donations to the Shamia family GoFundMe, just send me a screenshot of your donation.

If you want to pledge instead of donating a flat amount, that would also be awesome. There's a decent chance I don't hit 28 miles, but knowing I'd be raising more money to support a family enduring a genocide or to fund local mutual aid efforts would be a big motivator.

For Food Not Bombs, you can Venmo @surreality1 or contribute to our GoFundMe.

In continuing with the "28" theme, it'd be cool to raise 280 dollars total!

$273.00

Last Updated: 12/23/2024