hot and humid

in the gazebo before the race

The day started off with a bang. Literally.

About 5 am Mother Nature put on one helluva light and sound show. It rained like there was no tomorrow. By the 9 am race time it was sunny, hot and humid.

waiting to start

Because of the storm, I forgot my sunscreen. I thought about it last night. Put it on my dresser. But when I came down and left it was still very dark and cloudy. Ouch is all I really need to say

Bonnie had foot surgery and decided not to walk. But she rode along for "fun". Lydia, Sharon and I walked. It was the same course as last year. Hilly. Last year I did 53:49, this year 53. The weather conditions were about the same.

and she's off. look at that fat girl go.

Again we got performance shirts and a string backpack. This year it was white with a design by a child. Pat usually takes my tee's but this one I'm keeping. I'll need to find a child in need of a string backpack. I already have one.

Unlike last year, his year Sharon finished. Although she did wave "hi" to her "waiting" tree. Her time was 62:46. She had orders that if she couldn't finish she had to use the sweep van. I think that motivated her.

Lydia finished in 59:55. Not bad since she hasn't done a 5K in a while.

Any calories burnt were re-consumed at the Gap Diner. We stopped for a big breakfast/lunch.

More photos

80 stops. 80 stories.

While downtown today I noticed how many of the blue Historic Bethlehem signs there really were. Last fall I discovered they were for the self-guided walking tour, and looked online for information, but didn't find any. Today I found the link.

So I went to download it and you had to pay for the files. No,, let me correct myself. You had to make a donation of a specified amount, then they sent me a link to the walks.

I think it's money well spent.

There are six different tours. Founders, Monocacy, Westward Expansion, Victorian, Farmland to Industry and Steel. I'm downloading the files now, but there appears to be audio clips plus the maps.

Maybe on cooler weekends these will be good, fun, interesting alternatives to 5ks.

walking tour

Today was the Ghost of the Revolution Walking Tour. It was hot. But fun. Not really exercise. But Market Street from Main is one helluva hill.

I dropped Lydia, Sharon off at the Moravian Bookstore and went to look for parking. The tour started and stopped there.

The stories were typical of all ghost tours—lost love, dying soldiers and people still protecting their city. With the revolutionary war as the backdrop. We zig-zaged all thru downtown and God's Acre. Along the way I even learned a couple of things.

Brethren's House. Lyd in yellow, Sharon wearing the hat.

Our guide was a good story teller and dropped bunches of big names—Washington, Franklin, Handcock, Lafayette ....

At the end she asked if there was questions. I had one but didn't dare to ask. Why is a Moravian Tour Guide wearing jewelry? Especially jewelry typical to the late 19th-century? And lace?

weigh in

Gained another pound. I didn't realize this was a weight-gain challenge!

walkabout with adonis

Lyd, Adonis and I went out for a walk in Fountain Hill. It was only 1.25 miles but had 2 good uphills and one long downhill. I believe that makes it aerobic and anaerobic. Could be wrong.

Adonis needed to mark every telephone pole. He also stopped to poop. That's when we discovered we forgot bags. Oops. Bad pet owner.

I need to throw my shirt in the hand-me-down bin. It looks awful on me. It's stretched out, too short and makes me look twice as fat. It goes.

my niece is on a roll

Meet Adonis, a St .Bernard/Pit Bull mix. About 5.

My niece has had a tough two years. Both parents died, took care of her dad for a year, bariatric surgery a year ago June 8, and the final straw, losing her job.

I've been trying to get her to go walking and it's always next week. Posted 5Ks for her. Maybe next time. Nothing. She was unhappy that she stuck at -108 but really didn't do anything about it. She was in a super-sized funk.

That all changed when she adopted a dog. Adonis needs to be walked everyday. Suddenly, she rediscovered she likes walking. She's back on her program and has turned into another Jillian. (I guess I'll have to call her Jilly.)

When's the next 5K?

When do you want to go walking?

Want to go on a ghost walk?

She's posting walking jokes and walking slogans on my FB page. One of my favorites is from yesterday.  "Unless you faint, puke or die KEEP WALKING." Turns out it's on a tee shirt. From Jillian. Figures. I like the slogan, might contemplate buying it. But really I don't think puking is a reason to stop walking. Do you?

In a way, it's motivating me too. Maybe I'll get out of my blue funk. I'm also getting emails finally from the Volkksport people. Maybe I can try one of their walks.

End of week update:

I didn't walk Thursday or Friday. I was at a conference in Jersey City. Sat all day and ate high calorie food.

This morning I got up, grabbed Sharon, and we hit the streets for the Lehigh University loop. It's just over three miles. It's barely 12:30 and I already have my 10,000 steps in for the day.

Lydia is coming shortly with the dog and will take him for a walk.

Tomorrow, I'll drag Sharon out for a morning walk but Lyd and I are also going on the Ghosts of the Revolution Walking Tours. Weird, it's at 3 pm. In daylight. Do ghost come out during the daytime?

Monday is the Tortoise and the Hare 5K in Wind Gap. It's supposed to be hot and humid. Just like last year. There isn't a lick of shade on the route.

Weigh in is tomorrow.

from my neice's facebook page

How to get your daily exercise: get a block of wood, place it on the floor, walk around it twice. Rest. You have now walked around the block twice...just a little humor for the day :)

She'll be thrilled if you friend her. She's got about 700 and is looking for more.

10,000 steps

Today, I did 10,000 steps on my pedometer. Sounds like a post form 2 years ago. That's okay. If it keeps me on track, I'll start over.

We went out on College Hill at lunch time. Then tonight, I walked down to Ahart's for soda for sister. (She used to guzzle beer. Now she guzzles soda. She doesn't worry about her weight because she eats like a bird. I think the rotten teeth have something to do with that.) So I bought 4-2 liter bottles and put two in each reusable grocery bags.  Flung them over my shoulders and used them as weights. They were really heavy by the time I got home but I made it.

Now, if I could just tame the food-eating-beast.

oops, I did it again.

I bought yet another pedometer. This one is supposed to be accurate from anywhere, as long as it's near your body.

Over the weekend I thought it was doing okay. I had jean style pants on and kept it in my pocket. Today, I'm not to sure. I had trouser on and it's only reading 1250 steps. That's a bit over a half mile. And I did .68 today running errands on campus. Hmmm.

It finally stopped raining, I might be able to get a walk in before I work on my online class.

50 laps!

I did 50 laps yesterday at the Relay for Life. That's 12+ miles.  I think I had the highest total for our group.

I arrived after commencement, about 6:15. I only knew one person in the group, and frankly really didn't meet all but one member of the team. I felt like an outsider.

I'm not sure how the Relay works but by the name I thought it would be several members of the team go out for awhile, say an hour, and then come back while the other members go out. I planned accordingly. I took my laptop, sketchbook and Kindle. Thought I'd have lots of downtime. That's not how it worked. People just went out whenever they felt like it.

You bought a piece of gimp with a relay tag on it, then every time you went thru the start gate, you grabbed another bead. I saw one lady at 3 am with 100 beads! Other people ran the whole time, I guess it would be like a marathon, and saw others power walking.

They put out the luminaries about 7 and lit them about 9. There, of course, was a ceremony. You could walk during the ceremony. Then they turned out the field lights and you walked one lap by candle/moon light in total silence.

By 3 am, I was tired and barely moving. If I do something like that again, I would start and finish early.

Most of our team left about 1 am. I left at 4 am.

drowned rat

I went walking today with Betsy. When I arrived at her house it was bright and sunny. When I left I was soaked to the skin.

Since the weather was iffy we decided to do small laps. I told Besty not to slow down. I did okay keeping up on the first lap. The second I was lagging  a bit behind. On the third laps, she slowed down. I still had trouble keeping up with her.

On the third lap it started to get darker and cloudier, with the very finest drizzle. When we reached Winchester I thought we were heading back to her house, but we turned. The drizzle became light rain.

"How far are we from your house?"

"About as fa away as we can be on this route."

"I think it's going to rain."

"Me too."

A block later, downpour.

We were soaked by the time we got back to her place we were drenched. I hopped into the car, she went to take a shower. By the time I reach Springhouse road, it was a drizzle. By Ceder Crest it stopped.

I stopped at Dicks sporting goods to look for a counter for the Relay for Life. They had nothing. Then I walked to Walmart. When I came out, I got soaked, again.

By the time I got home the rain had reached my house. I came in and put on dry clothes.

she likes me

Mother Nature likes me. The sun came out and it was a perfect day for a walk.

Heading over to Aardvark I tried the intervals. I discovered a problem. Waiting at Broadway and several other major intersections lets you rest. It really does't work as well for building endurance.

I tried on 6 different styles of the Vibram's. None worked for my feet. My toes aren't perfect. (I am my mothers daughter.) Merrell's also makes a "Barefoot Pure Glove Shoe". It looks more like a shoe but feels like a slipper. They didn't have my size. That gift card and coupon remains in my wallet.

then I headed up to New Street and across the bridge to the Campus Square farm market at Lehigh. They gave me a lovely new grocery bag and a guide to local foods. Not much produce yet at the market, but lots of baked goods. I bought a small container of apple butter from Bechtold's and some pineapple salsa from the Easton Salsa company. Too bad I cna't go again. Starting in 2 weeks I work T/W/Th. Next week I'll be at a conference in Jersey. Bummer.


After shopping, I headed home. Total mileage 3.9 miles. I'm calling that 4.

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When I was on google pedometer I noticed that the star of Bethlehem and the trail is on the map. When Bonnie's foot heels we are going there.

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I received a silly medal at the MS walk. Promptly lost it. Found it today between the gear shift and the passenger seat. Attached the medal part to my three-day backpack.

three more 5Ks

miles for coco logo. they have great
graphic design, unlike most events.

Signed up for three more 5ks today.

Miles for Coco, May 28 (infant cancer); Kreidersville Covered Bridge 5K June 4; Steps for Stellar  July 9 (ovarian vancer); Pride of Q'town Dash & Dip July 23, and a Boy Scout one in October.

I'm also going to start interval walking. One block regular pace, one block power walk for a half hour. See if I can get my speed up. Then add hills, and longer distances. I have to get faster than Bonnie and Betsy. Maybe it will jump start weight loss. Or at least fat burn.

calculated risk

At 5 am it was bright and sunny. I thought, yeah the rain is over. I can walk.

For a change I have the day off. I have choices. Walk first thing, or wait till late morning and walk to the south side farmers market and then uptown to Aardvark and look at Vibrams. I have a 10% off coupon and a $100 gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

If they are comfy and I like them, should I break them in at the Relay? I'd always have my Birks to switch to. Hmm.

I took the risk and decided to wait. It's 9 am and looks all black and rainy again. The birds are still singing.

It's a gamble. Hopefully Mother Nature sides with me today.

even more food

I went back to Bottom Dollar today with another of my save $10 coupons. I actually had to buy some groceries for us, so I didn't buy too much for the challenge. I added three sets of vegetable juice and coffee to the donation bags.

Trying to keep the choices as healthy as possible for processed food.I think I'm doing okay.

I've added up the food I bought so far for the birthday weight loss challenge—40.25 pounds. There's five participants so I need fifty pounds, plus teen more to honor the birthday boy. So I'm about 20 pounds away and still have two more Bottom Dollar $10 off coupons for the new Easton store. They'll come in handy because I still need to add pasta and canned veggies to the mix.

Next week I start car pooling again, so it will be more difficult to stop on the way home from LC. But I'll figure something out.

relay for life

Saturday night I'll be walking in circles at the Relay for Life-Phillipsburg. I'll be on the team with Beth, who walked with me in the first Avon NY walk.

I figure a high school track is a 1/4 mile. So how many circles do a make my goal? I need a goal otherwise I'll die from boredom going round and round. Four laps is a mile. So forty would be 10 miles. It doesn't sound like enough. For a while I considered 200 (50 miles!). Then 100 (25 miles.) Sixty laps would be 15 miles. That seems doable. twenty miles, one day of the 3-Day would be 80 laps. I'm so confused.

What do I pick?

I think I'm going to say 50 minimum, 75 maximum. I think that's a good goal.

Now what shoes do I wear? I'm thinking my Birks.

more food for the challenge

Bought more food today for the challenge. Using up the Bottom Dollar coupons. They'll get twice as much food as originally planned.

Today I got peanut butter, beans, tomato sauce. Next time I need to get some veggies and pasta. One more week of coupons to go.

look, I'm on the sign!

This morning at 6:30—in the rain—we headed to Philly for Yoga on the Steps. It's an breast cancer awareness event sponsored by Living Beyond Breast Cancer. My friend Karen used this organization thru her battle. Talk about a warrior.

We arrived in Philly before 8, must have had a lead foot, and found our parking spot at the Eastern State Penitentiary. It's a short walk from the Art museum and right across the street from Jack's Firehouse.

We checked in, found our spot on the steps and went to go to the wellness tent when Bonnie said, "That's You!". And it is. In the pink Avon walk shirt. I'm pointing at it...sort of.

Bonnie made fast friends with the woman next store. The talked gluten-free and she told us about a bakery on South Street called Sweet Freedom. Of course we went to look for it.

This year, for the event they had survivors tell their stories while we were doing yoga. I didn't like that. I can concentrate on one thing at a time. Not killing myself on the steps of the art museum or  listening to stories. I hope they reevaluate this option.

Bonnies new friend took the pix of us attempting yoga. We held on to each other so we didn't do a face plant!

(The matching shirts, I swear was an accident. I didn't even know she had one.)

It didn't rain at all. Maybe packing dry clothes created better karma?

When the event was over, we walked back up to the car, headed to Jacks for lunch and then off to Whole Foods looking for gluten free products for Bonnie. At Whole Foods the gluten-free items are in the aisles with the other food. So we were forced to walk up and down all the aisles. Such a hardship. (;

Next stop— Trader Joe's—not much happening on the gluten-free front there. Then off to Sweet Freedom.

A little walking, a little yoga, too much eating, a little shopping, and no rain. Pretty much a perfect day.

up four!

Weighed myself at Bonnie's. Bad eating habits the last week of classes took it's toll. I'm up four pounds. So much for the pound for pound challenge. Now I have 14 to lose! Yikes.

5K in the rain

Today is J's run. It started as Joan's run, in honor of their mother who died of pancreatic cancer. But another family member/ friend has also died, so they've changed it to J's run.

It's raining. It's a slight drizzle but rain none the less. More is expected for tomorrow for Yoga on the Steps. Goodie.

Last night I went to pick up our shirts at the organizers house. So we are wearing them today. While there I realized I never signed Sharon up. Oops. When I got home I also discovered I didn't sign her up for Tortoise and the Hare. Need to do that this afternoon.

on the side walk near the start line.
good advice that I should take

The rain was pretty much constant thru the 5K. Bonnie finished at 52.07, me at 52.14 and Sharon at 58.23. I think that was a personal best. Bonnie and I slowed down a bit because of the wet roads. One section was really slippery.

Yesterday Betsy and I did our Friday walk- about. It's always good training for a 5K. She walks fast. And I suspect she slows down for me. Sadly, any calories I burnt were put right back on. I stopped at McDs and got a frozen lemonade. Tart and sweet. Dang it was good. Sadly it's 270 calories for the small. Much more than a Coke of the same size.

Yesterday I also put a "picture" on my Walgreens walking page. I am not generic. I used the illustration in my header above.

another note

Another note last night from Sharon, I can walk tomorrow. Today she didn't need to leave till 10 so we didn't walk to work. We did a variation on the St. Lukes loop. The traffic on Ostrum is crazy because of the bridge construction. Everyone is using it for a shortcut. We finally bailed, came up Uncas, out Seneca and back home. It was only about 1.5 miles, with hills. Better than nothing.

I think I walked three miles last night at school. From desk to printer and back again. Seemed like a 100 times.

Yesterday ended my online term. Today starts another. Today begins finals at the community college. I could use a break. Two trips have been discussed with friends, but I'll be shocked if either pan out. I've learned the hard way not to count on something till the reservations/deposits are made. One the the Jersey shore, the other to Block Island. Both great walking spots.

Today I'll be heading out to work early to hit Bottom Dollar again with my $10 coupon. Both Sharon and I got them in the mail. I think today I'll fill my postal carrier collection bag.

wisteria lane

Yesterday we went walking at lunch time. Due to the construction (and torn up sidewalks) we couldn't go down college hill so we went thru the grand neighborhood instead. Easton really should designate this area as historical. The Victorian stick shingle house are amazing. And so are the spring flowering trees and shrubs. One of my favorites, wisteria, was  everywhere and not a desperate housewife in sight.

Glad I had my phone in my pocket. Phone cameras are useful, for blog photos.

taking sharon to work

Now that school is winding down I should have more time to walk. And sleep. I was up at 3:30 with plans to grade. I thought, let's rest another half hour, and fell back to sleep. Didn't start till almost 5.

Monday Sharon left me a note. I can walk tomorrow. My first client is late in the morning. I thought she wanted to walk around the hood. Nope. She wanted to walk to work. So we did.

As we headed out Broadway we heard the bus. It slowed down and came to a crawl next to us. (the light was red)  The bus driver motions for her to get on. I signaled no. I shook my head, and crossed my arms. It was funny. I'm sure she got teased today. I guess that's what happens when you take the same bus nearly every morning.

We headed down Broadway, took the corner to Brodhead, out Third, thru the Banana Factory lot and up the stairs to the bridge. After crossing the bridge, we went around the city center part way, thru the sculpture garden and up more stairs. (She was not happy at this point.) Then out Church. I left her at Church and Main and headed over the Hill to Hill and home.

I think we are doing it again Thursday. With all the construction on the southside it's going to be difficult to vary the route.

holey moley update

I have hope that the sidewalks with the holes in are being repaired on College Avenue.

All winter long the city has been replacing water mains going down the hill. They reached the bottom two weeks or so ago. Now coming back up the other side.

Monday, as I turned to come up the hill I noticed that the sidewalks at the bottom were torn up.  Today, they are torn up further up the hill. And there's all kinds of marks in the street. I don't know how far they are going to go, but hopefully all the way to the top. That's where they are the worse.

However, because of the construction we can't walk downtown anymore unless we use the stairs. Bummer.

Meanwhile, in Bethlehem, the Fahy bridge sidewalks are getting scary. Look at the size of these expansion joints. Not to mention holes that you can see thru.  I took these photos with Sharon's phone.

Tuesday update

Some updates for past posts.

ABC Channel 6 said there was 40,000 participants for the race for the Cure.  A lot closer to my estimate. However, many people didn't participate in the actual race so maybe it was over 100K. Who knows. I just went to the Koman website and they are only half way to their fund raising goal.
................................

Everybody has weighed in for the birthday pound-for-pound challenge. Participants are the birthday boy Dave, and siblings Barb and Sharon, and my niece Bonnie. I stopped at Bottom Dollar Store and used the first of my $10 of $20 purchase coupons to buy food for the food bank. I bought three each of everything. Guess we are feeding three families—large brown rice, large canned chicken and tuna, jar peanuts and dried lentils, split peas and white beans.
................................

I opened up my journal that I track my exercise in and realized I haven't written anything down since April 24. Not even race times. I have to look back on the blog to find them. I haven't even taken my BP!  Actually if the truth be told, all of 2011s journal entries are spotty. I've also not really kept up with the Walk with Walgreens program.  I guess all that feeds into my "i don't give a crap" attitude I've had. Today that changes.
................................

Sunday is Yoga on the Stairs of the art museum in Philly. Nearby is Trader Joe's, and on South Street is a Whole Food.  Not to mention the reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market. We will shop till we drop. I've already downloaded directions from one place to the other.  Need to put the cooler in the car.  Gluten girl will be stocking up and I will be dreaming of things I want but won't buy. It's a long story.

120,000 people?

I estimated the crowd today at the Race for the Cure to be about 30, maybe 40, thousand people. Reports I'm seeing on line have estimates up to 120,000!

No wonder I lost Bonnie.

But let's backup. We arrived at Fairmont Park at exactly 6 am. The buses were lined up and ready to go. There were a lot of them. I slipped off my Birks and decided I could just walk across the grass to the bus. No use putting the sneaks on before I have to.

Our bus driver was breaking laws by texting and driving. He got lost. We were on the first bus, but arrived maybe as the third or fourth bus. And blew right past the art museum. How is that possible? It takes up several city blocks!

We hiked back and went to the survivors breakfast. As we suspected it was all bread based. What was shocking was the Entenmann's breakfast goodies. No Tastykakes. Is nothing sacred? Bonnie left with a cup of tea and some fruit.

We ran into Stephanie from the YWCA working in the Koman booth. A job I helped with a couple years ago.

I took my 3-Day backpack because I knew we'd pick up lots of stuff. We did. Lots and lots of it. We had our pix taken three times. Once at the Bank America booth, once at Ford, and once at the Cancer Treatment Centers. The first two gave us a card to claim our photos. The last was an old fashioned photo booth. I waited for the pixs while Bonnie ran for the survivors parade and photo.

This is where we made the mistake. We should have planned a meeting spot. We didn't.

I went to watch the hoopla and even attempted to take a video on my camera. After it was over this sea of pink walks down the stairs of the museum and through the crowd. When it first started there was an aisle. Within 5 minutes there wasn't People joined their family members.  I waited for a while and knew I wouldn't see Bonnie so I decided to go to the Start line. Logically place to wait in my pea-sized brain.

Problem was, Bonnie didn't know where the start line was. She went to the finish line. Phones were not working well and texts didn't work at all.  I was screaming in the phone. Thousands of people were passing me.

Oh, and did I mention she fell? Off the curb right in front of the art museum. She has a goose egg on her knee.

I went to the finish line, we connected and headed for the start. Runners were done. Walkers were already crossing. I think that the finish clock said 39 minutes on it and we hadn't even started yet.

We finally start and were in a group of thousands of people in front and behind. It never eased up. They just kept coming and coming. We spent the race weaving in an out. I'm fairly sure we crossed in under an hour, but I'm not sure of the time. I think they will be posted tomorrow or the next day. Hopefully I can plug in my number and do a search.

I had been waiting about 5 minutes when these people
passed me. The line stretch down the parkway, around the oval,
and past the museum. When Bonnie and I crossed
15 minutes later, there were thousands of people
behind us still waiting to start!

We walked around a bit and went to the Wawa tent for food. They only had donuts and pretzels left.  Good thing I had picked up a couple of strawberry yogurts earlier.

We had to search out the shuttle bus stop since Bozo left us off at the wrong corner. We found it and waited a good 10 minutes to be put on a bus. They were filling them 2 buses at a time, but it was taking forever.

We finally arrived back at the park, and a cop was stationed right by my car. I thanked him for personally watching it.

Things we learned today:

• Don't wear pink to a breast cancer event
• Plan a meeting spot if you get separated
• Check to make sure you have phone/text abilities in your location before you get separated.

CBS3 is one of the sponsors. Here's a link to their coverage.

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official weigh in 232.5. Not bad. Only 1.5 pound gain since my last weigh in six weeks or so ago.

Run for Rich 313

Yesterday I sent Bonnie a text about today's 5k. She said we're not doing a 5K Saturday, are we? Just the Race for the Cure on Sunday.

Needless to say, I was confused. So in my email box pops the Run for Rich 313. It was a run/walk downtown, and since we had nothing planned, why not.

So off we went. There was maybe 100 people there. Not a large crowd, especially after last week (and what I know awaits us tomorrow.).

The race begain at thee Luckenbach Mill, headed to Union Blvd, down main, around Sand Island, up Conestoga and back thru the park. At the Volksplatz entrance to the  park there was a sign painted on the road. Walkers one way, runners the other. Hey I signed up for a 5K I'm following the runners path.

When we reached the cop on Union Blvd, who looked bored to tears, he said "walkers we're supposed to turn" in a grumpy voice. Fine, arrest me.

As we went up Conestoga we saw a great tree and went back when we finished to take a picture.

I finished at 50:32. Bonnie finished about 5 seconds sooner. Of course.

the 10 pound challenge

I'm sure my brother David never thought his birthday party would turn into a competition. It has. Just don't tell him!

My sister Barb called from Louisville Thursday night and said I wanna lose 10 pounds also. Then my sister Sharon joined. And if I not mistaken maybe Bonnie will give it a try. Bonnie might win. She's really competitive.

So there's no real prize except an atta boy. So I'm going to donate 10 pounds of food in the winners name, and 10 pounds of food in the birthday boys name to the foodbank. A different take on the Pound for Pound Challenge.

Speaking of the birthday boy, when he had his last party a decade ago, we gave toys for the local Toys for Tots. Wonder where the presents go this year?

it's baaaack

Spring has strung and lighter weight clothes have come out. And my every faithful Birks. Now that it's May I can get away with wearing them to work. No hose. No heels. Hurray.

While celebrating I discovered something. My laziness since spring has had an impact. Not on the scale. (Perhaps the scale. Don't know. Haven't weighed myself in forever, and I'm eating like a pig.) But my thighs. Without hose they rub together. Eeeeeeeek.

The best part when training for my first 3-Day was the day I discovered my thighs didn't rub together. My shorts didn't creep up. I did a happy dance walking down Smiley Avenue.

It's back. It needs to go away. Now I'm motivated. Schools almost over so. The excuse train has left the station.

I am goal and deadline driven: The  "rub" will be gone by Dave's birthday party at the ballpark. And so will the first 10 pounds (maybe more) of my 30 pound weight loss summer goal. With no classes I can do much more of the cooking.

So there. I said it. It's out in the universe and I must now do it.

I'll weigh myself this weekend at Bonnie's after the Race for the Cure.

mob scene

Today was the MS Walk at Coca Cola Park (aka piggie park. The home of the LV Iron Pigs). It was a 5K. I bet there was 5,000 people there. It was a mob scene.

The line to check in was about 20 minutes. There was also lines for food and for the port-o-potties.

"Where did you get those shoes?"
Creative advertising for DSW.
The one at the bagel shop is in a barrel of bagels

We were told to line up by the entrance gates to the park. There's a huge plaza in front of the gates, which have maybe four openings. Everybody was spread out on the plaza and into the parking lot and street. After a million speeches, it finally began, 20 to 25 minutes late.

All those people crushed into the four gates to make one lap around the concourse. Bonnie and I finally ditched the sardine can and walked thru the top row of seats. It was so much quicker, but it still took 12 minutes to start!

You can't really see all the people lining the concourse, but there's a lot. Trust me.

The course then headed down the hill across the Parkway and up the hill to LSI (Lucent, Agree, Western Electric... A friend has worked there his whole career and has worked for 6 different companies!). Around the building following Rt 22 and back down the hill. Then across the Parkway again and back up the hill to the ball park. It was a hard 3.1 miles. We finished in under an hour. 57.11 to be exact. Which was terrific with that crowd.

You just can't imagine how many people there were. As we were coming down the hill from LPI people were still going up! Not a couple of people. Lots of people. We heard a volunteer say that there was vehicles (including a para-transit bus) for anyone who couldn't make it up the last hill to the ballpark. At that point, no one took advantage of it. I was shocked. I would have assumed that there were people on foot suffering from MS. We saw many in powered wheelchairs.

When we crossed the finish we received a medal. I've lost mine already. I left it on the gear shift of the car. It must have slid to the place that hid my school keys for a year and a half. Maybe sometime during the week I'll find it.

We had Bonnie's camera and the photos are at her house. I'll have to add them next weekend when we do J's run.

this week, part two

the pony express arrived from Koman on Thursday.  So now we are all set to park at the Please Touch Museum and shuttle into the art museum.

My number bib has a chip in it that will record my time. We'll take the stop watch also. I photographed the back so you could see the chip has 4 contact points. I'm going to make sure I hold that sucker to my chest as I cross the finish!

I thought it was clever of Koman to post the schedule right on the bib. Bonnie and I need to be there at 6 am for the survivors breakfast. Hopefully they have something gluten free. Then there's the survivors parade and photograph. I'm wearing my shirt and she'll be wearing the pink version.

I hope that nearly 8000 number doesn't mean that's how many participants there are!

Friday I walked with Betsy and Saturday I did yard work. So I haven't been totally lazy. I even remembered to track my miles today at the Walgreens site.

Next weekend will be busy.