another virtual walk

Sharon told me today that in an effort to get the seniors moving, they are doing a virtual walk to Vegas. Apparently if you walk around the Senior Center 57 times, you go a mile. Really. 57 times? That's not exercise, that's torture!

She's signed us up. Hopefully she can get a picture of the seniors walking!

a bunch of swingers!

This morning the scoobies got together to walk — Sharon included.  It was a beautiful day for a walk, the temperature was in the low forties. We had the option of a narriated canal walk in New Hope at the winter festival, but chose to do Fountain Hill instead. Bonnie was on-call and I really didn't feel like driving today. I have some work to catch up on and a "sexual misconduct" video to watch for my teaching job. Thanks Penn State.

We left the dog with Pat, and headed up to Sioux, then wove in and out of the hills of Fountain Hill. Sharon was really behind, and at Lechauweki she went down the hill, and we went up. We planned to meet at Fountain Hill park. We went out Moravian, and down Dorothy and back Broadway. Returning to Lechauweki which is Dotson on the other side of the street, we headed out Smiley and Stanley Avenues at the recreation area. Sharon was waiting.
Bonnie said "swings" and we were off. Lydia headed for a tire-like item, and was happy she could put it over her head.  Bonnie and I headed for the regular swings. They also tried out some of the other equipment like the slides. The man across the street working on his roof probably thought we were crazy!


After playing, we meandered the walking trail and arrived at Russell Avenue, then went up to Jeter and down Tumbler and back home the length of Bishopthorpe.

I thought it would be three miles. I knew about how far it was, because I trained for the three-day on these streets. To be certain, Lydia tried out a new phone app pedometer, one she got off the Iditawalk site, because hers was so inaccurate. Her new app and Google pedometer matched almost perfectly—2.9 miles. I thought it would be three. But that mapping did not take into consideration walking the exercise trail in the park. Close enough.

After everyone left it was nearly 12:30. Too late for lunch in a house that eats dinner at 5. So I decided to skip lunch and make lupper instead. The meatloaf is in the oven, the veggies are roasting, and the endive is cleaned. The only thing left to do is take Sharon home, and watch that video!

women in the outdoors is back!

My brochure came today. I'm very excited. I had so much fun last year. Especially shooting the cross bow. And I walked a lot.

I thought this year might be impossible. I received a brochure a couple weeks ago and it was in Hamburg at Cabela's. There were a lot less workshops. Apparently that was another event. The one in New Tripoli came today. It's June 9, all day, with lunch included. Some of the workshops are different. Some the same.

• Basket weaving (won't make that mistake again!)
• Cast iron cooking **
• Intro to cross bows. ** (Boy that kicked ass last year! I wanna do it again.)
• Self defense (Walked past last year. It looked dull)
• Archery 101 * (I've done this in Girl Scouts. I like it.)
• Advanced archery
• Fly Fishing
• Get your bearings (compass, topography) **
• Hand guns
• Wildlife Forensics CSI (for those who knew her, this has Mrs Sippi written all over it! I'd love to do it, but I fear it will involve dead animals. I don't do well with dead animals.)
• Outdoor cooking**
• Rifle marksmanship (22's)
• Shot gunning/Trapshooting (shot guns and clay pigeons)
• Gun maintenance (Waste of time if you don't plan on owning a gun)
• Emergency Survival **
• Composting **
• Outdoor first aid
• Kayaking/canoeing * (maybe I'll lose more weight by then?)
• Turkey hunting 101
• Beginner Beekeeping (Sounds cool.)*
• Muzzleloading (Sounds like the Revolutionary war, doesn't it?)
• Geocaching 101 (I've thought about this, often) *

You have to pick four 1st choices (*), four second choices (**). I said last year if I decided to go again I needed to handle a gun. But which one? The cooking ones should be second choices.

If you want to come along, the price includes a membership to the National Wild Turkey Foundation. You too will get a gross magazine in the mail filled with dead turkeys and the people who hunt them. I'm guessing that's for insurance purposes, since novices will be playing with guns and cross bows!

dog sitting

Last night Lydia's dog, Adonis, stayed with us. She was leaving for Shady Maple at 6:45 am for a birthday breakfast. Shady Maple is a gluttons paradise, a farmer's market and a tourist trap gift shop. From their site "We house Lancaster County’s largest smorgasbord with an astounding 200 feet of buffet laden with the deliciously authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cooking!" I've never eaten there but people talk about it like it's a religious experience. "The buffet includes scrambled eggs, omelets, quiche, sausage, ham, scrapple, bacon, pancakes, french toast, mush, puddins, oatmeal, waffles, biscuits, fruit, cereal, baked goods, beverages and much more!" How she managed that situation after WLS I have no idea. I'd probably be sick. Not wanting to leave anyone out they have a Gastric Bypass Special! How funny.

I bet the scrapple is perfect.

So last night we went for no walks. It was dark. Even I'm not dumb enough to walk in my 'hood after dark.

Pat tried to leave him out this morning and he wanted nothing to do with the yard. Or eat his food. I think he's on a hunger strike. I barely got downstairs—didn't even have shoes on yet—and he wanted to go! So we went (.6 miles).

Then when I hung out the laundry he came out with us, both times. I think he'd stay outside all day if you left him.

Later I did my regular walk, about three miles, with Sharon. We stopped at the post office and then headed up the Fourth Street Hill. I told her we could go out Pawnee. Then I gave he the choice Pawnee or Cherokee? At Cherokee it was that or Seneca. At Seneca it was that or Delaware. We ended up going out Delaware. My original intention. But the mean walking coach in me left her make the choices. (2.25 miles).

When we reached Broadway, I called Pat and told her to have the dog ready and we walked more, with him. (.75 miles)

Then as Pat and Sharon took down the laundry, I ran around like a 10 year old, playing ball with the dog. I need a bigger yard.

Lydia didn't get back until at least 3:45, so we went for yet another walk. (.75 miles)

You sure can't be lazy with a dog in the house!

water

Partially  because I'm an eco-brat, and partially because I'm cheap, I rarely buy water in bottles. I have numerous water bottles both plastic and metal, and also tumbler-like cups with lids. At 5Ks and other events I pick up bottled water. They often hand it to you as you cross the finish line. Often I don't open it and save it for another day.

But there are those rare ocassions when I leave for school or work and discover I have no vessel for water in my car. Yesterday was one of those ocassions.

So I stopped at Walgreens, because I knew the school bookstore would still have long lines. Then I proceeded to stare at the choices. When I do buy, I try not to ever buy Dasani or Aquafina. Those are tap water that have been filtered. Why pay for tap water twice? Generally I buy Deer Park or Poland Spring.

But Walgreens had really interesting choices of imported waters. Beyond Evian and Perrier which I like. And it got me thinking about something I saw on the news.

There was this group of ladies with some rare disease that all the could drink was water. They were constantly sipping water. So they were having a fund-raiser for the disease and it was a water tasting. I thought it was an odd concept. But they were talking about water like  my brother Dave talks about wine, and my colleague talks about beer.

My only conversations about water have been about how bad it tastes. I used to think Allentown's water was horrible until I drank Easton's. I don't think mine is too bad. I drink a lot of it. I know people who've moved here that tell me I am wrong. But "flavor notes" like beer and wine, I don't think so. But I believe in beer brewing that the water makes a difference in the taste of the beer. So clearly I'm wrong.

I decided, right then in there in the cold beverage aisle of Walgreens that if I had to buy water, I was going to buy something different each time. I wanted to see I they really do taste different. It didn't hurt that Iceland Pure was on sale, cheaper than my normal choices. (How they ship it all the way from Iceland in that ultra thin plastic bottle is beyond me.) It has a pH of 8.88. I have no idea what that means but it was important enough to put on the front label. And from reading the nutrition facts it has lots of minerals in it.

It was good. Better than my local water. And light years better than the bottled filtered tap waters. It was clean and fresh, even after it got warm. I could really taste the difference when I refilled it from the water fountain.

Now I want to run out and buy all the types they had and have a water tasting party.

holy sh*t

I got picked for an after photo for the Walk Your Butt off program. Didn't see that coming. The notice arrived in this mornings email. I'll have to change my work schedule to go.

"Hello!
Congrats on completing the Walk Your Butt Off test panel! You’ve really inspired us with your great results, tips, and stories, and now I’d like to invite you to come back one last time for an “after” photo shoot at our North Street building."

Clearly they see something I didn't. I don't see the 20 pound weight loss. I don't feel and different. But I'm delighted about the drop in the BP. Maybe if this keeps up the doctor will reduce my medicine. That would be sweet.

So I had my after weigh-in burger, fries and pizza. So now I need to be really good diet wise. And be sure to exercise every day until the photo shoot.

This morning I did 3 miles of hard hills, including Dotson Street. Mostly I was training for that 50K.

todays joke

My brother Dave sent this to me in an email. Thought you'd enjoy too.

Check your shampoo bottle label.  I don't know WHY I didn't figure this out sooner.  It's the shampoo I use in the shower!  When I wash my hair, the shampoo runs down my whole body and (duh!) printed very clearly on the shampoo label is this warning: FOR EXTRA VOLUME AND BODY ---  No wonder I have been gaining weight!  Well!  I have gotten rid of that shampoo and I am going to start using Dawn dish soap instead.  Their label reads, DISSOLVES FAT THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE. 

kicked treadmill today

Today was the weigh-in for the Walk Your Butt off program. I have no illusions that I'll be in the book. From conversations around the room I could tell that some people lost a lot of weight, and did super on their walking test. They'll be in the book. But that's okay.

I did okay. Average. But that's who I am. And that's okay too.

On average I lost about 3 inches from each thing they measured, except the girls. They were closer to 5. My weight on their scale was 219. I started at 239. But I weighed in about 5-6 pounds heavier on their scale.  Fifteen more pounds and I can finally pass Sharon. Do I look any different. No. Do my clothes fit any different. Not really. Do I feel any different. No. Oh well. As Lydia would say "It's all good".

Textbook perfect blood pressure—120/80.  That's two great reading in a row. Hope it stays that way for the doctors visit! Maybe that beast has been tamed? Now what can I do to help the cluster headaches?

The treadmill test. The first time I was at 17:33 for a mile. This time I burned rubber at 14:22. Now several of you use treadmills all the time so this is small potatoes for you. But for me, it was the best part of the day. Please don't comment that you can do a mile in 10 minutes. Please. It will burst my very small bubble.

Next challenges:

• February-March the Iditawalk
• March Arena climb. Fundraising minimum too steep for the 54 floor stair climb now.
• April, the 10k. 6 miles fast. Hope I'm ready.

Then the big decision. Registration is $45 for the 50K. Do I do it or not? Have to decide by February 1

the good new and the bad news

Photo from my photographer-brother Dave. He's been on the trail and to Harper's Ferry.

Update on the walk. 

The good news it's a 50K. That's only 31-ish miles. I think I could do the 50K with some training. I did 25 miles in one day for the 3-Day. Time to train might be a challenge. When I was doing the 3-Day my Saturdays and Sundays were spent walking most of the day.

     The bad news. Angel's friend Michel wants to do the 100K version. He likes a challenge.  Yep, that's 62 miles.  Yikes! I'm not very confident on 62 miles. He did assure me that we'd stay together and if one leaves we both leave.  His exact quote to Angel "I'll take care of her ass—I'm very good like that". After walking 62 miles my ass should be smaller. It's the old part I'm concerned about. He's half my age. 

     There is food, potties and a sweep van along the way. Terrain should be fairly flat. It follows a canal path.

     It begins at 3 am and goes to half-past midnight.

     It's sponsored by the Sierra Club and called the One Day Hike.  The website describes it as "a challenging and fully supported annual event". They limit participation to 350 people. Registration opens February 1. 
     Yes I am crazy to think about it.

50 miles in one day?

This morning I received an email from Africa. It was from my friend Angel who is traveling with her friend Michel to Africa and France.

The email said "He also wants to know if you'd be interested in a one day 50-mile hike from DC to Harper's Ferry that he does in May. He says it's lovely."

Fifty miles one day?

I did the math. At 3 mph it's about 16 hours. I think that I could do. But for 16 hours? At 4 mph it's 13 hours. That would be a lot harder. It's in the Blue Ridge mountains. Would we cross or follow the mountains. Crossing mountains will certainly make me slower. And no time for distractions like photographs.

An additional consideration. Those times are without bathroom or food stops. I never used the bathrooms much at the 3-day or Avon walks. What I drank I sweated off. I guess you carry granola or power bars and maybe fruit?

And blisters? My feet were so sore after the 3-Day. And I could barely walk over the finish line after the second Avon.

I don't think I can do it, which, I guess is the reason why I want to do it. I'm becoming obsessed with the idea. I want to write back "hell yes".

Am I crazy?

Crazy enough to write the trainers from my program to see how to train.

I borrowed the photo from http://kayedacus.com/2009/07/31/fun-friday-places-id-like-to-revisit/

dang the wind is cold

Bonnie and I walked today at Trexler Park. Dang the wind was cold. Glad we woe or heaviest coats. It was a good workout. Maybe 2.5 miles, with a decent hill. I didn't take off a single layer.

The battery on the camera died so no great picture of Bonnie climbing up to General Trexler's horsey. A shame. It would have been a great one.

After the walk we went to Wegman's.

Before we left, I weighed myself. On Bonnies scale I've lost 10 pounds. So I think I should be okay for the weigh-in. Just to hedge my bets a little, I'm going to try and lay off carbs till Thursday. Bulk up on veggies, because they will process quickly. We'll see how that goes.

this week

I've been trying to walk my butt off this week. Literally. Weigh in will be Thursday. I'm not hopeful. I just pray I haven't gained weight. On the Biggest Loser they have a last chance workout. I think I need one. Tomorrow at Bonnie's I'll weigh myself. Not looking forward to it.

I've walked hard and fast all week.  Yesterday it was bitter cold. Today it was a little better.

Lyd came along today. We hiked around the south side and thru Lehigh's campus. Then stopped for a salad at Wendy's because it was lunchtime.

I've been asking people if I looked like I lost weight on this program. Everyone says no. That doesn't surprise me. All my pants fit just about the same. Lydia said today yes, but in my boobs. Sadly that's the one place I lose weight. And my face. It'm tuning into a ugly wrinkled prune.

Oh well.

Tomorrow I'm walking with Bonnie at Trexler Park. Then I'll weigh myself, and put in the last feedback form for my program. Between the Tempo Challenge and the Idita-Walk I should keep walking thru the winter.

nor-bath trail

This afternoon Bonnie and I did the Nor-Bath trail. We did the 5-mile section when we were training for the Avon walk. Today's section was about a mile.

This is a really nice trail small gravel or macadam. The small gravel was a little squishy today, but it is January, after all. The section we went thru today went thru an old cement plant.

When we did the other section last year, we noticed that many of the historic markers were missing or vandalized. The same holds true for this section. It's very disappoint. I'm sure some Boy or Girl Scout worked their butts off making those sign just to have someone destroy them. But that is life today, isn't it. No respect for people or property.

We chose this trail because Lydia was having a Tomboy Tool party. Normally that wouldn't interest me. But they are a corporate sponsor of the Avon Breast Cancer Walk.  They give lots of money to breast cancer research and they were very nice at the Wellness Village when I did the Avon walks.

It was a good walk, we kept a nice speed and the return trip was pretty much up-hill.

Today I registered for my first competitive 10, and a 5K on St Patty's Day. Tomorrow begins the last week of my program, and weigh in is January 19. I'm looking for a last chance workout!

bethlehem to bethlehem (and back!) wrap up

This morning was the wrap up breakfast for the Bethlehem to Bethlehem walking challenge. My last report had us treading water 2000 miles off the coast of Jersey. We made it back to land, just not quite back to Bethlehem.

There were 89 participants and we walked a combined total of 10, 540.8 miles! Yeah us. That works out to an average 118 miles per person. This was a family project so we had children, teens and adults walking. Forty people averaged more than 100 miles. Eight 200-299 miles, and two over 500 miles! The top walker was Linda M who walked 581.1 miles. Chelsea M. came in right behind her at 572 miles. Both Sharon and I came in over 200. Barb and Dave were just under 200. As a family we rocked!

They were also talking blood pressures. Mine was 128/76. I was doing a happy dance in the lobby!

This virtual walking is taking me places I'll never go. So it's on to Alaska and the Idita Walk!

night walk

My niece Eryn doesn't drive and depends on other people for rides. Tonight that was me.

Her son belongs to a flag football team. I took them. Her daughter is not impressed with flag football and always brings something to do. So Aunt Gayle tried to make it fun. If you call a side trip to Walgreens fun.


When we came back it was dark, and the moon was nearly full so we decided to walk on the trail in the dark. It was fun. We did the whole thing, probably a mile at a very quick pace. I almost needed to run to keep up with the 9-year-old.

When we arrived back at the playground, we swung awhile, hugged a couple of trees, then headed back to the community center.

We thought the game had five minutes left. They hadn't even started yet. There was some sort of a delay. We should have stayed outside.

south bethlehem and funny hill

Today, Lyd, Bonnie and I took a quick trip thru Funny Hill and South Bethlehem. Bonnie and I will walk again tomorrow. Adonis stayed with Pat.

We left my house, headed out Itaska, zig zagged to Bergen, up to Delaware, and Down St. Luke's Place. Then we headed out Ostrum/Brighton to the bridge. Crossed with the walk signal (wouldn't cross there without it....splat!) and went down the new ramp. We circled around the empty Perkins and the Hess station and came back Broadway.

It appears that the new TD Bank is nearly ready to open. They took the fence down about a week ago and no graffiti....yet.

We headed up Ontario, back out Itaska and home.

The route was about 3 miles. We did it in about 50-55 minutes. Tomorrow we're either doing the Ironton Rail Trail or the Nor-Bath trail.

the tempo fitness challenge

Our local PBS affiliate, PBS39, has a local show called Tempo In Depth. Today I went to a tapping of the show. The guest was the walking coach from my challenge. The show will air next week.

Everyone knows people resolve to diet and exercise on January first. And stop on January second. So Tempo has created the fitness challenge. A four-month program that will end with a non-competitive, family 5K. (And a great way to fundraise for PBS!)

The new studios are located on the Steel brownfields, sandwiched between the casino and ArtsQuest. The 5K will never leave the property. It will be three 1 mile loops. That way, if you poop-out after one loop, you can sit down and cheer the others on. It should be fun.

They will be posting tips and tricks and training items to their Facebook page.

Also part of the show was Ladiva Dietician. (I borrowed her photo from her webpage.) The martini glass, the humor, the cat's eye glasses and the Donna Reed hair—this lady is a riot. Maybe I've found a dietician that I actually like. Not one bit pompous. She should be on National Television. The whole country would be skinny in a year. Food Network, are you listening?

idita-walk?

This link came in the Volkssport email this morning—Idita-walk 2011! 

The Idita-walk is an event to promote physical fitness in the spirit of the Iditarod Dog Sled race. The race is 1049 miles long from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. To complete the walk you track minutes, not miles. Thirty minutes a day for 35 days between February 1 and March 31.

Very similar to what I just did for the Bethlehem to Bethlehem challenge. 

I'm went for it, and they sent me this lovely walking contract. It will keep me walking thru winter. If winter ever gets here!

lemons from lemonade

2012 didn't start out very positive. But the day ended on a good note. Let's hope all the negative energy has been exorcised.

I do not celebrate New Year's Eve, or Day for that matter. The day is generally spent taking down the tree and cleaning up. NYE I generally go to bed early, wake up for the fireworks, and go back to sleep. My neighbors had other ideas. They thought it was the 4th of July. A few of their fireworks I thought would land in my bedroom. It sounded like war had broken out in south Bethlehem.

I got up early ready to walk!

There was a New Year 10k Volkssport walk in Princeton. NJ. I was hoping to leave at 10. It would give us a nice cushion for when we got lost. But Lyd overslept, and we left at 10:45. The event started at noon. I decided to take the scenic route (shorter and the same amount of times as the highway route) which was a bad idea. We got stuck behind Pokey Pete out for a New Years drive. I should have know that would happen! And we made a wrong turn right as we got there. The jug-handle for turnarounds was, well, odd. We arrived at 12:17. The desk clerk at the hotel said the last of the Volkksport walkers left two minutes ago.

Note to self. Don't do Volkksport walks that don't have a time range. Especially when going to unfamiliar places.

We had the name of the park and the desk clerk gave us horrible directions. I was already upset because of Pokey Pete. I really wanted to do the walk—the University, historic Princeton. It sounded great. Lyd told me to stop whining. She kept repeating her mantra "It's all good". Wish I had her outlook.  We ended up in a golf club and asked a golfer. He sent us to the wrong park. But it was a really nice state park—Princeton Battlefield State Park and Clarke House. We decided to park and walk there.

The house was run down and closed for the holiday.  The trails were open and being used. They were wide, but mostly unmarked, but most seemed to circle, with lots of tree roots covered by leaves. Lydia fell once and almost a second time. The major arteries had these tombstone-like markers.

Lyds phone pedometer said we walked 5.35 miles. She even found a job johnny.

Time for a little Mummers and pork and sauerkraut.

The day turned out "all good".