May 27, 2006

Eric Norris: How To Do A 40th Birthday Walk

Walking to celebrate? That would describe Eric Norris--the Burbank, CA sound engineer shown here who, on Sunday, May 28, will mark his 40th birthday by walking 40 miles across Los Angeles to have fun and raise funds for a favorite charity, Outward Bound.

Eric gives us an example of how to turn a walk into a party, milestone marker, community cause and city photo album--all at the same time. The avid walker and hiker says he's never attempted anything exactly like this before and estimates the Sunday walk will take him 14 hours.

In the midst of pre-walk excitement, Eric took time to share some inspiring facts about what he's doing. For more insight on how he's prepared for the big day, go to his 40at40Walk blog and become one of the nearly 1,000 visitors counted since he began the project in mid-March.

40at40Walk Quick Take: Eric's 40th Birthday Goals

Eric's Walk Photos - Long Beach

How You Can Donate to Eric's Walk and Support Outward Bound

Gadgets & Gear Eric Loves - Garmin Wrist GPS

Gadgets & Gear Eric Loves - Shoes from Craig Chambers and Phidippides

Walktopia: Congrats on achieving the goals you set for your 40th Birthday Walk. What's your walking background/history?
NORRIS: I've always loved to walk. I'm the kind of guy who likes to take the stairs rather than the elevator. One of the reasons I do walking is because my life is quite busy and I can't figure out when to fit in a workout. I hike in the local hills most weekends. Also, when my wife and I travel, we love to explore a city on foot.

Walktopia: Were you an athlete or an "outdoors type" before now?
NORRIS: I did rollerblade a marathon 3 years in a row for fun but never considered myself an athlete or competitor. I've loved the outdoors since hiking with my family as a child.

Walktopia: What made you decide to take on this particular challenge--walking--to celebrate a life milestone?
NORRIS: I decided I wanted to mark my 40th year in a memorable way. On one of my hikes I was pondering this and the idea of walking 40 miles just popped into my head. I'd done one major city walk before when I walked 33 miles from Burbank to the beach for fun...and I did that without any training. I figured 40 miles would, with training, be achievable so it seemed like a perfect fit.

Walktopia: What's your Outward Bound background and how did you decide to include the fundraising aspect in your walk?
NORRIS: In making my 40th year memorable, I knew that an element would be giving back to the community--something that's important to me and my wife. Outward Bound means a lot to us! The organization has been supportive and excited about my walk. They've been great with the logistics of tracking donations and they sent a t-shirt and cap for me to wear on the walk :-).

Walktopia: What's the status of your fundraising?
NORRIS: My donations have reached $6853 as of today!! I'm not sure what I expected. I've had an unreachable goal of $40,000 but never really set a more realistic goal. I'm thrilled people have been so generous. My favorite story is that my buddy's 6 year old daughter gave me $2 from her allowance. That totally made my day! (And my friends' day up at Outward Bound!)

Walktopia: How did you get into condition to do the walk?
NORRIS: I probably should have done more research but didn't! Based on past experience, I figured it will take me about 14 hours to do the walk (with stops). I came up with the idea of doing a training walk every weekend, starting at 2 hours and adding an hour a week up to 10 hours, two weeks prior to the walk. I ended up not walking the full 10 hours at the end because of a little worry about overtraining. Walking during the week was impossible because I have a demanding job and just couldn't figure out how to work it in. In fact, for the first 3 weeks of training, I was working 6 days a week and walking on the 7th.

Walktopia: Do you plan to do other endurance and fundraising walks in the future?
NORRIS: Throughout my life, I've always liked doing my own thing. Creating and pulling this off pretty much by myself certainly plays into my idea of doing something memorable for my 40th. It was, however, my wife's training for the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk that piqued my initial interest in exploring the city on long walks. I may do something like this again but certainly not soon :-)!

Walktopia: What's the plan for walk day?
NORRIS: On Sunday, my support system will be my wife, my sister (who surprised me by showing up last night from the Midwest) and our very good friends. We'll be in touch via cell phone throughout the day and at mile 20 they'll bring me lunch and some ice for my feet plus fresh socks. I'm expecting company for the last part of the walk--that's when I'll need the support the most. Then, after the walk, a group of 15 or so of us will have dinner.

Walktopia: Congratulations and Good luck, Eric.

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