Yesterday began with the realization that my Pebble activity tracker step goal was likely higher than I would be able to achieve due to the fact that it was 9900 steps and getting out of BART and walking two extra stops distance was just over 2000 steps.
I decided to take drastic measures and signed up for an hour on the walking workstation. As that hour came to an end, I was at around 7000 steps when I saw a post in the Ingress community I am a part of about a planned Ingress raid on the Transamerica Pyramid area with two gentlemen that have become frequent cohorts.
We captured portals like crazy and being at Level 6, I even captured three at a high level on my own. It felt good to turn the area blue and the small amount of effort and in game resources I used got me over 20000AP, which is what I used to average on a "good day".
Yesterday in Ingress was far more than a "good day".
When I got back to work, I was already at 11,596 steps and met my step goal. The rest of my walking would just be for me and not toward any arbitrary goal. I worked through the rest of the afternoon and went to a planned Resistance meet up to swap in game items after work. The swap had some technical glitches but we still had enough items that me and another Level 6 agent attacked the Enlightened portals in Justin Herman Plaza and the Embarcadero. We turned most of it blue before I ran out of XM and decided to walk up Market and head for my destination for the evening, The Warfield to see Ben Folds Five.
Along the way, I noticed two Resistance portals were under attack. I slowed down my pace to drop some resonators on them and in doing so, witnessed a major car accident where one car hit another which spun out and then hit a bus. The spinout was in the crosswalk that I would have crossed had I not slowed down to drop those resonators on the portals. Ingress likely saved my life.
After trading blows with the enemy for a while, I won the battle and the portals and kept walking. The cable car turnaround on Powell Street was green and low level, so I captured that one proudly and then ate some dinner at Carl's Jr.
My wife was still commuting, so I placed some resonators in the portals in the mall that were already blue but not yet full. At the end of the day, I was over 41000AP higher than the previous day. It was my best Ingress day yet, and to put it into perspective, 41000AP would have taken me from Level 1 to Level 3 and part way to Level 4 if I was just starting in the game.
I am still around 240000AP away from Level 7, but I'm having fun playing and meeting new folks along the way.
A week's worth of walking:
On Friday, my evening Ingress hike was in San Francisco, starting on Howard Street at the temporary bus terminal, walking to approximately UN Plaza and doubling back a bit on Mission then going to the Marines Memorial Theater and back to Powell Street BART. Saturday's hike was in Yosemite Valley, first through the icy trail to Bridalveil Fall, then to the Visitor Center area, then to the lower half of Yosemite Falls and eventually around the Ahwanhee. Sunday was a bit less because of being a bit tired from Saturday and the inclement weather.
On Monday, I walked along the Bay Waterfront hacking Ingress portals, went to the Stephen Tobolowsky reading, walked from BART to Oracle Arena and then did a big lap of the Level 8 portal farm in Jack London Square.
On Tuesday, I took a slightly longer lunch than anticipated and worked with some Resistance teammates in the Embarcadero/Justin Herman Plaza area. I went back out after work due to the new Jamba Juice and Zipcar Location portals becoming active. The Zipcar portals pushed me to Level 6 in an exciting Ingress achievement and also kicked me over 10000 steps again.
Wednesday was my "off" day from Ingress. I needed to take a day to not play and Wednesday just felt like it was the right time to do it. It was difficult to not go out and play but my phone crashed on Wednesday morning and I took that as a sign to just not go out. My step goal was rather low for Wednesday as well, so a bit of rest wasn't a problem to do.
Yesterday was huge. I thought I was screwed due to the high step count goal and the low anticipated actual step count. I added a new morning walk to my routine that I really enjoyed and hope to continue in the future. I used the walking workstation at work for an hour. I did another Resistance strike at lunch time, working with the same teammates to take down the Enlightened portals in the Transamerica Pyramid area. I met up with a different set of Resistance teammates after work for a bit of a swap meet of in game items. Then I walked around the Embarcadero destroying Enlightened presence there and walked up Market to The Warfield for the Ben Folds Five show. It was my biggest step day, almost 10 miles of walking and nearly 20000 steps.
It was an awesome week. I'd love to have an even bigger step total for this week, but a bit of rest wouldn't hurt either.
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