baby it's cold outside

It snowed maybe an inch last night. Okay. Maybe two inches. Clearly wasn't worth the end of civilization weather reports from last night.

At about 7:30 I went out to clear the snow. Shovel, might be too strong a word. It was single digits. And very windy.

This is what I wore. I probably looked silly.

TWO pairs of gloves. When I came back in I couldn't feel my fingers
Long undies, top and bottom
Long sleeve shirt
Pullover fleece
LL Bean coat with hood up
Sweatshirt with hood up
Fuzzy hat under all those hoods
And a scarf

Except for my fingers I was not cold.

I did the front, walked up the hill, around to the alley and did the garage and the back sidewalk, then went up the hill and came back down to the house.

After getting half that clothes off, I went out to make breakfast. Bonnie called. "Let's drive to the Poconos and go for a three mile hike." "Okay." Alas, she was teasing. But I really did want to go to the Poconos. Angel was picking the girl-child up from Moseywood. I toyed with the idea of hiding in her car and walking around lake Moseywood. (Supremely jealous of girl-child—snowshoeing, cross country skiing, sledding, painting snow—why don't they have adult weekend in winter?)

I did some work, then put all that clothes back on, and headed out at lunchtime for my walk. Alone. Lydia had been a maybe for today, but she called and said it was F@*&‡!G cold out. She was going to the movies instead.

I went down to Itaska, and wove my way to Broadway. Out Broadway and back up thru Lehigh.  One reason I chose the university is I knew the sidewalks would be clear. They were so clear they were dry.

Even the stairs were clear. So I took them.

At the top of the hill I headed out 8th Street toward home.

Sadly, it was barely two miles. I only have 7500 steps for the day, but I do have 38 floors. So I'll need to do at least 2500 steps in the house later. Unless I decide to bundle back up and head back out.

 The view from 8th Street

Oh, I weighed myself this morning. Up another two pounds. I think I'm going to stop watching what I eat. More exercise. Less and better food. I do not understand.

baby it's cold outside

Today I had an appointment at the car dealer for inspection, oil change, and to get my seat checked. I decided about 3 am that walking home from the garage would be a lovely idea. I'd get exercise, take a totally different route, and get the car done.

Bethlehem Ford is at the Allentown/Bethlehem border line in west Bethlehem. Across from the Lehigh Shopping Center. Near the old A-treat factory.Much closer to my brother's than my house.

It was 4 degrees this morning. What the heck was I thinking?

At seven I got dressed. All my long underwear was in the laundry, so I put my flannel pj bottoms back on, then covered them with my jeans. I have no long socks, so I put on regular socks, and then my pedi socks. They have no toes, so I inched them over my heal and scrunched them around my ankles. Then tucked the pj pants into them.

On top I had a long sleeve tee and a fleece. At 8, I added my blue coat and headed out the door. After dropping off the car, I added my hoodie over my coat, two pairs of gloves, my fuzzy hat, and both hoods. And a scarf. I was cold.

I always wanted to take a photo of the tile work on the Ukrainian Church.
Today I got the opportunity and the sun was not cooperating.
Can't complain. It's been a while since we have even seen the sun.

I headed out Union Blvd toward home. The sidewalks on the north side are just as bad as the one's in the hood. Lot's of those homes don't shovel either. What melted yesterday also turned to ice.

At 8th Avenue, I turned down and headed toward Broad. Out Broad to 3rd, then out Spring to 2nd. Over the 2nd Street ram, across the bridge, out Broadway and home.

I walked in the door about 1:40 later. It was about 3.5 slow miles. I was barely in the house when my roomie said: "The car dealer called. Your car is done."

I guess I should have just waited.

cold and windy walk

Big News! I was able to create a simple one-page website for the Liberty Bell Wanderers. It went live this morning. And it's still there. It hasn't crashed.  So relieved.

After that success I really wanted to walk and celebrate. I text Lydia to see if she was free. She was. So after walking the dog and making pizza for lunch, we did the south Bethlehem volkssport walk. In the process we discovered that Lydia only has one more walk to finish her thirty walk book. So we are doing it again tomorrow!

It was cold and it was windy. But otherwise bright and beautiful. We actually drove to the Comfort Suites start point.

When we arrived at the Greenway it was snow covered. Just the little snow from Monday. The larger snow from Saturday had been plowed. But it had melted and refroze and was really icy, so we left the Greenway and walked thru the adjacent parking lots all the way to Polk street. The we walked out Third to the casino. Then down and around and back First Avenue thru Arts Quest. It was 2.75 miles. Which considering my track record lately is pretty damn good.

Tomorrow begins the winter challenge and the Iditawalk.  So I have to step up my game.

Oh, the Penn State lion now has a hashtag—#ifoundthelion. I'm going to go look to see how many clones he has. Maybe, we'll go on a lion safari in spring.

a whim...will I do it?

Friday night Richard Simmons is going to be giving a motivational speech at the Mount Airy Lodge and Casino in the Poconos. Saturday he'll be back to do a Sweating with the Oldies class.

I want to go to the lecture. I have no idea why. I've been thinking about it since I saw the listing in the paper. The man is wild, wacky, inspirational, and weepy ... he can get people from 100 to 1,000 pound moving their butts and eating better. Maybe that's his appeal.

I don't especially want to do the workout. Aerobics has never been my thing. I am so not coordinated.  But I bet my last dollar that every woman (and man too) in the room will be big. Some even bigger than me.

I'm sure he'll be selling his newest program or book or what not...that's why one goes out on tour.

I've been on his website three times in the past two days.  And I just joined his Facebook group. This is not a good sign. More than likely, I will go.

The shoe store where I bought my German walking shoes, Finn Casuals, is having a promotion. Come in, get weighed, and for each pound you lose in a three month period, you get a $5 store credit.  Twenty pounds would make another pair of Finn Casuals possible. Thinking about it. A lot.

Right now, I have to walk. Today I'm climbing Montclair Street from Broadway to 9th Street. The block between Summit and 8th takes my breath away every time. Today. I'm aiming to stop just once.

------
update: I made it to 8th Street before I had to stop. It was wonderful. I wonder if I would have pushed myself if I could have made it to 9th without stopping. Maybe next time.
-----
update 2: I bought tickets. Beth and I are going Friday night. My first trip to a Pennsylvania casino. Hope our Sands starts offering stuff like this. I could walk!

hill training begins with the new year

Mary Liz called about walking today but later backed out. I only have about 60 days to the stair climbs so this fat girl needs to get her butt moving. So I decided on one mile which included Frederick Street. This training is going to be steep hills. Don't have skyscrapers to practice in.

So I went up Bishopthorpe, then Findlay and headed up Federick. The last 1/4  is the hardest. I had to stop once about half way. When I reached the last 1/4, I went slow but didn't stop. I'm not as out of shape as I thought. The first picture is a view of Bethlehem /Fountain Hill from the top.

Coming down Wyandotte I went past the Indian girl that waves over the mountain. She was decked out for Christmas. So I also took her pix.

Tomorrows route will be straight up Wyandotte to the top from the five points. Traffic scares me more that the 8% grade hill.

first night 5k

Today was the First Night 5K. It's actually named wrong, it should be the Last Night 5K. But it's all part of the First Night festivities for New Year's Day. (BTW is there no dumber holiday?)

It snowed this morning. Two-three inches. I really din't want to wear my pink sneakers but I did. The snow stopped about 3 hours before the 1 pm start.

It would have made a beautiful picture with the snow on the blast furnace and people milling around. But no pictures. My camera battery was dead. 

As I arrived at the skating rink start line, a member of the Coordinated Health staff was leading a group stretch. Apparently they are one of the sponsors. CH a physical therapy / sports medicine place, and apparently they have a full service fitness center too. I hid behind a trash can and joined in. I wasn't sure if it was a sign-up ahead of time thing. Then the female PT announced into the mike that they had people inside doing individual stretches, and she'd be outside doing them. Nobody went to her. They went inside. Fools. I went to her.

She stretched out my legs and dang did it feel good. I know never stretch enough before these events. I especially don't during the mega walks. I think it actually helped my walking. I felt really good thru the whole event.

They changed the route this year. It started at 1st and Polk, went over the Fahy Bridge, up the Center St. hill, out Church, thru the "pee tunnel" up to Main, then down the Musikfest path (was it pretty looking down to the historic area) to the Luckenbach Mill. We walked all that in the street and it was just wet. They did a great job clearing the snow. Until we got to Conostoga Street. It was snow covered and hard to walk on.  When we got to Lehigh Street, we had to use the sidewalks, because Peeps Fest needed to have the traffic come thru.

We crossed the foot bridge onto Sand Island, went to the Ice House, turned around came back and continued to the Fahy Bridge. Back over the bridge and back to the skating rink.

My time was 53.05 and I was disappointed. There was at least 12 people behind me, after I passed two people on the bridge, and four people fifty meters from the end.

Oh well.

the big bad head cold that won't go away

It's back. My head cold from two weeks ago has made a return visit. I feel like crap. Yet, I'm going to do the walking path today and stairs before school, and hit the gym for elliptical after class. Not much, but it's something. I stayed in bed till after 8, then laid on the couch in my jammies till after 9. I was the poster girl this morning for lazy.

Friday I walked with Betsy and the dogs. I was wiped out when we were done. The last few blocks were very long. I chocked it up to the end of the cold. I know know that it was the beginning of the cold coming back.

Sunday it was beautiful. I had planned a five mile walk, but instead I cleaned up graffiti on my garage and helped a few neighbors. It was certainly an upper body workout!

Monday I went to the gym at did the elliptical for about 15 minutes at 3.5-4 MPH. Not bad for my second time. I even figured out how to make the TV work!

I've been thinking a lot about what's next. I had signed up to do the Philly marathon but I withdrew. 

I have been looking at stair climbs. There's one in Philly March 20 for the American Lung Assn. The website  says Most people who can walk 3 miles can climb 1,088 stairs in about 20 minutes. Yeah, sure. With my knees? They also have one in Wilkes Barre at the Wachovia Arena, same day.  It's 1,224 steps up and down the arena. Hmmmm. That might be doable. I could practice at Fisher Stadium. The downs always give my knees a break. I'd have to be able to do it 3 times, I think. They start people 20 seconds apart. Crap, these people are probably running. I don't run. On Feb 28 there is a stair climb for  CF sponsored by wawa. It's 53 flights, 1019 steps.

My head is spinning with wild ideas to keep moving.

For now it's 2 5Ks: the Turkey Trot and the Jingle Bell run. My goal is to not come in last place.

ready or not, here I come

I walked Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm back on track,  or at least I was. Thursday I started hacking, by Friday I had the chills, and Saturday I was congested. Oh it was a killer of a cold but it wasn't the piggie flu or the regular flu, so I don't mind. I did battle with OTC drugs and it worked. Monday was the worse. I think it was peak day.

Tuesday was better, but when I walked to Pfenning I felt it. It felt like I just did 15 miles. I walked across campus. Later (my office is in the basement of Watson) I needed to go upstairs, so I ran up the steps like usual and by the time I reached the upper floor I was panting. Say what? Clearly my lungs were not clear.

Today I feel better. And it's a good thing. It's the big day. Orientation at the College gym. 11 am, sharp. I'm both excited and terrified. Forrays into gyms have never been successful, and sometimes are painful.

The plan after today is to go after class at 6:30. But since I'll be there at 11 I'm going before class. Class starts at 3.

Hopefully I'm dressed for both. I don't want to lug a gym bag. Today I'm wearing yoga pants and a tank top, and my Finn Casual shoes. I have a nice sweater to wear for class. More under-dressed than the average day, but less under-dressed than some other faculty member who look like they just rolled out of bed in their sweats.

They told me to bring a lock for the locker. I'm not going to bother. If they want my sweater, they can have it. I'm keeping my keys with me. My handbag will be either in the truck of the car or the adjunct office. I'm not a big fan of locks, even after my GPS Flora was stolen.

Other updates from the week past
Friday I went to the Dr. after I walked. My BP was 145/90. Not great, hell not even good, but better than the last time. I take what I can get. At least he didn't yell at me. My weight was 236. So since I started this adventure two years ago I've lost 14 pounds and three sizes. Somehow doesn't seem fair. I don't think I lost any inches this year. My 199 goal gets further and further out of reach. At this rate it will be about 2020 and according to the Mayan calendar the world will end in 2012. So it's a moot point. Besides, hasn't someone predicted the end of the world every year of my life? I think so.

Shaku did walk the 3-Day in Dallas. It looks like she had a blast. I'm glad she could have a real 3-Day experience.

My training walk group is meeting at the Thai Kitchen for a celebration dinner Friday. (We need to pick someplace that had also had vegan food). I think we're going to further explore the idea of a walking club.