Walking Marathon

Bayside view from Key Colony Beach - the island in the distance is Bamboo Key

"Key West or Bust" - Day 132

The sign said "Marathon: it's not a sprint.  Take your time and enjoy".  I took the advice - especially the 'enjoy' part.

Once you're out here in the middle Keys, there are plenty of water views, both from land and on long bridges.  It's what I'm here for - the sense that I'm walking across the ocean.  So I did take my time.  I did seventeen miles today - nine short of a marathon - and did all of Marathon.

It's a busy area with lots of old development on crowded canals.

On either side of the island are long bridges.  Off the west side is the longest--the seven mile bridge, which I'll hike tomorrow.  On the east are bridges to Conch Key and to Duck Key.  The hike across Seven Mile Bridge doesn't take advantage of the old Florida Overseas Railroad viaducts, but the others do.

Yet there was nice trail with no water views too - a section that was screened from civilization.

There was even an opportunity to hike a 'green tunnel' through a short section of undeveloped trail.

I am being blessed with perfect weather.  Each day is a few degrees warmer than the last.  Overnight temperatures remained in the upper 50's and daytime highs were in the low 70's with low humidity and a nice breeze.  This is the weather that the tourists come for.  The locals think its cold.  It is winter after all - and that's proven by the blooming of the wild Poinsettia.

But I'm not always able to distinguish locals from tourists here.  In Hawaii that wasn't a problem.  But if that's my worst problem, then I don't have much to complain about.  The Marathon Walk was all good!


Here's a map showing the day's route, with links to more photos.




Marathon at EveryTrail
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