Three Rights Make a Left

I have just started an adventure that I have always wanted to embark on. I am jogging the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall from near the North Sea on the Eastern Edge of Great Britain to the Irish Sea to the West. I started at Walssend and jogged along breathtaking views of the River Tyne, and at a pace of 30 minutes a day I finished the first of thirteen legs of the Hadrian’s wall jog in two days at Quayside. The best part is the weather was a perfect 70 degrees with not even a drop of the rain that Central England is notorious for and I never left my living room. I jogged the path on my treadmill with a computer monitor mounted on top.

Although the wall bears his name, it was likely started earlier. Hadrian (Caesar Traianus Hadrianus) visited the Roman province of Britain in 122, just after a major rebellion. He ordered the 80 Roman mile wall (about 73 miles) to be built with a fort every 5 Roman miles to: “Separate the Romans from the barbarians” to the North.

A little over a year ago, Dr. Ravi Vallabhan, who I consider one of the best Cardiologists anywhere, told me the best thing for my heart is to keep it working. So he told me all he wanted me to do is get on my treadmill for 30 minutes a day, three miles an hour, four days a week. That as it turns out is harder to do than it sounds. Treadmill jogging is BORING! It is hard to get on for 30 minutes without some distraction. I tried to listen to novels while I jogged but that didn’t work at all.

I found that watching television worked better. My favorite jogging distractions are Law and Order, Law And Order SVU and Cash Cab. But even those only provided minimal entertainment and most episodes, I have already seen.

Then a few weeks ago I happened on an idea. I decided it was probable that there were YouTube Videos of jogs through cities I had visited. When I looked I found an almost endless supply of videos in exotic places. So, I went to Lowes and mounted a 1 x 10 board on the hand rests of my treadmill. I bought a couple of cheap trowels, took the handles off and put them on my desktop and bolted it to my treadmill. Then I bought and “accordion type” laptop stand and put it on the desktop and the back of the treadmill. Next I bought a used 24” monitor off of Facebook Marketplace and mounted it on top. I already have two monitors on my computer and my treadmill is in back of me when I sit at my computer desk. Using one of those monitors didn’t work well. So I bought an HDMI switch off Amazon for about $12, and wired it where I can switch one of my computer monitors to my treadmill.

I simply start the video at my computer then switch the monitor to my treadmill. It works to perfection. The screen is almost big enough to get lost in the scenery….. but not quite. As soon as I am reasonably sure Lori won’t kill me for buying another computer monitor for my work/recreation space, I am going to buy a 32 inch curved screen monitor from Micro Center for a little over $200. In Lori’s defense I already have 6 screens: one on my treadmill, two on my personal computer, my work laptop and hooked up to two monitors.

My first virtual run was in a favorite city of Lori and me, Prague in the Czech Republic where we visited a few years ago. After that jog, I found that YouTube had taken me to the next jog on the list through the streets of ancient Pompeii which was buried by Mt Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

Since then I have jogged through London, on Kodiak Island in Alaska, and Along the Mediterranean around an ancient Roman Villa. Then I stumbled upon the 13, 1 hour jogs along the route of Hadrian’s Wall in England. I had driven past signs for the wall in the past but was always on the way to Scotland or London or Stonehenge, or Bath. Always somewhere else and I have never stopped to see the wall. At four days a week, 30 minutes a day it will take me about 6 weeks to complete the entire trek. The only question is: what adventure will I go on next? The great wall of China? Machu Picchu in Peru? The Appalachian Trail? Rocky Mountain National Park? Mt Everest? The possibilities are endless.

Now the prospect of walking is exhilarating. I not only look forward to my morning run on my treadmill, I completely lose track of time and I’m disappointed when the day’s jog is over.