walks I'm planning

People always ask what I'm signed up for. Even though I am mad, frustrated, discourage, and generally pissed off at myself right now these events are a go. I've already paid for the bulk of them.

2015, on the other hand, may be a very different story.

September
1-- Saucon Rail Trail 10K 8:30 am, the give you the best, most comfortable, and ugliest socks ever. Mine from last year are threadbare I wear them so much.

13 -- LBW 30th anniversary walk and picnic. It's a 10K around Lake Galenda.

19 -- Bacon 5k run/walk Challenge if you are crazy, you can eat a half pound of bacon at the half way point. No thank you. I could easily eat a half pound, hell a whole pound, of bacon. But not during a race.  Ordered a larger t-shirt. I'm giving it to Dave. He's a huge bacon, and Iron Pigs fan.

20--Tail on the trail event in Palmer (rt. 33 access point). These usually start around 9

27--Morning Star Rotary Celtic Classic Run/Walk, 8 am.

October 
5--Yuengling Octoberfest 5k run/walk, 10:30 am. Pricey but you get lots of stuff. Most of which I will give away.

11 (maybe)--Turn Bath Pink 5k, 9 am. The pink fire trucks will be there the weekend before.


17-19 -- we've been talking about doing the State College Volkssport weekend. Hard to get counties. But if we are going we'll need to make reservations soon. Even after their staff's fall from grace, Penn State is football.

November
2--D&L Half Marathon. Walker Friendly. 4.5 hour time limit

8--Deja Vue Half. Walker friendly. 5.5 hour time limit. You have to scroll to the bottom of the page for the half.

9-- Across the Bay 10K. I think I told them I'd finish in 1:45. So I'll be under the gun.

sugar crushers final publication

Do you remember in mid-December I did the 2nd photo shoot for that Sugar Crushers panel? Of course you don't. It was snowing. I got lost. I was very late. Yada, yada, yada.

I've been watching for it in the grocery store and haven't seen anything. About a week ago I received an email asking if I wanted a copy. I said yes.

When I posted about the photo shoot I noted that the stylist knew how to dress fat people. I was so right. This picture is so much better than the one in the book. Of course it is all smoke and mirrors.

The group picture was taken at our book launch dinner in December.

This publication will be on the newsstands till August. It's called Sugar Detox Made Easy. It's a Prevention magazine. Very little traditional advertising which is refreshing—except for the full book of course. Though the graphic designer in me thinks that the list of packaged foods without sugar might just be product placement. Call me jaded.

Walking wise, I didn't walk much Monday. Just on campus. And mostly to get from point A to point B.

Yesterday Bonnie and I did about 3.5 miles in a mist. Of course, by 10 am it was bright and sunny. I also signed up for the D&L Half Marathon.

reflections .... realizations

I've been blogging since about 2007. My brother had started to blog about boomerangs and the blog was free from RCN. I think it was called the RCN Journal. I signed up (Tall and Fat Tales) and had nothing to write about. It laid dormant until that summer when my international student, her friend, Bonnie, my brother and his wife went tubing on the Delaware. The story was unbelievable. I finally had something to blog about. My first post was "Tubing on Willy Wonka's Chocolate River".  It included stories on graffiti on my garage, and the "do not use or you will die" sign on my 50-year old furnace, and some walking adventures. Normal, mundane stuff. Nothing on a regular basis.

Then high blood pressure happened in October of 2008. One of the family curses. I needed to get serious about exercise and diet. I was 256 pounds. My blood pressure was over 200.


I found quickly that I could not just walk for the sake of walking. I bored easily. Everyone who reads this blog knows that. I needed a goal. I saw one of the sappy commercial for the Koman  Breast Cancer 3-Day in winter of 2009, did a little research, and signed up for the 3-Day. My friend Karen was dying of the disease. It was perfect. Plus she lived in Philly. She'd meet me at the finish and I'd collapse at her place. Sadly she died before that could happen.

Regardless, I was motivated and began training. Part of the online fundraising platform was a blog, and it was a way to keep me accountable. If I missed a day of training, and then blogging, my sister was sure to call. "Didn't you walk yesterday?" she'd ask. After it was over, I printed it all out and stuck it in my photo album because once the 3-Day was over, it would be gone.

At the same time the mundane stuff remained on Tall and Fat Tales.

I liked blogging and finally had something to talk about. Training for the 3-day I lost about 10 pounds and 3 dress sizes. In one summer. Clearly I was all fat. (I wonder what the number is. My BMI is still 44!) I gave up drinking massive amounts of soda and started to eat better.

After the 3-day I moved my walking adventures to Tall and Fat Tales. Then the notice came from RCN. No more blogs. It didn't occur to me to make a copy. All that is gone. Now I have books printed.

When I did the Walk Your Butt Off test program in fall 2011-winter 2012 I weighed in at about 236 pounds. I didn't even notice I had lost another 10 pounds. How is that possible?

Still I was discouraged. I was still FAT. I am still fat. Nothing I did — at least in my head—seemed to take the weight off. I was still wearing the same sizes I wore after that first 3-Day.  I was walking my ass off and doing half marathons, climbing stairs, changing my diet over and over, going to nutritionists and to no avail. That's what motivated me to sign up for the Sugar Crushers test panel.

When I started the Sugar Crushers test panel I weighed in again. This time I was about 226. I don't remember. Numbers aren't my thing. But it looks like I had kept off the WYBO weight loss. This time I lost 8 pounds in a month. But dang it was hard. The restrictions nearly drove me screaming down the street. I can't function like that.

That being said, over the weekend the light bulb went off. In four years I have lost 40 pounds and kept it off. (Sorry, no pixs of me in 2007-08. Clearly avoiding camera. Or maybe deleted them.) I'm not really sure if I can see it. (Though I do remember thinking I looked hot in the black and white. Clearly that was a mirage.) I am going to own and embrace that fact. Forty pounds is not insignificant. Perhaps I am not failing at this after all. I'm just doing it really, really, slowly. I only have 18 more pounds to go before I hit my goal of "onederland". Anything after that, pardon the pun, is gravy.

I will do this. Hopefully it won't take two more years.

saturday, the main event

4:45 am came early yesterday. The sleepy half-marathoners got up and dressed and headed out of the hotel at 5:30. We —Bonnie, Megan (with a foot injury), Lydia and I—were not alone. The lobby of the hotel was filled with half-marathoners.

It was cold out when we left.

We arrived at to Presque Isle at 5:40, and to the parking area at 6. There was a steady stream of traffic headed in. When we arrived at the designated parking, the lot looked filled. We didn't want to go to the next lot. Who wants to walk more? Lucky for us they opened more spaces in the front of the lot. Yeah us. Briefly, we had a front row spot.

They asked us to arrive an hour early, and we did. But we didn't want to stand around in the cold. So we sat in the car until 6:45. The sun was up and it was considerable warmer.

Traffic must have been really backed up. They didn't start the race till 7:20. Bonnie of course took off with a start, leaving the rest of us in her dust. I managed to catch up to her by the half mile mark. My goal was to stay caught up till mile 9. I did, but it was exhausting.

Megan and Lyd walked together the first four miles. Then they split up. The race went from one end of the island to the other and back. The turn point was about 6.5 miles. I think we had passed 7 when we heard Lyd on the other side of the bushes. She was a mile to a mile and a half behind.

I kept losing and catching up to Bonnie. She had made friends with the walkers in front of us—Dr. Brian, Uncle Bob and the son. Dr. Brian makes Bonnie look slow. But she never lost a beat. Me, I lost many and had to power walk often to keep up.

By mile 9 I couldn't keep up any more. She went ahead and soon was out of site. A little while later I saw Megan talking to her.  Where did she come from?

Soon Bonnie took off and I caught up with Megs, we finished the race together. I can't remember times, but Bonnie was around 3:31 and came in third in her age group.  Megan and I came in around 3:34. When we finished I had Megs call Lydia. She had just crossed 11 miles and wanted to give up. Her hip pain was back. Megan yelled into the phone "YOU ARE NOT GIVING UP. Aunt Gayle will meet you at mile 12."

And I did. We walked the last mile or so together.

After the race we went to Bob Evans for a huge breakfast. Then we went to the movies.

I also earned my 35,000 steps badge on FitBit. I can't possibly see how I'd have a 40K day unless I did the one day hike again.

saucon valley rail trail

Lydia sitting on a throne made from a tree stump.

Today Lydia and I did 10.5 miles on the Saucon Valley Rail Trail. Basically we walked from Hellertown to Southern Lehigh and back.

I've never walked the whole thing. Some things I noticed. When you change towns, the stripe color on the posts changes. Full mile posts are tall. Half mile on a little shorter. And quarter miles posts are short.

New things—the Hellertown section now has interpretive signs to read. The Lower Saucon section had a small lot and a port-o-potty. Now it has a large lot, picnic tables, and two port-o-potties. The Upper Saucon section has dog poop bags, recycle bins and trash cans. Overall, great improvements. There are also benches now along of of the trail.

 Railroad spikes and other debris, as yard art, on the trail.

Lydia did well the first half. Then the cramps kicked in. Then some odd hip pain. I knew she was in trouble. She only spoke when spoken too. That's not her. We got to the lot and I said, "if I knew where this was I'd pick you up". It turns out it was off Bingen Road.

Then I said "When we get to Meadow Road, you can wait and I'll walk back and get the car".

"At Meadow Road, we'll only be a mile away from the car. I'm not giving up". Secretly I was doing a happy dance. The old Lydia would not have said that. Not only did she not give up, but she went to the farmers market with me afterwards.

We always find butterflies on these walks. Lydia says they are her mom watching out for her. I guess there are a lot worse things to be reincarnated as.

Also a fawn near Meadow Road.

Thursday we leave for Erie. The half is on Saturday. Normal length walks resume after the half.

10+ miles on the D&L

Another training walk for the half marathon. It's in less than three weeks. yikes!

It was 69 degrees when we left and 80 when we drove back for the car. (left one in Northampton, one in Slatington)

Today we walked from Slatington to Northampton Cementon. 10.3 miles. Thought it would be a little further. For Dawn and Lydia it was the furthermost they've ever gone.

The trail often led us deep in the woods with the Lehigh on our left. But sometimes, you could reach out and touch the traffic on Rte. 145. It was an interesting juxtaposition.

The trail, as always, was flat, gravel, wide and shady.At times it was very busy. At one point it was like rush hour with bicycles. They came in packs like wild animals.

There were three additional trail heads between our start and end points. And not a single bathroom was available. Even the nice bathrooms at Slatington were still locked at 7:30 am! I kept saying go in the woods. But no one took me up on it. We went to the Redner's gas station in Northampton.

Lydia and Dawn had enough at about the 8 mile mark. Bonnie and I had been walking ahead, and looping back when they got too far behind. I heard Lydia say, I'm done. We had two miles to go. I left Bonnie go ahead and switched to sweep team. At one point Lyd tried taking a nap. The task master made her get up. Nothing will tire you out quicker than resting. At one point they were going 3.1 MPH and by the end it was 2.7. Oops. But they made it and that's all that counts.

Next week, another 10 miles walk.

this week

I thought this week was pretty non-eventful until I saw this truck today. (More on that later.) But then I started to type.

Monday Bonnie and I walked in her neighborhood. I'm not sure how far. About three miles I guess. We wove in an out until we reached the Daisy Hill store, then came back Emmaus Avenue a bit before returning into the residential neighborhood. It was still hot, but the heat wave broke.

Tuesday was a work day. But Lydia came over after work for supper, and we walked thru the Lehigh campus and did a little grocery shopping. It was fairly cool that day, but a downpour blew thru and the humidity returned. It was hot walking. Lydia went thru one of the fountain sculptures to cool off.

Wednesday, another work day. Didn't walk much and went to what might be my final Zumba class, at least for a while. I get more exercise at the walking clinics. If it rains or snows I'll go to Zumba.


Thursday I was in Emmaus at 7 am, for the "Starve Off Sugar" test panel for Prevention magazine. What have I gotten myself into? It said there would be a diet. Duh. No Hershey bars But what I didn't expect was a list of recipes and eat this only. Yikes! They don't have to live with Pat. Though some looks yummy.

I guess I was expecting a diet plan that said "NO x-y-z". And then "eat more x-y-z". Eat so many calories of which x% has to be protein/fat/ect. I never dreamed that there would be pre-determined meals. (Kind of reminds me of a healthier version of Jenny Craig. By that, I mean all the decisions are already made.  When you stop doing it, you go back to eating the way you were. [And no, I never did any kind of program like that.] )

This very much reminds me of the Paleo diet. (No, I haven't done that either. But everyone around me is on some sort of weird diet.)  Lots of eggs. The farm will get sick of seeing me. Lots of meat—mostly fish and poultry. I think I'll hate all by the end. Meal planning will be essential to making this work. Steak is one of the meals, but I can't cook steak. So that's off the plan.

Then there is also a poop-load of exercise with weights, and yoga. Plus training for a half-marathon. Eating the four days I'm away will be a challenge. Eating during Musikfest will be more of a challenge.

On the up side all my blood work was normal.

I got to work late and didn't get a walk in. I barely crossed 5000 steps on my pedometer.

Today, Bonnie, Betsy and I were out at 8 am walking. The weather has cooled off dramatically. It's lovely. Hopefully it holds for the weekend. We have a 10 mile and 6 mile walk planned. We walked thru her development, which, at 8 am is a lot shadier than at 1 pm. Bonnie's watch said four miles.

On the way home we stopped at Wegman's for some gluten free groceries. When we got back to the car I saw the truck. This is an official City of Allentown vehicle with municipal plates. It's covered with veggies and the back says "Fruits and veggies on the move". They must be doing rolling nutrition workshops. Check out the speakers in the cab.

Oh, I decided to go to the chiropractor regularly. Right now when I come home I feel like I went a couple rounds with Ali. Apparently that takes about a month to go away. Not sure if I will feel any different in a year. But if my leg stops hurting, it will be a good thing. I guess. Now it's just finding time to go.

Tuesday is the dreaded trip to the doctor. If she gives me the "you need to lose weight" lecture. I'm walking out.

back to mount bethel

Bonnie and Dawn couldn't walk today, so Lydia and I stuck with the plan and went back to the Mount Bethel trail today. Lydia needed it for her Passport To Fitness. Bonnie and I did ours back on June 2.

This time I knew where I was going. I didn't follow 611, I just made sure the cooling towers and the river were in my sight. We arrived in about 35 minutes.

After parking, I waited for Lyd while she used the 24-hour indoor facilities. (Gosh I love this place!) I took pictures of bees and butterflies doing what comes naturally.

We headed up the welcome center trail, and down to the blue trail. We quickly found the post, about a half mile in, and continued on. When we crossed the bridge I said to Lyd it was near where we came back. It wasn't open. Today it was. There were patches that are clearly unused and narrow, but it was all passable.

We knew we were close to the end when we saw the cooling towers. But even from the viewing platfom another half mile down the trail we couldn't see the towers any better.

At the viewing platform, someone wrote Peace, Tranquility, Harmony and something about love forever (that one we couldn't see w/the sun beating on it.) I thought, teenagers didn't hike all the way in here. A) the trail would be better. B) they aren't that ambitious. We must be near a parking lot. We continued on. And the road forked. So we turned around and went back.

We turned correctly at the red/blue split, but somehow missed the blue/welcome split. We ended up at the other parking lot! So we walked down the road to get to our car. Total miles—about 4.5.
We hopped into the car and headed for Jacobsburg to get her next stamp.

We arrived, took the picture in front of the sign and headed toward the bridge. On our way I saw my colleague, her husband, and Vivian the dog. Small world.

We headed down the Henry's Wood trail and encountered a family taking formal portraits. In the woods. In the heat. In dress-up clothes. Bizarre. If I was taking a family picture int he woods, we'd be outfitted like an LL Beam catalog!

We found the post, and headed back. Another mile and a half, making today's total six.

Tomorrow we're doing the Bethlehem Volkssport walk with some people from out-of-town. I've been asked to be the Bethlehem contact, and will be helping plan some additional Lehigh Valley walks.

This week it's supposed to be hazy, hot and humid. They'll be no walks at lunch time.

Saturday is the Electric Run. It's a 5K, but I hope to get additional walking in, in the morning. Sunday, we'll just do a short 4-5 mile walk. The next two weekends we'll have to do ten miles. The half marathon is quickly approaching.

tails back on the trail

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I think I'm getting tired of the D&L! This challenge is tough.

The positives: It's relatively flat, groomed and scenic. The negatives: It's relatively flat, groomed and pretty much the same scene over and over. I should have realized that since I did the one-day hike on a canal path. Today we remembered the Deep Woods Off! so it was a much less buggy hike.

We met at "Trail Master Central" at 7, and arrived at the Allentown Trailhead to hike about 7:30. For kicks and giggles we checked the bathrooms and they were open! Two weeks in a row. Maybe Allentown got my memo? Also, the picnic pavilion was void of goose poop. Thank goodness.

Depending on the map you pick, it's 3.9 miles to Bethlehem, or 4.1 miles to Bethlehem, or Bonnie's watch said 4.9 miles and Dawn's said 5.1.  Clearly, someone needs a new measuring tape.

So lets call it 4 miles. The round trip would be 8. Lydia needed to go to a picnic at noon, so we parked her car in Bethlehem, and mine in Allentown. They were going one-way. Bonnie and I round trip. Most of the hike was in the shade, but it is so humid, you can cut the air with a knife. Bonnie made the executive decision that this was a one-way walk.

Three quarters of the walk was done next to busy railroad tracks. When we reached Bethlehem, we finally dumped the train and heard birds singing. That was nice.

The pixs below were taken at the Bethlehem lock, about 3/4 away from the Hill To Hill Bridge.

Tomorrow, we are headed up to the slate belt to do more of the D&L. This time, 8 miles for sure. Bonnie is picking me up at 6, then we'll get Lyd about 6:30 and start hiking at 7. Hopefully it will be a little cooler. I have no idea what the shade is like up there. The mountains were stripped of vegetation with the zinc mines. We'll see. If we need to cut it short again we will.

But the Biggest Loser Half Marathon is only 6 weeks away. I haven't gotten Lyd up to 10 miles yet. We're running out of time.
We'll have a break from it next week with the Biggest Loser Off-Road Challenge on Saturday. Then Lyd and Dawn need to get their Passport rubbings in Martins Creek and Jacobsburg. That's on tap for Sunday, probably.

friday in the rain

It poured all night. It was a terrific sound. We need the rain so badly. I went out at 6 to weed, but was soon chased in by another batch of hard rain.

I talked to Bonnie, and later Betsy, and we decided no walking today. No getting to see Izzy playing a cone head.

But I was antsy. The sky brightened up and I decided to walk to Bottom Dollar for a few groceries. Just to be safe from the next downpour,  decided to wear my rain coat. And it's a good thing I did. Not because of the rain, it just drizzled a little. But because it was so cold and windy out. The wind was nasty. It felt like March. It drizzled a little. It might have rained while I was in the store, because the sidewalks were wet again.

I bought a little more than I planned so I had two heavy reusable sacks of groceries. The scenic walk home was weight training!

My "Tail on the Trail" goodie bag arrived today. There was a string backpack and a water bottle. Bonnie and I were wondering when it would come. The tracker is now live on the site, so we can start doing chiseling away at that 165 miles!

Saturday Lydia and I are doing a 10K in Doylestown with the Volkssport people. I haven't done a Volkssport walk in forever and am really looking forward to it. Is D'town hilly? Hope not. I'd like to do the 10K. Need to stretch Lydia's walking distances if she's going to be ready for the Biggest Loser Half-Marathon! It's about 84 days away.

walking and bingo

Walking I love. Bingo, not so much. But it was for a good cause, near and dear to my late nephews heart. So we go. We even have a name—Jarrod's Jems. That boy was a lightening round for winning. Once we had to take all his stuff to the car at the intermission.

Sharon, Lyd and I met at my place, and came in one car.  We were to meet Bonnie at the Fearless Fire Company at 1:15, leave our car, and take the other one back to Bonnie's, and walk. Bingo started sharply at 3. Sounds great in theory, but with me along you know things won't go easy. And they didn't. I pre-bought our tickets and put them in a basket with my daubbers. Then I forgot the daubbers. So we lost a little walking time having to go back home. I stuffed the tickets in my pocket, and left the daubbers. Didn't want to carry them.

So we walked down Tioga into the wind for several blocks. Finally we turned and headed down to Emmaus Avenue, and cut back at the V. After walking a bit around that neighborhood, we headed to the cemetery, said hi to Jarrod, and went to the fearless. It was close to 3 miles. Considering a straight shot from Bonnie's is about a mile, we did pretty good.

Then at 6ish, when we got home, we took a very excited Adonis for a walk. He wouldn't go out for Pat at all, so he needed to go! Sadly it wasn't a fun walk. We met up with 4-5 other dogs. (Big A doesn't play well with others.)

Another week or so we start training for Bonnie's Derby Half Marathon. I think I'll plan loops so that marathoners are not subjected to 13 miles.

Bonnie only has about 300 minutes for the Iditawalk. Training for the half might get her to Nome before the snow melts.

pt 2 – half-marathon day

We got up at 6 and headed for the boardwalk by 6:45. The sun was rising over the Atlantic. I could get used to morning like that, very easily.

We headed to the beach for our first start picture. I so wanted to step in the water. But I didn't want to walk 13 miles with wet shoes. There was nearly an hour before the race started. On the walk over we met Pat from Maryland who was run/walking. We stayed with her the first mile or so.

The walkers were supposed to start at 7:50 or 8:00 depending on what you read. Instead they started everyone at 8. So the walkers went to the back of the 10K people. We didn't, we went back some, left some runners go and then merged in. After leaving the boardwalk we met Ann, who more or less stayed with us the whole route. Her and Bonnie finished together.

We thought it would be flat, but it wasn't. They closed off the AC Expressway and we went up and down long curved ramps. And we walked thru our first tunnel. Then we walked thru some neighborhoods, casino service roads, and past the light house before ultimately reaching the boardwalk.

By that time the three of us were in last place, I was a few steps behind Bonnie and Ann and had a team of sexy guys of bikes with me. One said "You are the hottest girl in last place." I called him a liar and thank him for the compliment anyway.

On the boardwalk were tourists, bikers, pedi-cabs and all kinds of stuff. No clear aisle mapped out for the race. It was race-walking and dodge ball at the same time. I thought I had picked up a stone but was going to tough it out.

When we past the finish line for the last 4 miles (2 out, 2 back), I los Bonnie and Ann. Then I dodged a bike and pulled a glute muscle. The stone in my shoe hurt. I got slower and slower. They got further and further ahead. When I walk alone I slow down. I felt like quiting.

I stopped to deal with the stone. Put my shoe on and it hurt more. Stopped again. This time it was better but not much. Decided not to try any more. It was what it was.

Bonnie and Ann passed me coming back.  They were going to make four hours.

When I passed the final mile time sign it said 3:45:xx. No way I was going to do the last mile in 14 minutes.

"Compete, don't complete" was screaming in my head. I completed in 4:06:xx. See previous post. I was last. Lydia said she saw other half marathoners coming back after me, but they must have been running with someone. I had the sweep team on my tail the whole time.

My reward? Yummy lemon water ice.

After the race we went for burgers, then hiked back to the hotel. That's when I found out the stone was not a stone, but a giant blister on the ball of my foot. Luckily I had a free first aid kit that I had gotten at a 5K in my backpack. It had a 3" square that promptly went on my foot.

Wacked up and signed out and called the valet for the car. Then we headed uptown to the Absecon lighthouse.

Absecon was built in 1857, 171 feet tall and has 228 steps. It has it's original first order Fresnel lens.

Bonnie decided 13 miles was enough for one day. Lydia and I decided to climb. Apparently they had a buy a step program for the restoration. Every step was numbered with a dedication. In some way that was exciting information. In other ways, not so much.

After getting our books stamped, we headed for the Expressway and headed home.

one weekend, three lighthouse, one half marathon and a rescue station

A relaxing weekends down by the shore. I know people always rag on the Jersey shore, but I like it. I just must not be there on the days when medical waste flows in.

Saturday we left Bonnie's about 7:30 and headed down the turnpike. But instead of the AC Expressway we got on 95 and went around Trenton. We stopped at a DINER with local, organic, natural food. Jersey Fresh and farm names were all over the menu.

The hunter's bacon was the best I ever ate. Thick, unsmoked, not processed with nitrates. I didn't order any, Bonnie and Lyd did, but they gave me a piece. I was amazed for the quality that the prices weren't that much more than a traditional diner.

We waddled out of the dinner,  drove thru the Pine Barron's toward the Barnigate light. 

The Half Marathon coincided with the Lighthouse Challenge weekend. For that, you try to do as many lighthouses as possible. If you do all of them you get put in for a prize drawing.

We arrive at the Barnigate light,  we signed in for the challenge, and received our passports. You can see on the back how many lights there are, including two in the Delaware bay.

Barnigate is 172 feet tall, 217 steps and built in 1859. They had the biggest expanse of beach, a visitor center, potties, and a picnic area. Yeah, it was a state park.

Down the street is the museum, with the original Fresnel lamp. In three short blocks we had two stamps in our passports! This building was the town's one-room school house and post office. It had a beautiful garden

Next stop was the Tuckerton. There at the Tuckertown Seaport was the Tucker's Island lighthouse. Much small, more house-like with only 40 stairs to climb. The original was eaten by the Atlantic during a storm in 1927.

The volunteers were decorating the lighthouse for the big haunted seaport Halloween festival next weekend. It was a little scary during the day!

We got back on the Garden State Parkway, passed Atlantic City and headed to our next stop the US Life Saving Station #30 in Ocean City. Constructed in 1885 it was decommissioned in the 1940s, and used as a private home.

When we arrived it was gutted. The docent said that the Coast Guard even sent over volunteers to help. They are just as excited to see it restored.  Though now it's in a neighborhood, at one time it was on the beach, and there is a large room to take the boats out from. Next year the exterior will be done, and if all goes well in 2013 the interior will be done. They are hoping to restore it to it's 1915 appearance.

About 3:00 we arrived at the hotel. Just in time to check in. In the lobby was an exhibit of Miss America dresses. We looked at them all. On the second floor was funky parade shoes. Clearly these were not designed to walk in.

We then walked the half mile to Bally's AKA the starting line. On the 6th floor was the expo, and sign in to get your number, shirt ect. Leaving, we got lost in the maze and spent a good 45 minutes trying to get out.

Our plan was to eat and then head to the Absecon Lighthouse. It was 1.5 miles away and they were open for night climbs. We headed out the Boardwalk and walked and walked and walked. Didn't see it. At the Revel hotel I asked a pedi-cab driver how much further. He said another 10-15 minute walk. And m'am you don't want to walk there. It's a bad neighborhood.

We talked about it and decided to head his advice. When we got back to the hotel, I looked at the map. I think we were 3-4 blocks away. Sunday, we discovered we were about 2 blocks. I guess the skycrapers block it.

the results

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to type up a real post.

strength and tone

 sxc.hu

Yesterday was my first time at the lunchtime Strength and Tone class. My colleague assured me that torture lady from this summer was not the instructor.  She was. The regular instructor was out.

Now it wasn't as horrible as the torture class this summer, but it was a lot of up and down. Can't we do up, then do down, and call it a day? Old fat people with bad joints are not flexible. I guarantee it.

I really liked the up, and could do most of it. I can't do a squat but she told me the demi-pliés I was doing were find. Good thing. That all the further I can go! We used weights and resistance cords.

On the contrary,  I hated the down. I can't do a push up to save my soul. Or a crunch without torturing my neck. I lay on the mat a lot.

There is a niche market out there for exercise. Exercise for dummies. Instead of having this beautifully choreographed routine that no one can do, how about teaching the moves. Show all the ways that it can be done—easy, harder, hardest—and then walk around the room to make sure everyone can do it. Correct their form so that they don't hurt themselves. Then one by one make it more difficult so by the end of the 10 or 15 weeks you can do the whole thing—well. I guess that's what personal trainers do. But I can't afford that. Nor, do I think I have the desire to spend that much time in a stinky gym.

Will I go back next week. More than likely. Trying to tick with my three strikes and your out rule.

Friday, I might go to Bath to the Zumba Party in Pink breast cancer event. I fear it will be a mob scene and I won't enjoy it, but oh well, it's for a good cause. Why Bath? The ABE ones are scheduled while I am away for the Half Marathon.

i heart lighthouses

Everyone knows that. We're doing the Atlantic City Half Marathon in October so I thought, let's see if there is a lighthouse in AC. There is. The Abescon Light.  And it can be climbed...all 228 steps. photo from lighthousefriends.com till I get there to replace it.

Then I thought, wonder what is close by. I thought I remembered one in Brigantine. There is. But it's not a real lighthouse. It was created for tourist, just like Lucy the elephant.  Great photo op. No exercise. Okay, so what else is there?

Tucker's Island is about a half hour north is Tucker's Light which was decommissioned when Abescon was built.  Actually, this is a reproduction. The sea ate the original. Must have been hungry. Actually erosion has moved it 6 miles from it's original location. It's a little house-like lighthouse.

Another half-hour north is the Barnegat Light.  (217 steps). And about a half hour north of that is Sea Girt, another house-style light.

Five lighthouses in one trip? It is possible. Head out 78, take a right at the Garden Sate Pkwy and just keep on getting off exits. Not real practical with a 1/2 marathon too. Especially since each stop would add at least an hour to the trip. For me, Absecon and Brigantine are a sure-bet on Saturday. The boardwalk—if it's open—has limited appeal to me. (Something better be open. I want Fralinger's taffy!) We do need to go to the sports expo and pick up our bibs and swag. Perhaps Tucker's too? Might be tough. Our free pre-race dinner is at 6. Maybe on the way home we can go to Barnigate. But then again, we might be too tired.

Need to talk to the scoobies.

I just remembered the lighthouse challenge is that weekend. Basically you try to visit/climb every lighthouse. Be still my heart. One. Year.  I. Will. Do. This.

OMG. The lighthouse challenge site says Absecon has night climbs during the challenge. My heart is palpitating with excitement.

walked tomorrows 5K today

Bonnie and I walked today. She's not back 100% yet and didn't sign up for the Iron Pigs 5K which is tomorrow. Yesterday I picked up the packets, and the map was inside. So we walked the route today! It took 50 minutes and we did not power walking at all.

Most of i is in the ball park, but both the run and the 5K take the hill up to the stadium. The run is also on the American Parkway.

Why is that important? I need to finish in less than 45 minutes tomorrow. I'm signed up as a runner. The walk, which Lyd and Sharon are doing, is only 1.5 miles. Seriously?  On one hand I'm glad that this is a family event—a run, a fun walk and a piglet race for the kids—but there's many people, like me, who would want to do the competitive walk.

So tomorrow for the first time I'll be run-power walk-walking hoping to be finished in time. Maybe it will be the start of something new.

Or maybe it means I'm in much better shape than I think I am. Or maybe both.

I signed up for another cross country race, it's called the Camper Scamper and it's in Horsham. A little bit of a drive, but oh well. The whole walk is in the camp ground. Hopefully the trails are a little more groomed than at the farm. It's Oct. 2.

Next week is the Volkssport Octoberfest "walk" at Bear Creek. It's more like a hike. But it's fun.

Need to do longer walks before the AC Half Marathon.


And I need to buy gum before tomorrow!

Left: This black walnut was on the road into piggie park. Look at the size! It could have been a green grapefruit. You don't see stuff like this in the gym.

dead last, but finished

Today was the Saucon Valley 10K, on the SV Rail Trail. It was dark and gloomy at the beginning, so I took the pix in the lot and left my camera and phone in the car. I took the iPod and put it in a zipper bag and put it in my pocket.

While waiting at the start line the skies opened up and it poured. I never noticed the race started. I didn't hear a gun, or an announcement or anything. People just started moving.

Last night I downloaded the stop watch app for the iPod. It was hard to set squeezing one finger into the zipper bag. I set it as I walked, so I might have started a little slow.

It was a rail trail. Flat, gravel and crushed stone. Normally at streets there are gates so people don't drive on them. All the gates were open and there was volunteers crossing everyone.

This was a run, but walkers were allowed if you could finish in under two hours. No support services would be available after 2 hours. I thought, no problem, right? Wrong.

I was dead last the whole race, and the longer I went the further behind I was. They had removed the cones at the turn around, I almost missed it. The second last crossing wasn't manned, and I thought shit, how slow am I going? The last crossing was unmanned and the gates were closed. I was really worried.

I finished in 1:44:something. I was going to take a pix of the iPod screen, but apparently it resets in the time it takes to walk to the car. Officially I'll be listed as DNF (did not finish) because they were giving out the awards when I came in, and nobody was at the finish line to take my tag.

Dead last but finished. Guess I should be proud that I finished, but I'm not. That is a 17 minute mile. Not good enough for the marathon.

When I got back to the car, there was a message from Lyd on my phone. She was cheering me on. I felt like the girl in the car commercial.

heritage trail, day 2

Today's walk was more like a Volkssport walk since we played some of the audio on my new iPod, and looked at historic things, took pixs, and combed cemeteries.

The two sections were called Moravian Founders and  Victorian Bethlehem. We still have the Westward expansion (north of the river), The Steel and Farmland to Industry. Both on the preferred south side of the river.

We started at Broad and Main, and headed to first past the tomb of the unknown solider. Then off to the armory, and down 2nd to the historic area. Next we hit Main street, then up Market, out Linden and to the Nisky Hill cemetery. Showed Bonnie and Lydia where Eugene Grace was buried. It's huge, and he has a great view of his steel mill. Wonder what he'd think about the Steel shutting down, Steel Stacks, and casinos.

While there we found a cannon that said GAR, and the area was indicated by large metal balls. My guess they fit in the cannon. All the graves were Civil War vets. We fixed a bunch of flags, some were on the ground, and wondered what GAR meant. When I got home I googled it—Grand Army of the Republic. A fraternal organization for Civil War vets. I actually think I've heard it mentioned on History Detectives.


When we left the cemetery, we headed out Church where we saw a crazy new sculpture covered with binary numbers, and back up Main to the car.

When we got home Bonnie and I made tuna salad. Bonnie was appalled by the stacks of dishes in my kitchen. Well I am too. But I try and ignore them. My roomie and I are having a standoff. I want her to do the f*ing dishes. Since Bonnie did the dishes (thanks!), the roomie won this round.

Here's the problem. She's retired and sits on her skinny butt all day and does little—knitting and word searches. Occasionally she'll cook. To contrast that, I have three jobs, cook, clean, exercise, deal with family, facebook, blog, laundry, yard work, grocery shop every day because she can't decide what she wants to eat, deal with trash and recycling, .... Really is doing the dishes too much to ask? I don't think so. She'll do them twice a week, but only on two conditions. That I put all the old dishes away. And that there is "enough" to do. See, that's the sticky part. Usually there is not enough, till, like today, there is too many. Aargh. She wins. Gayle does dishes too. It's just easier and will not bring rodents. (Although I am careful to pre-wash before I make the stacks.) Tuesday/Thursday my class runs till 9:30—I won't get home till 10:30—so those days are no-go, but the other five are doable. And certainly before I know guests are coming.

Today we did 3.33 miles today. Plus we walked the dog. Not great, but it was fun. But the party is over.

Next Saturday I have two 5Ks—the George Yasso walk in Fountain Hill which is competitive, and The Seed Walk, which is not. Sunday we have a hike planned for all seven waterfalls at Bushkill Park. Labor Day I have a 10K, and then training begins for the half.

Also need to put music on that iPod. I am not good at picking music.