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.

a funny thing happened on the way to the 10-miles.

This morning Jillian and I did the Capital City 10 mile race, in Harrisburg. We were to meet at her house at 6. Walkers started at 8:15.

I don't sleep well, but only woke up once during the night. When I looked at the clock it said 5:15. Holey Moley, I've got to get moving! I got ready and out the door I went.

It was dark and traffic was very light. I cruised down Susquehanna street. I looked down at the clock to see what time it was. Was I on time? It was 4:47. Say what? I pulled out my phone. 4:46? How is this possible. I cruised past the house and it was dark. Shit. Time changed again last night.

You see I have very old electronics, bought before they moved the time change days, so they change automatically on the wrong date. Each time we have a time change, I have to reset the clocks—twice. It's a PIA. But I'm too cheap to buy new ones.

What makes this even funnier is I drove past my neighborhood independent gas retailer, and his big LED sign declares the time. I totally missed it.

So I went for gas—no lines—and then home to chill (and set clocks) for 45 minutes.

Promptly at 6 I was back at her doorstep. And off we went. In her new car—it has GPS and satellite radio. Something my cars will never have. Again, too cheap. I buy cars that go forward, backward and stop.

We arrived on City Island by 7:40, with plenty of time to register. The race started promptly at 8. There was only about 15 walkers. I thought it would be fun to take our pix in front of the Harrisburg Senators sign wearing an Iron Pigs cap. Although the Senators are not in their league.

We walked around the island, then over the pedestrian bridge. Then headed down to the river way, and the Capital Greenway. Then turned around and came back past the start point to the next bridge. That bridge is about a mile long. When we crossed the Susquehanna, we turned around and came back the other side. It was beyond windy up there. Then we returned to the upper river walk, back over the pedestrian bridge, around the stadium and to the finish line.

The runners left at 9 and there was serious congestion at around the four-five mile mark. People coming. people going. Narrow path.

We stayed together for the first 7 miles or so, then Jillian took off. I was busy taking pixs of art.

She finished in 2:57:xx ahead of the 3-hour goal.

I finished in 3:01:28. A minute and a half over. But I'm not in it to win it. And I always walk slower alone. A few people finished after us.

 Make music not war.

Bulls, hydrants, garbage cans. You can see why I was so distracted. My favorite sign was a horse and buggy crossing sign. In the middle of the big city.

The walk today put me over the 25000 steps in one day on my fit-bit. I got a new badge! That and a buck fifty will get you coffee. Hopefully I'll reach gold status in the Presidential challenge this week. I'm at 98%. I'm running out of time. My anniversary date is very, very soon. Then I go back to zero and start again.

dead last but finished

It's my lot, what can I say. Did I mention that there was only four walkers?

This 10K was to buy tricycles for differently able children. I didn't know they came in so many varieties. Some even had a single handle on the back so a able-bodied person could hold on to them.What is really cool is that the bikes are there for the kids when the race is over. After each child is called up and claims the bikes, they get fitted, get helmets, and get to be part of the kids race. Really. That would bump my confidence up a zillion percent.

The 10K is on the Ironton Rail Trail loop, and part of the spur. Lydia couldn't make it, she had to work. But Jillian and I walked it with another pair from Hazleton's Seasons Change event. They were scouting out the organization of the race and maybe whether doing a 10K walk was possible. Right now they have a 10K run, 5K run/walk, and 3 bike routes of varying distances. But the really cool part is walkers are eligible for awards! We have to kick up our speed this summer. It says it's a flat and fast route. In Hazleton?

Near the beginning of the race we picked up the bike sweep-guy. He followed us the whole time. About half way, two more joined him. Really we didn't need three guys escorting us.

Last year I finished in 1:43:58.  I thought it was 1:42 plus change. This year I finished in 1:41:05. Jillian finished in 1:40:55, I think.

Speaking of Jillian, the real Jillian Michaels is doing a lecture/motivation tour. One of the stops is Philly. I checked out ticket prices. Way too steep for me. Clearly I haven't bought lecture tickets in a long time. Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair and Jane Goodall are free this month at Lafayette. (No tickets left, sorry.) Clearly more important people than Jill. No offense Jill.

I have not mad my 70000 steps for this week, so I have to go out and do another 2.5 miles. Oh, goodie. I think I'll go them at Giant and get my groceries at the same time.

Tomorrow is the 10 mile race in Harrisburg. My upper thigh and knee hurt a lot today since the race. I hope I can make the 10. I will finish. I'll just crawl. We leave at 6 am.

Walking was supposed to beat off arthritis at the door clearly, it isn't working.

northeast bethlehem

I'm looking for new routes to walk. I'm getting tired of the same old, same old. So I decided we'd walk in northeast Bethlehem.

We started at the CVS by Liberty High School and headed out Linden to Butztown, out Butztown to East Blvd, then back Easton avenue. It was a huge triangle.

When I was mapping routes I did a bunch. I could have sworn this one was 3.185. miles. About a 5K. Clearly I was wrong. Lydia's phone had it at about 4.125 and she went back to the car about 5 blocks before the end. I rempapped it on Google pedometer and it was 4.5 miles. Oops.

I can report that the sidewalks on the north side are almost as bad as the south side. But there are no garbage cans or other obstacles t walk around. It was a relatively flat walk, but pretty uneventful.

We all shared Lyd's bottle of water while walking. Bonnie and I both left ours at my house. So when we arrived back at CVS she went inside for some. She came out with BIG CHILL. She bought it because the bottle was cool. My typographic obsessions are rubbing off.

It turns out to be distilled, and the CVS brand. It was wet and did it's job. Nothing to write home about.

After the water break it was off to the butcher to pick up Bonnie's Easter ham, and home.

Of course, we took Adonis out for his walk.

Total mileage for today. 5 miles.

Next weekend we have a 10K on Saturday (6.2 miles) and a 10 mile race in Harrisburg on Sunday.

 A yard on our route. There was more against the house.