walking in circles ... make that figure eights

Saturday I did the Deja Vue Half Marathon with fitness friends Jennifer and Nora.

I downloaded google directions and headed to Landsdale. I was driving and reading and I thought I was to follow 63. That took me nowhere, so I came back and was going to go to the Wawa for directions. Turns out I was supposed to go straight! It was the directions off the turnpike exit the messed me up.

It said to go 3.8 miles. I checked my mileage and set off. Right into sun glare. Couldn't see a single street sign. Boy I was missing Starr! I'm at five miles and nothing. I turn around and come back. I drove right past the park and the street. I left 1.45 to arrive for a 50 minute trip. I arrived with 15 minutes to spare.

Why is it called Deja Vue? You see the same thing over and over. The loop is about a mile. Not quite a mind numbing boring as a Relay for Life, but close. This one was in the shape of a figure eight, sort of.

We looped around the baseball fields and the amphitheater, then back into the woods and back out and around.  There was this odd 50-100 yard space were you went out and back and then back out. Clearly they were adding mileage. Must have come up short. I can't tell you how tempted I was to skip that part. But I didn't.

The hat and gloves came off on the first loop. the sweatshirt on the second. I toyed with the idea of removing one of my shirts, but didn't. I had two on. Clearly it became warmer as the day progressed.

I was counting loops on my finger but became confused. I wasn't sure if I was on lap 12 or 13. I asked. They said "one more". I did one more and the man said I was "done". I finished in 3:41:xx I think. They gave me my medal and I left.

When I got to the car I called Barb, like I do after every race. (Gotta tell somebody, and Bonnie is usually with me.) Then I headed off to Annapolis for the next race.

Nora finished after me, and checked the results. She's a half-marathon maniac. The official results only have me finishing 12 laps.  I have no idea what happened. It's kind of poopy.

I am on walking coach Michelle Staten's FB page. In addition to being a coach she writes a about fitness. A week or so ago there was a post. She was looking for people who stand all day for a story she was working on—nurse, teachers, whatever. I didn't respond. Shocking, right?

Wednesday or Thursday she posted that she was looking for people who use anti-fatigue mats. this time I responded. She called me Friday morning, I think. It's shocking to think I've been standing at work for almost 2.5 years. I told her 2, but I looked it up in the blog today it's May, 2012. I got the mat about a month into it. Today, I sent her a pix of my DIY standing desk just for kicks. Maybe I'll make the cut. Maybe not. Doesn't matter. In case it does happen it's Weight Watchers magazine.

will race for free beer

Or not. The line was way to long.

The Oktoberfest 5K was today. We had a huge group—Bonnie, Lydia, Megan, Dawn and Lyds friend Joleen. It was cold today waiting for the race. We all wore layers. Most of us wore the shirts we picked up yesterday. Nice, right? I had a pink shirt under mine. It is Pinktober after all.

We planned to meet at the entrance to ArtsQuest at 10 am. Megan and Joleen arrived first, then Dawn and her husband, and finally Megan and Bonnie. The race had at least 4K people. They capped it at 5K and were still selling entries.  It was wall to wall people. The broke us into four waves with beer themed names. We were in the last wave. The first was at the start line near the Welcome Center. The last was in the "Keg" section. The line up for that began at PBS. Yep, we pretty much had to walk two blocks to the start line. It took almost 8 minutes for us to cross. Thank goodness for chip timing.

We quickly splintered by pace. Near the beginning I actually passed Megan and Bonnie. How did that happen? But soon Bonnie passed me. Then Megan. Once we hit the hills, I was doomed. Those two, like my friend Angel fly up the hills. I passed them on the way down. But then they passed me again and it stayed that way.

The course went out first, up Webster, out Columbia and over the Fahy Bridge. Then up Center, out Church, and down around the city center and down Lehigh.  Over to Sand Island, turn around and come back.

I met Bonnie and Megan again on Columbia, near the back side of Looper's. Bonnie said "You caught up". And I said something about them seeing the finish line and they'd speed off without me. But they agreed on the bridge that we'd all cross together. And we did. My foot must have hit first because I finished in 50:48, and they finished in 50:50. Our unison was a little off. Dawn finished in 56:50, and Lydia and Joleen in 63:55.

They did not give us our traditional gingerbread cookie medals at the finish which I found odd. You had to wait in line. It wasn't a horrible line, like the one for beer.

Dawn was going to try and save hers. I don't know about the others. Me, I'm eating it. I assure you, it will be gone by morning. Hope it tastes as good as it smells. I heart gingerbread.

half the hills in easton.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/old-photos-pennsylvania/33064-hacketts-park-easton.html

Today we were supposed to walk at Columcille in Bangor, but just as the weather people predicted it was pouring this morning. There were quite a few people who wanted to do the walk.

We were supposed to start at 10. When I turned on the computer this morning there was a message from Angel. "Let me know when you leave for Columcille if you're online. I'm on the fence with the weather". I assured her the weather would clear up by nine. It didn't. In fact when I was prepping to leave it started to pour. After Angel's email, then Lyd called. Pretty much the same conversation. She opted for plan B. "Even if it stops raining it will be really muddy". Then I called Bonnie. They were out also. A text to Dawn confirmed she was bagging it.

Angels child is at camp for the weekend. There are not many opportunities for many childless activities with a 10-year-old in the house. Another email comes...

"Is there someplace Indoors we can go?" And another ...

"We could Mall walk. *cringe*". 

The rain had stopped and it looked like it might clear up. Since I had to go to the farm for eggs I suggested the Palmer rail trail. It's paved. Then Angel sweetened the pot with "You want to come over, get cauliflower and walk from here to Hackett park? Or I can make lunch..."

So that's what we did, Angel, her husband and I walked from her house to Hackett Park on the Wilson section of the rail trail. Like the old cliché it was up hill in "both directions". When we entered the park I had 30 stairs on my FitBit. And it was park-like with swings and pavilions and things. Not a field like when I entered from the rail trail. And there's a cemetery in the middle of the park. With a cannon. And obsolete plaques. Who knew? Wish I would have had my camera.

When we came back we left the trail and hiked up the hill to Northampton Street. I have always wanted to walk up that damn hill. Why? It's steep. But only earned us another seven flights.Then we worked our way back to Angel's house including a set of stairs. Who knew there were stairs on Northampton street? Total stair count—46!

We made lunch—huge salads with peanut-sesame dressing — and then I ate and ran.

First stop, the farm. I had to get a pot roast, a steak and eggs. I eat a lot of eggs. I also got some cherry tomatoes and some peppers. This is pretty much the end of the veggies. They also had pumpkins and squashes of all varieties. While I was shopping others came, and then the hay truck. Nobody yelled HAAAAAAAY! Shocking. But we were stock for a few minutes. Let me assure you that they hay truck driver had some driving skills.

Second stop ArtsQuest. We have a race tomorrow and today was packet pick up. I should have told them "event" instead of "packet pickup". I had to park in the casino overflow employee shuttle lot and hoof it in.

I ended up with 6.5 miles and I still have a deficit in my goal for this week. I'm only at 75%. No way I'll get to 100% this week. Oh well. But damn certain I will make 50 stairs. I will walk up and down the hill until I do.

When I arrived home there was another email from Angel. "Are you blogging about today? Because if you do:
- we walked about 4.2 miles
- we had crazy fitbit issues (hers got stuck and somehow turned on iTunes which played do-wop)
- we ate good food
- we had a great time
- and my fit bit gave me 92 active minutes!!! (mine gave me 1.25 hours active, 31 very active. That's good. I rarely get double digits for very active minutes, yet alone out of the teens.)
- next time let's do six miles!"

You are on Angel. Now what to do about the child ....

color me pink

Yes, it's Pinktober first, and you know what that means. Gayle will be draging out her pink wardrobe. Walking in Breast Cancer multi-day walks bulks up the pink wardrobe. I have enough, for a whole month, with few repeats. 

So it began today. Pink skirt for work, pink t-shirt and ribbon socks for Zumba. I have enough pink t-shirts for about three weeks. I have more than enough pink reusable shopping bags and no doubt I will succumb to another before the month is over.

Yes, I realize the color pink will not cure disease. And the whole pink thing is a giant marketing scam. Just like dumping water on your head was for ALS. Yes, I also know that there is lots of diseases that don't have a color, month, or even a budget to get awareness out there. If you figure out a way to get your disease noticed, I'll support you. Until then, I'm going to party in pink.

This week has been horrible for my numbers. Unless something dramatic happens I will not make my goal of 87,500 steps this week.  Or 140 floors.

I've been fighting some nasty poison and it got the best of me Sunday. I think the build up of Benadryl hit. I was lazy. But Sunday night, at dusk, I walked up and down my hill about 10 times so I could make at least 10K steps and 20 floors.

Monday I had full intentions of walking after work. But the television didn't work and I had to go to the cable company and then spend two hours on the phone with tech support, ect. But the time the smoke cleared it was dark. I didn't want to walk up and down the hill again. Actually I wanted to eat something really fattening and drown my sorrows. I didn't. Total not much more than 5K

Tuesday we did the North Bethlehem Volkssport walk. I forgot my fitbit, so it didn't count. Another sad day under 5K.

Tonight I will take the scenic hilly route to Zumba. Yeah, it's four blocks away. I'm going to try and make it a mile and a half. Or at least a mile. Maybe I will make my 12,500/20 goals. I hope so.

Today registration opens for the Lager Jogger. Angel would like to do it. It's all hills. And the line is too long to get the free beer.

Saturday I'm thinking about doing Columcille. It's different, and not too far. And I think Megan and Lydia will get a kick out of it. Sunday is the Octoberfest 5K.

Maybe I'll turn into a pink superhero and end the week strong.

fitness friday

When I get up I grab my Fitbit and my glasses—they have an illicit relationship and sleep together.  Usually I clip the fitbit to my jammies and run around doing morning things. Then switch it to my clothes for the day. I didn't do that yesterday. It was a bout 12:20 when I realized it. It registered less than 500 steps.

Thankfully I discovered it before my walk with Betsy. We did our normal 3 miles in her neighborhood. I did a few errands than headed home.

At 5 I met up with Bonnie and Megan and we headed to Coca Cola Park for the Bacon Challenge. It's a 5K where half way thru you consume a 1/2 pound of bacon. We all opted out. Nothing makes me want to vomit more than the thought of chugging a half pound of cold bacon and then racing.

When we arrived, Megan sent a text to Lyd.  Lyd and Dawn were already there, and Dawns friend Cindy met us a bit later, We had a big group. Dawn wanted to know where the baby was. "He's part of the team now." Luckily he was home with daddy.

Cindy was nervous. Her first 5k. We did our best to assure her everything was okay. She'd finish and she wouldn't die. I took a before shot, and promised a finish shot. But of course that stupid camera died. Again. So I had Megs take it with her phone. Dawn and Lydia stayed with her and they finished in 61 minutes. And they were not last!

The course never left the ballpark. We started in front of the main gate, and went down the hill to the American Parkway and back up again. The head east and circled those lots, and entered the ball park and looped around the concourse.  We left the stadium by the lower gate then headed toward the west parking lots behind the Western Electric building. (I have no idea what the current name is. It changes yearly.) This is where people stopped to eat bacon. We heard little good about it. I'm guessing about 10% of the people went in the pass-by lane.  You could not leave the bacon lane till you finished. I did not see a vomit bucket.

After circling the west parking lots we headed down that hill to American Parkway, back up and followed the road at the rear of the stadium. I thought we'd enter then by the pork racer door, but no, they had us pork racer the lot first. Then we entered the field and looped of the dirt path.

I had managed to catch up to Bonnie several times, but when we entered the door, she went into finish line mode and kicked it into high gear. Bonnie is now a half block ahead and I hear running behind me. It's Megan. I yelled "Megan is running." Bonnie looked back and started running too. NOBODY, not even her baby, will beat Bonnie. She crossed 1.9 seconds before Megan. I finished in my typical spot 20 seconds behind.

Bonnie 49:02
Megan 49:03.9
Gayle 49:22.8
Dawn 61:35.5
Cindy 61.36.6
Lydia 61.37.5

My fitbit was at about 18K when I returned home. I would have made 20, or maybe even 25 had I remembered to put it on in the morning.

fitness challenge—horseback riding

I can't remember the last time I went horseback riding. It was with Girl Scouts, at a dude ranch, and I had the worse allery attack ever.

Thankfully that didn't happen this time. (Thanks generic Claratin!)

My friend Pam suggested this activity after our paddle boarding adventure. She found us a Groupon, so we saved big bucks on this outing. (Groupon could be hazardous to your budget. Must stay away!)

Fitness friend Dawn also came. Riding is on her bucket list. Dawn and I met at the Rt 33 Park and Ride and we headed up to "Bangor". I have no idea where we were but Bangor was 15 minutes south. We left at 10 for our 11 ride. It took 45 minutes. Google suggested 37. Dawn brought the GPS so that save us from getting lost.

We arrived and parked and waited for Pam's family to arrive. They got lost so they were late.  Pam brought her husband and both girls. Hannah came home from college to ride today. She really wanted to come.

Dawn got the first horse. It probably took a good 20 minutes to load us on to horses. I left the others go first, so I got the last one — Rocky. He likes to walk fast so they make us stay at the end. He didn't like it. He kept creeping up on Pam's horse and getting his face in her horses butt. "Rocky, stay out of Pam's tushy!" He didn't listen. He wanted to be in the front. Hannah's horse had pretty white spots.

Rocky like to hug the trees and my knee actually hit a stop sign. His love of trees also may have gotten me in trouble. We were on the way back and Pam said, "watch, poison." Too late. I thought that my shirt got the bulk of it, but perhaps not. After I showered I noticed my hands were red and bumpy. I might have transferred the poison from Rocky to me when I got off. We'll see.

I'm not sure how much exercise this was. I guess a lot would be muscle control. Almost isometric. Maybe. Science is not my strong suite.

During the ride we discussed other fitness challenges. Pam suggested belly dancing. Alas, I thought of that also but no one I found so far offers single classes. Connie, who's 16, wants to try pole dancing. If only we were in Kentucky. Maria would do a class for us.  However, Sweat Like A Girl, which is in Nazareth, you need to be 18. But they do have drop-in classes for a wide variety of classes similar to what Maria offers...

Tomorrow is the Via Marathon. All our nrmal haunts will be cluttered with people. Roads will be closed off. So we're going to walk in Trout Creek Park under the Susquehanna Street bridge.

Storms brewing. Night all.

tri-to-help

 Jen, Nora and I at the finish line.

Today I did my first triathlon. Okay, it wasn't an Ironman, but it was a lot. And it was indoors and only took an hour. I did it with a few people from the sugar crushers group. Bonnie came along to take pictures and for moral support. Next year she's doing it.

Jen and Nora were in the noon group. I was in the 12:40 group. It started with the swim. Needless to say hell will freeze over before I wear a swimsuit. Bonnie even offered me one of hers. No, thank you. We were in the pool area while Nora and Jen were warming up. Then even drew on my number while I was waiting. Them, there was one space left in the Noon group, so I was able to go. Yeah, no waiting.

I can't swim. The little I knew I forgot. So I tried walking in water for 10 minutes. It was hard. I kept slipping. Water shoes would have been a good idea. Next year.  I did 13 laps. Not bad, I guess.

 Then we changed and headed down to the spin bikes. Again, I have never used one. Do you hold-on or not? I couldn't decide. We rode for 30 minutes. The seats are uncomfortable and my butt hurt. But more than that, my lady parts hurt. They still hurt hours later. I rode 6.8 miles in the allotted time.

 Then it was off to the treadmill. I've used a treadmill twice before. Both for testing as part of the Walk Your Butt Off panel. Bonnie stood behind me at the beginning and told me what to do. I set the machine a 4 mph and on level two. I was supposed to set it at number one. Oops.

I did 1.25 miles in the twenty minutes.

Afterwards we waited for the others in the 12:40 wave. We stayed in a group in one of the corners. I also walked the track several times. I'm not used to do eight miles in an hour. I had jelly legs!

We arrived home to another snow storm. I guess I'll be up even earlier tomorrow shoveling before work.

Me at the end with my tally sheet.