the tween would like this race.

Dawn, a fitness friend, posted something about The Great Pumpkin Run many weeks ago. I decided that I had the extra cash--at that point -- and I'd do the race. It was cross country so that is always fun. I was worried about mud, but it was nice all week. So imagine my dismay when it was raining this morning. Really? We need rain, badly, but did it have to rain today?

Packet pick up was at a tavern in Mertztown last night. I didn't go because I really didn't think it was worth the extra hour of travel. I was so wrong.

The event was held at Savidge Farms in Mertztown as part of their Autumn Festival. The festival has all the usual suspect, corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayrides, ect. The run was a new addition. Three thousand participants were expected and they were running in waves. I was in the 9:30 wave. My sister decided to ride along, so we left at 8 am. It's about 35 minutes to Mertztown. I should have gotten there shortly after 8:30, with plenty of time for packet pick up. Wrong again. We arrived at the farm and the traffic was bumper to bumper into the parking areas. It took 30 minutes to park the car. When I arrived at the barn for check-in the line went down and back up. It took 25 minutes to get thru the line. I made it to the start with about a minute to spare.

 First we serpentined thru the pumpkin patches. What I found interesting was that the pumpkins were  different kinds. Whites next to yellows, next to hubbards, next to the ones covered with bumps.

Then it was around a cornfield to the road we came in on. The volunteer at the road stopped us to let cars go. I was infuriated. That means I do not return to this race...no matter how much fun it is. We crossed the road and followed a path next to the woods to another set of corn fields, and then another pumpkin patch, and around the parking lot. Then we returned to the road. The volunteer there was smart. He held the traffic, and left one car at a time go when there was a break in the people.

 After we crossed the street we entered the corn maze. Thankfully it was a very winding path back to the finish. All the "wrong" openings were tied off. No one was getting lost. I finished in 58:36 and was 19th in my age group. No bad considering it was cross country and the roads were muddy and there were gullies.

 This is my finish picture. I love this outfit. (Time to get shallow.) The skirt/pant thing is from a place called Happy Puppies and they make athletic wear for skinny and fat people. WITH POCKETS. Really, sizes go from a 2 to a 30! The top is old. I bought the skirt/pant on clearance in March and didn't wear it because I thought I ordered the crop length pant to cover my ugly knees. It was way to hot. Imagine my surprise when I finally opened them that they were knee length. I wore them anyway. They are so comfy I don't want to take them off. I want to order a half dozen of them. Plut Happy Puppy is expensive. Even on the clearance pile. It's not happening. Oh, did I mention they are made in America with American fabric?

Here's my shirt. It's a hoodie with a zipper made out of that wicking fabric. There is a jack-o'lantern face on the front, and a stem on the hood. Advertising on the back. Clearly this has about a 3 week shelf life. You'd look silly wearing it in November. It will become a layering piece during the winter. Safely hidden under something else. Only the stem will give it away. The medal has been put away in the medal box.

men in skirts with big poles

The Celtic Classic started tonight. Since I had an appointment first thing this morning I decided to walk to the festival and back. Not an exciting walk, but it got the job done.

This is an Irish festival. It's got Irish store. Burly athletes in skirts. Border Collies. And of course, bagpipes. What it doesn't have is Celtic food. Seriously. Of all the food stands maybe three served Celtic food. I was in the large area, which is Festplatz during Musikfest. I went past stands selling burgers, dogs and fries, tacos, pizza, pierogies, Greek food ... you get the idea. The very last stand sold fish and chips, and a few other Celtic items. One stand out of 15.

While I walked up Main Street toward Sand Island, the same thing happened. One stand out of 10. One was funny. At least they tried. The sign said "Fried Fish and Fries".. Close, but no cigar.

Thankfully I ate at home. Wouldn't eat fish and chips there anyway. The ones at Cunningham's
in Louisville are superior.

I walked around that loop, climbed the stairs and headed home.

on today's walk

I usually don't write about ordinary neighborhood walks. It's boring. Boring for you Dear Readers, and boring for me. But every once in a while something happens.

Someone is opening a Barre studio in the old Bethlehm Globe Times building. I'm full of glee. It's last use was a video store. Both are extinct. Hopefully the barre studio holds up better.

I've been interested in barre for a while. It is no secret that I have minimal balance, and the flexibility of a 2x4. If I get on the floor it takes a lift to get me off. It's just totally unpleasant. I've often wondered if barre would help. I hear it's hard.

Everyone also knows my dislike of a gym. So is a dance studio—barre started in ballet—a gym? Maybe, maybe not. Some people don't think dance is even exercise. Yeah, right. (Like Baryshnikov and Missy Copeland aren't athletes.) But then those same people say walking isn't exercise.  Hell, I've had people in the medical profession tell me that.

I digress. I always digress.

Anyway, a few months ago I notice that a barre studio opened at the top of Wyandotte Street in the same building as Sherwin Williams paint. It's a dance studio. It's probably only a mile away, but I can't walk there. It's a highway with no shoulders or sidewalks. Certain death is not an exercise option. After some research I decided not to go. I also don't want to make a commitment to drive somewhere several times a week.

This is also about a mile away, and it does have sidewalks. And only crossing the 5-points is sketchy. It's probably going to be expensive. I'm sure their target market is the university, not the locals. After all, the locals don't have discretionary income.

I'm hoping they have some free classes when they open. Or at the very least discounts. Maybe a groupon.

down by the ocean

In July, Angel's family went to Asbury Park to do the Volkksport walk. While there, she picked up a flier for a 5K benefiting the Jersey Shore Arts Center. She emailed me to see if I wanted to do it. I said yes.

The 5K was today. But the walk was only 2 miles. The race began and ended at the old high school, built in 1897. The building was amazing—you should have seen the stairway and the theatre. We must have spent 15 minutes exploring. The classrooms had a pulpit, for lack of a better word, for the teacher to stand in.

The run began before the walk.The closer we got to the ocean, the more elaborate some of the house were. The one above, stopped me in my tracks. (I would not want to paint this baby.) The run had about a mile on the boardwalk. We actually left the course to go look at the ocean.

After the race we drove/walked to the ocean. The tween wanted to put her swimsuit on so we walked to the changing rooms on the boardwalk. While Angel set up a study area on a bench. We walked back on the beach.

They had "No Lifeguard On Duty" signs up because it was after the season. So being the mean friend I am, I only let the tween go in waist deep. No matter how much she begged. And she did. She had a blast. Even the lure of lunch wasn't enough to get her out of the water. I ended up wet—several times—up to my crotch.

It was a fun day. Makes me remember why I like the beach, though I rarely go. Maybe some day I'll buy one of those half-million dollar houses and move there. Or not.

i did it and didn't die.

My roomie has a passion for watching the local news. Expressly Kathy Craine's weather reports. Nothing against Kathy, but she's old school weather—she just reads the words. Modern weather people are all meteorologists. Maybe that's what she likes about Kathy.

Anyway, she had the news on Friday night. I was in the office working. I hear this interview about a 9-11 stair climb in Hellertown at the school district stadium. I stopped, paid attention to the story, and then started to google.

I immediately thought of my nephew. He is all about law enforcement/emergencies/military. He will clearly have a career that has an adrenaline rush as part of the job description. On his bucket list is the 9-11 Memorial. Maybe in Spring.

I facebooked him and tagged his mom. She was in. He wasn't home. Ultimately he said yes. We were doing this.

What was I thinking? My knees are not what they used to be. Frankly, they need a shot of WD40. This plan of mine to fight off the family arthritis gene with exercise is not working out at all.

Eryn and the teen arrived at 7:30. They were ready to go. We planned to leave at 8. We had to register, and leave time to get lost. I had never been to the Saucon Valley HS's stadium before. We found it, registered and had to sit around a half hour before the flag ceremony.

They raised the flag, said prayers, and finished up quickly. We had to wait till 9:03 to start. Neither of the preachers were dressed to climb. It annoyed me. They were young and healthy, but here they were talking the talk, without walking the walk. Even a token 1 loop would have made a statement. But I digress.

The firefighters went first in full gear...one told me with the full tanks the whole outfit is about 100 pounds.  We had to do the stadium 12 times. (110 flights of stairs in the World Trade Center. It was over 2000 individual stairs. Don't know the exact number, the person talking was too far away.) About round 5 the firefighters started dropping gear. The interesting part was the civilians started picking it up and carrying it for the rest of the flights.

My nephew was one. Here he is at round 6 or 7 putting it on.

He carried it up and down the steps for the rest of the event. He was also the first in our group to finish. Mom finished next. While they waited for my fat butt to finish they went to the trailer and looked at the exhibits from 9-11. Including a piece of steel from the towers.

Here's Eryn and I with our 12 tick marks. I really didn't need the card I was having a count down. It was a good workout and we were all done in about an hour. At noon was going to be a silent fire/emergency vehicle parade. We didn't stick around for that.

The only negative of the day was attendance. There were more firefighters than civilians. That was a shame. Maybe next year. If they have it, me, the teen,  and my creaking knees will be there.

Now where is that bottle of Aleve?

instead of my heart, i left my keys in kennett square

Today's walk went thru the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival. The first mile and a half was thru the Anson B. Nixon Park. That was also the start, finish line. I left my cooler bag, my big key ring and anything I didn't need at the start point. I had a car key clipped to my belt

Once we walked thru the woods, we ended up in town. From the neighborhoods were were in Kennett Square is fairly affluent. The Mushroom Festival went right down the main street, State Street.

When we signed in we needed to buy an arm band for $3 to get into the festival. There were commercial vendors, craftspeople, antique cars, a tent filled with lots of mushrooms and much more. Including painted mushroom!

 There were even vendors wearing mushroom hats. Bonnie picked up a lot of business cards.

There doesn't look like many people in this pic. But trust me. It was packed.

At the end of the festival, we turned, and then turned in an alley to the water tower. We followed the path by the water tower back to the start point.

Then it was our turn to table sit for an hour. It went well. I had brought watermelon in my cooler bag. We attended to those signing in, and stamped books for those leaving. Then it was noon and our time to leave.

The cooler bag was on a non-business table. I only picked up the stuff I had at our table. I unclipped the car key from my belt loop and sent Bonnie to turn on the car. Then I hit the bathroom (I-4.5) and then went to the car.

When I arrived home I looked in my purse. No keys. Looked in my backpack. No keys. Called the president of the club. No keys. Only thing in lost and found was a polka dot cooler bag.  Wait, that's my bag. He was on his way home. He pulled over and opened the bag. The keys were inside.

I was thinking of how I could get them, when he said he'd deliver them. He should be here any minute.

the little blog that could

I have my blog, and most of my online presence locked down pretty tight. This blog is only open if you have the address. Try as you might it will not come up in a search engine. Partly, because it's just meant for a select group of people. Partially, it's too keep the haters away.  My FB page is a little loser because I administer the LBW's page, and I need to certain leave things unlocked. But at the bottom of my emails is a line that says "Walking Blog: gfhendricks.blogspot.com". I never actually expect people to click on it.

About a week ago I saw on the AVA FB page:

Well that's right up my alley. And look, I'll actually downloaded an app for my iPhone. (It's pretty much still fresh from the box!)

 I downloaded the app with ease, did the pre-screen, consent and whatever else I needed to do.

I opened the app and it ask if it could access my "Health" app. I don't use that because I rarely have the phone with me. I use my FitBit. So I wanted to link that. (Yes, the iPhone is a tremendous waste of money. But try buying a flip phone. You'll have better luck finding a T-Rex. So if I have to have a smart phone, I'm having an iPhone. I'm an Apple girl.) So I clicked no, and of course I couldn't figure out how to sync my Fit-Bit. So I had to write to them. Confess I'm stupid, and how do I fix it.

I received a reply in a few hours from the co-founder, Chintan.

    Hi Gayle,  Thanks for signing up for the study!

    You can open the iOS "Health" > Health Data >All >Steps>Share Data

    Here you can provide America Walks access to the steps data

I did that, and went on with life. When I checked later it didn't sync my data.  Tried the next day. No sync. Puzzled, I wrote again. Later I decided to try the old Mac trick. If it doesn't work, just shut the whole thing down and reboot it. Of course it worked, but I already written Chintan. Shoot. Egg on my face moment.

A reply awaited me this morning:

Hi Gayle, Do you see step counts within the Health App itself? if the permission is given then the steps will/should show up on dashboard.

Alternatively, you can delete app and sign up again.

You can also use this app to get your fitbit data into Health App - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id1071544839

Thanks for your patience!

I replied and told him thanks, but rebooting worked. I'm now in the study. The sociologist in me was happy. (Remember, that was my major in college. I was going to save the world. That worked out well, didn't it?)

When I returned  from the mobile farmer's market and the Russian Food Festival (the kielbasi was amazing!) a final email awaited me. Apparently at some point in the correspondence they clicked my blog link.

You have a great blog! We would love to hear your experiences as a participant of the study. I have CC'd our Scientific Media Editor—Priya. Who will reach out to get your thoughts/feedback towards the end of study.

Kind of cool. Right?

ch... cha ...changes on the irt

 file photo of the limestone kilns

I met Angels family at the IRT at 4:30 for my second walk. The three adults could walk the 5.5 miles with ease. The tween, however, would be a different story. Since we were doing the loop I offered her two choices. We could turn left, and past cool stuff, and then have a long boring walk back, with an uphill at the end. Or we could turn right and have the boring part first and the cool stuff at the end.

She picked right. I knew she would. She did fine for the first half and then asked, how far we were. Right on cue.

At about the halfway point there is a little picnic area and faded display. There is also some wheels and chassis from a train. Just in the nick of the time. Tween was interested again.

Then, we arrived at the new bridge. It's open now. It's beautiful. But from the amount of graffiti we saw on the trail in the area, it's opened up a big can of worms. Town kids can now access the trail, with spray paint cans. Before, it has limited access from trail head, pretty much in the 'burbs. There was basic ugly graffiti, there was quotes, there was a tiny bit of art. Some were done in chalk, most were in paint. It was, disappointing.

But on the up side, the graffiti kept the tween occupied for a while. When we reached the white wall she asked again how much further. Since this is the turnaround for the 5K, I knew it was about a mile and a half.  But this is also where the mural is, more railroad leftovers, Sharon's stairs, the tree growing over the sewer pipe, and the other things to keep her occupied.

We finally reached the kilns. "Why is there a fence around it?" I was explaining the concept of penny wise (don't do maintenance because of budget cuts) and dollar foolish (let it crumble before fixing it) when we saw what we thought was scaffolding. New scaffolding. And a Spillman Farmer Architect sign on the fence. Then, there was a sign on the lawn. Could it be?

It was! They didn't wait for the kilns to crumble. Thank goodness. The work is being paid for by a grant from the Saving America's Treasures and the county. But it looks like it's just one tower.  Eight more to go.

The next time the tween asked about distance I told her it was less than a half mile. I pointed to the red caboose in the distance. That's the finish line.

She made it. Piece of cake.

labor day

Wow, Labor Day turned out to be laborious. Who would have thunk it.

I spent the early part of the morning emailing my friend Angel to see if she wanted to walk. She had an old friend coming over, didn't know the time, and it was difficult. Turns out the friend was coming at lunch time so walking was out. Maybe dinner time?

My thought was if I didn't walk in the morning the walk in the evening wouldn't happen. Murphy's law. I had a few errands to run—Staples, grocery store. ATM for the roomie — so I decided to park at the Lehigh Shopping Center and walk from there.

I found some shade to park in, and walked down to Staples. They were efficient Monday. Maybe holidays are a good day to go to the copy center. Not wanting to take my prints walking, I took them back to the car then headed out Union Blvd.

This store is near McD's. I've driven past it a million times. But when you walk you can see what it says. It's the ultimate convenience store. I laughed out loud. You can even get tattoos and piercings.


This rusty sign appealed to me because of the Asian letters. You know how I love letters. The rustier, the better.

When I reached the Wawa, I retrieved the roomies money from the ATM, then headed down to Andre Reed Park, to click the clicker. Thru the park and up the restored stairs.

Then I wove my way back up to the boulevard.

I've seen this mural a million times, but I don't think I ever took a picture. So I took one. Then headed back to Staples, and on to Giant, and home.

Around lunch time I received an email from Angel that Rachel had arrived and they were off to lunch. She'd see me around 4.

This will be a two-walk holiday.

sunflower maze

When I first saw this on Facebook I knew I wanted to go. A fun way to get 3-6 miles in. I looked it up on google maps and it looked like it was located south of 80, just over the bridge in Jersey. I was so wrong. Need to relearn how to read a map.

Anyway, I told Angel about it and she wanted to come. But they were in Russia, and school started, and we couldn't get a date. Time was quickly expiring to do it. In fact, if the remnants of the hurricane came this weekend it would have been done. They might have one week left. Unlike corn, once the flowers die it's over.

I picked Angel and the tween up at 8:30 ish and we headed to Jersey. First stop was gas. $1.97/gal. Gotta love those Jersey prices. Google maps said it would take 79 minutes. We went up the country route. It was a beautiful drive. But once we got to Belvidere, we made a wrong turn. Thankfully Angel has unlimited data. We used her GPS. Back on track, she turned off the GPS we were back on the google instructs, and got misplaced again. It happened 3 times. (I must buy an iPhone cord for the car!) But ultimately we arrive. It took about 80 minutes from the gas station.

There were three fields. The first was shorter. These are the ones that are just starting to bloom. They were about chest high.

These are the Russian Giants. They get to be 16 feet tall. These were about 11 feet tall. We were on the road looking for the entrance into there.

Clearly the bees did not create the happy faces. Of course the tween found these. There was a cluster of these patterned ones. Including a heart.

 Photographers bring their clients here to take pics. This flag was part of one of the photo shoots.

There's a tween in there. She'd kind-of shaded. Someone at this family farm has some artistic talent. There were a lot of these poke you head thru the holes things. Plus all the signage, and the games children's area. Although hand painted, they looked professional.

This is normally were I'd list the bathroom scale rating. But frankly, the bathrooms need a paragraph on their own. The tween was cleaning up my car and became all sticky. I told her to check the port-o-potties for hand sanitizer. She said she was going while she was there. Then Angel went. I went to take a picture of the entrance sign.

They came out as I was coming back. Tween shouts "Gayle, you have to check out the bathrooms." Angel was remarking about their cleanliness to the lot attendant. "They have flush toilets with blue goo and sinks and ..." So I went. The child wasn't kidding. There was even room to put your stuff down. There was even a floor mat. The lot attendant told Angel they are cleaned daily. P-4.5

Would I do it again? Probably I'd like to go a week earlier to see it at peak. One whole field was past peak. Their heads were down, the seeds formed. Lots of petals gone. I did want to ask what they did with all the acres of sunflowers but I forgot.

Next on the agenda. A corn maze. Haven't done one of those in less than 5 years. I always get lost.

two walks and a funeral

Yesterday, I just did a simple walk around Fountain Hill. But I discovered some fallen chestnuts which told me that autumn is really on it's way.

And then I found some pumpkins growing over someone's front lawn. they don't have long to turn orange!

Today I had to go to Whitehall for a funeral. It was an hour-and-a-half service with communion. Long for a non-believer. And none of the words to any of the prayers — Like the Lord's Prayer—were the same.

Original I had texted Lyd about walking. I'd pick her up and we'd go to the IRT or the Nor-Bath. But she had plans. Probably a good thing since the service was so long.  So I decided to go to Hanover Township Canal Park near Catty and do that trail.

I took sneaker and a t-shirt with me. I kept my nice pants on. I changed in the job johnny because the "restrooms are for pavilion rental guests only". Pardon me.

 I headed toward Allentown and saw this first.

Then I saw this. Clearly, I was not meant to go this direction. I turned around and went back toward Catty. The bugs were awful. I had no bug spray. At this point the trail was wide and groomed.

After passing the pond, it became narrow and rugged with rocks and tree roots. Yep, I should have taken my walking stick. (It was in the car.) And you guessed it. I went splat. I was getting up when three other hikers came toward me. I was already brushing myself off when they met up with me. But they did ask how I was. My "nice" pants are now really dirty. Thankfully I didn't hike BEFORE the funeral.

I arrived in Catty and turned around and went back.