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 ....

farmers market thursday

Since I went back to school August 25, my hours shifted for my many jobs. I am now off on Thursdays till about 4ish. I'm headed to work when everyone is headed home.

The south Bethlehem Farmers market is conveniently held on Thursdays at Campus Square. Megan, the baby and Bonnie and I usually take a 3-4 mile walk to get there. I have to get very creative with the routes. There is only so many ways to get tot he university.

Today I was smart and took two bags and balanced my groceries in them. Bonnie pushed the stroller home and Megan ended up carrying about 25 pounds. Next week Bonnie is taking an extra bag too.

Today we headed up the hill, out Sioux, down Clewell and out the alley to Bergen. We crossed Broadway and came back Seneca. Up the hill that I thought was huge as a kid, and past the old 'hood. Then we headed down fourth, to New and to the market. We zig-zagged our way back up the hill and home.

Last night I went to Zumba. It's back on. I'm worse at it now than I ever was. Oh well. After fighting with my sister I could blow off steam.

Tuesday I walked at the crack of dawn with Bonnie in her neighborhood. There was a fresh dead skunk on Emmaus Avenue and I couldn't walk out in the street to avoid it. Too much traffic. So I returned to the neighborhood and met up with Bonnie at the Daisy Hill.  I'm pretty certain she thought I was nuts.

Monday and Wednesday I walked at lunchtime. But maybe only a mile and a half. Not much. One day I only had 5,000 steps.


Speaking of steps. I received a message from Fit Bit today that I have reached 4000 flights of stairs (inclines) and have been awarded my 747 badge. It will probably be a year or two before I see the next one. I have to double—8000—the amount of stairs.

Tomorrow it's walking in south Whitehall with Betsy. Then Saturday it's the 30th anniversary celebration of the Liberty Bell Wanderers at Lake Galenda in Doylestown. That's a 10K walk.

two walks

Last night Lydia and Adonis came over for dinner an a walk. We took Big A out first for his typical 1/2 mile. I was already hot and sweaty and we hadn't even started the main event!

Lyd doesn't like doing hills after work. She's on her feet seeing clients a good portion of the all day. We drove the few blocks to the hospital and parked. The we walked out Jeter avenue towards Salisbury. When we reached Public Road, we played in the park. The swings were nice, and high. The spinning thing was old and made horrible noises.

Then we headed up Public to Graham, and down the long Graham street hill and back to the car. Turns out that loop is 2.5 miles. Not bad for after work.

This morning I headed to Bonnie's to walk in Salisbury. The baby fell asleep so Megan stayed home. We did what she calls the west loop, with all the hills. It's just under 3 miles but I was flop sweating when I returned to her house.

Even with the walk I'm at less than 6K for the day. If it doesn't start to pour, I'm going to need to go out for another walk. I have not chance of catching my friend in the FitBit race, but I at least need to make my goal for the week.

Tomorrow we are doing the two-bridge walk and Veg-Fest. Sunday we'll be doing the Volkssport walk in Valley Forge.

southside walk

I haven't walked much at all this week. I have been up to my eyeballs in work. The semester starts in a week and I am hopelessly behind. I feel like a rat trapped in a maze. My pedometer barely nudged past 6K steps. Yesterday, at 10:30 am it was under 700. I had been working since 6:15. My friend, as expected, has surged past me in the weekly Fitbit standings, leaving me in her dust.

Oh well.

Last night Lydia came over and I made her eat eggplant. It must not have been horrible. She went back and got two more slices. Clearly Elin didn't like it. It was one of mom's summer staples. It's really good with applesauce dumped on it. Like a latka.

After eating we took the dog for his 1/2 mile loop. Then I brought the dog back to Pat, and we headed out Itaska towards Lehigh. Our ultimate destination was CVS. Lydia's new-to-me FitBit battery was acting wonky. It needed to be replaced. We headed up Wyandotte, out Summit and to campus. We crossed diagonally across campus, out Packer and down the New Street stairs. Then it was out the alley to a sculpture garden, down to Campus Square. Then down Brodhead to CVS. Ultimately we wove our way home. Sadly it was only 2.5 miles.

a week without a fitbit

When we reached Western Pennsylvania the first day of our road trip, I decided to see how far we had gone. I left my FitBit at home. It was a walking vacation, and I forgot my pedometer. Poop.

Ultimately I bought one on Tuesday. And wore it all week. But I never synced it to my laptop. I wanted to wait till I got home. That was a mistake. None of the data, except for Sunday stuck. I have an entire week set at zero.

I used to have the cheap one, the zip. It didn't do as much but I didn't care. I really just wanted it to do stairs. But it didn't. So the cheapest girl in the world upgraded to the One, so I could track stairs. But here's where it gets interesting. The Zip did track stairs, it just didn't tell me it was doing it. Sneaky.

I went from 0-2000+ stairs overnight! So cool.

Also while I was gone I reached the 3000 mile mark.  These little badges are dumb, but they do keep you motivated. Unlike the endless Presidential challenge. I'm less than 50% to Platinum after 2 years!

It is well documented that I am cheap, so buying a new one was out of character. I'm am a environmentalist. I just don't throw stuff away because I'm tired of it. The problem becomes what to do with the old one. Since Bonnie and Megan already have one, they don't need it. And Lydia has been jones for one. The choice was simple. I'm going to format my old one her. I even ordered her a green case. Hopefully in the next couple days we can get it set up.

walking vacation, day 1 and 2

My nieces "Foxy" and "Kitty" were supposed to come up and stay with their Aunt Bonnie for two weeks. A set of circumstances prevented that. But I already had the vacation planned, and we still needed to pick up the crib, so off to Louisville we went.

I thought we'd get about 1000 steps day one. Mostly a driving day. We headed from Eastern Pennsylvania and went to The Wilds. I saw this animal conservation park on television maybe 15 years ago on Jack Hanna's show. Mom and I used to watch it Saturday afternoon.

 On the open air bus. It was hot and windy.

We planned this because we thought Foxy and Kitty would enjoy it. They would have. It was excellent. Two and a half hours of driving thru pastures looking at wild animals do what comes naturally. It was a safari, so to speak. There were two places where we did some walking. It really added up.

When we pulled off the interstate, we were at about 1/8 of a tank. We were going to get gas before heading into The Wilds.  All the gas stations at the exchange were boarded up. We wnt anyway. Bonnie said the car didn't ding yet.  It dinged as we were leaving. She get's 18 miles to a gallon. OnStar said the nearest gas station was 17 miles. We breezed into the BP on fumes.

Then it was off to Xenia, the sight of Tuesday's walk. We had horrible storms driving thru Columbus and missed the by-pass. The 2 hour drive to Xenia took over three hours. We were going 35 on the interstate!

After checking into the Ramada in Xenia, we walked across the shopping center lot to the Mexican restaurant. It was delicious. It was 8 pm. We last ate at breakfast at 8 am.

Total steps was about 13,000. Far cry from the 1000 I thought we would get. I also  discovered I left my FitBit at home.

The next morning we got up and did the Xenia walk. Why Xenia? There is a Volkssport program were you walk in all the cities from A-Z. There are four places in the entire US to do X. You guessed it, Xenia is one.  The instructions were one side long, with no map. My south Bethlehem instructions are three pages plus a map. No history, no information. Turn left, turn right. That's it.

After walking we went to Bob Evans on the outskirts of town, stopped at Radio Shack for a new FitBit, and headed to Louisville.

races, dog walking, pickles, and cirque du solei

Sunday was the Saucon Loves Boston 5K at the Hellertown Grist Mill, on the Saucon Rail Trail.  Lydia and I met her friends Mandy and Dawn there.

The 5K was just for runners. The walk was only 2 miles. Lyd and I decided to do it anyway because the proceeds went to the survivors fund for medical expenses.

It was a nice, organized race. Out and back on the trail. 

But I have two rules for 5Ks. First, you don't take down the finish line before the walkers are done. Second, you stop traffic, not the walkers. They broke the second rule. Pissed me off big time. My finished time was 35:48. It could have been minimum of 30 seconds shorter, if not a full minute. It felt like we stood at the intersection forever.

After the race was over, we headed down the street to the Saucon Farmers Market. If the pickle guy was there, Pat wanted pickles. Thank goodness he was there. I bought two different pickles, Lyd got artichokes (pictured), and I got garlic stuffed olives. I could have bought much more, but that is way too much salt for me. These puppies will need to last.

I also bought red Russian kale. The farmer said it wasn't as bitter as regular kale. We'll see. I also bought the prettiest head of lettuce I've every seen at the same stand. If youu want baked goods, that market has a ton of bakers.

 When we returned home and walked the dog, of course.

Then it was time for round two. Alan dropped off Bonnie, and we headed downtown for dinner. We finished about an hour before the bus was to come and spent the time walking around downtown Bethlehem. Then we grabbed the bus and headed to Camden.


We arrived in Camden an hour early, so we walked on the Camden waterfront for a while. There was a also a game at the ballpark.

Finally, we headed for the big top.

I spent four hours sitting on a bus and managed to get nearly 16,000 steps in. That won't happen today. The torrential downpours are back. I'll have to find Walk At Home videos online. I used to have 2 DVDs but they were borrowed and never returned.

failure and redemption

After nearly two solid weeks of walking every day, and posting everyday, I failed yesterday. Big time.

I haven't posted, but I did walk Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at lunchtime. Nothing really exciting happened. Which is kind of the problem with blogging each day. I'm okay with that. Frankly, my totals those days are not very high, usually in the 7K to 8K range. But my long weekends more than make up for it.

Yesterday tropical storm Andrea came to town and it rained, and it poured, and then it rained more. No big walk in the 'burbs with Betsy. In addition I spent a lot of time in the car. I drove Bonnie to Hand Therapy, then went and had my hair cut, then back for Bonnie. Then I spent the whole afternoon doing my weekly grades. I looked at my pedometer and I was only at about 1,500. I was shocked.

I needed to go to the store, but it was pouring again, so I took the car. When I arrived, I walked up and down each aisle trying to get more distance. It didn't help much. I finished the day with

 

That's just embarrassing. And I was seriously bummed.

Today we planned on going to do the last two stations of the Passport to Fitness. But they are both natural trails, and with all the rain they would have been muddy messes.

I emailed Lyd and called Bonnie to walk in town. Bonnie said yes. 

We walked from her place down to Kmart and thru the neighborhoods to Emmaus Avenue. Since my last fall we walk a lot in the street. Only using the sidewalks on busy street. Some lady passed us and yelled "Walk on the sidewalk!". Bonnie reacted, and then she gave us the finger. For a full two blocks. Beeping her horn. Talk about distracted driving. When We reached Emmaus Avenue, we headed back into the neighborhood, thru the school drive way, up the stairs, up the hills and back to her house. A zig zagged triangle. Maybe 3-3/4 miles. Redemption.

Of course I still have to do 7K more. My weekly total is

I usually finish the week at 120%+.  Maybe once I finish my class I can go out again for a while.

Last week I worked on setting up a blog for the "Walk Around the World". This really is not going to be an active blog. Just a source for information if people want to also try it. There might be one or two people out there. Let me know what you think.

Tomorrow will be another low steps day. Where it usually is a high one. I'm taking a bus trip to Cirque du Soleil (Totem) with Bonnie for her birthday. We're going out for lunch also.  But I have to get training. The half marathon is 70 days away.

---------

update 5:50 pm
Walked to Arhart's for a couple of groceries. I'm much happier now that I've reached my 100% for the week.

oops, I did it again.

I bought yet another pedometer. This one is supposed to be accurate from anywhere, as long as it's near your body.

Over the weekend I thought it was doing okay. I had jean style pants on and kept it in my pocket. Today, I'm not to sure. I had trouser on and it's only reading 1250 steps. That's a bit over a half mile. And I did .68 today running errands on campus. Hmmm.

It finally stopped raining, I might be able to get a walk in before I work on my online class.

you get what you pay for

My new pedometer is not a great deal after all. I can't get it to count accurately.

The instructions say place it on your hip. I do that, count 100 paces and it seems fine. But then it stops counting. Yesterday I walked a minimum of three miles with Sharon, plus all my other walking and it read 404 steps at the end of the day. Even my chair-based lazy roomie does more than 404 steps in a day.

I changed the position of the pedometer, and tried again today. This morning, I did the 2.25 miles with Mary Liz. I know this is accurate, it's been measured both with the car and google pedometer. When I got home it was at 3200 steps.  Approx 2000 is a mile. Better, but still not accurate.

I've moved it again. At NCC there is a one mile walking path. I'll try it there and see if it works. If not, I'll move it again and try tomorrow.

But that's it. Three strikes and it's gone.

ask and ye shall receive

I've been talking about getting a new pedometer and this one was in my bag from the Camelot 5K. Fate?

It's on my waist right now. It seems pretty accurate. Let the step counting begin!

----

I've heard a lot about the 50 million pound challenge. I've even gone to the website a couple of times. Today I signed up. Will I use the site? Not sure. It told me my BMI was 33. Obese is 30. It's one thing to know it intellectually. Totally another to see it in read and white.

I put in my goal weight as 199 pounds. So that means I need to lose 37. That should be doable. Sounds a whole lot better than 80 or 90 that I really need to lose!

another one bites the dust

I decided I have to start wearing my pedometer again. Every day. I also need to work on my speed to keep up with Bonnie and make the 15-minute mile. So yesterday I strapped it on. At noon I had 129 steps. At 11:09 pm when I took it off I had 170 steps. I'm either very lazy or it's busted. Again. I wonder if there is one that is fat-girl proof?

another weekend, another nor'easter

I had great plans to really pack on some miles this weekend, after kicking off 'Walking 2010'. The week has been so sunny and warm and bright.

Yesterday the rain came.

Today the Nor'easter came. Heavy downpours, high winds, the whole nine yards. At least I don't live at the shore. With the tidal flooding the beaches have to be gone. (Maybe Mother Nature will take some of those multi-million dollar beach house too. Stupid fools for building on the ocean front.)

I walked, at least a little everyday this week. It was crazy at all my jobs, so free minutes are fleeting. Thursday, I got to the College early and did the walking path in my heels, while talking to my sister on my cell. I really need to wear my pedometer again.

Hope the storm ends by Monday. I need to walk every day this week at least three miles. My 2nd stairclimb is Saturday in Wilkes Barre. I need to get in shape!

This time it's at the Wachovia Arena, so it will be more like when I climbed the stadium this summer at Fisher Field. There are 22 sets (or pairs) of stairs- 22 down, 22 up for a total of 44 — 1,224 total  individual steps, both up and down not counting the walk in-between the sets of stairs to the next set. Those in-betweens will be a nice rest point. This is for the American Lung Association and several members of my family have lung disease. Most of them self-inflicted by cigarettes. They take a finish line photo. Or at least that's what it says in the email update.

The email update also says spectators will have an area to sit and watch, and they'll be able to take pixs. So maybe I'll ask Bonnie to come along. They even gave us coupons for Red Robin. I think that's funny. A burger joint and exercise in one package!

Avon update:
Beth made reservations this week for the host hotel. So we'll be right in Times Square. That will be cool. I'm working to get our team established.

Achey feet update:
One of the reasons my feet hurt so much last weekend was an ingrown toenail. I got that taken care of Tuesday to the tune of $225.Wow what he pulled out was big. (And yes, I do support universal healthcare. If they don't give us that then there should be two-tier pricing one for us cash payers and one for the insured. I too realize that hell will freeze over before either happens.)

Pedometer tales

In 1989, while we were both working regular 9-5 jobs my neighbor (and now friend) Mary Liz walked every morning about 3.5 miles up some steep hills in Fountain Hill at 6 am in the morning. Slowly our jobs became more irregular (ML also had a few back and foot surgeries), our lives changed and we've aged. We have settled in on four days a week schedule at 6:30 am. The route is much easier, but still aerobic. Occasionally ML has some trouble completing the "easy" 2.25-mile route and needs to stop. Soon I think she'll stop walking totally. But I know that she'll fight it all the way. My sister Sharon is now joining us on occasional walks.

The walks with ML began quite serendipitously. I was trying to lose weight and went on a crazy exercise program that no person could continue. I walked, did Calenetics, water aerobics, machines, and Jazzercise. I lost 80 lbs and gained it all back and then some. ML was also walking. We'd run into each other and started start walking together. It evolved into a great habit. We get to complain about our families and our jobs, and celebrate the good things in life. (Mobile therapy is a lot cheaper than the kind on a couch.) And found a good friend.

High blood pressure motivated me into taking walking more seriously. I discovered the 10,000 steps a day plan and attacked it with gusto. I bought my first pedometer. I wrote down every step. I broke it in a few months and bought another exactly like it. It fell on the floor, in the toilet, it was stepped on and pretty much suffered any other abuse you could throw at it. (It reminded me of the classic Timex commercial. "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.") I signed up, trained for and did the 3-Day. My pedometer became part of me.

In April it was announced that we were having a pedometer challenge at work. Come get your pedometers. I put old faithful aside and got one of the official ones. The clip broke in a few weeks. I went back to old faithful.

I've taken two big falls on training walks. The last one killed old faithful. A pedometer can only take so much.

I went to Dicks Sporting Goods that afternoon to get another. The pedometer challenge was looming, and I want the $100 prize for my fundraising account. I had it one day and lost it. It kept popping off. I knew I did eight-miles that day, I mowed a lawn, plus daily walking and errand running. I guestimated my steps for the pedometer challenge.

The next day Pat said she looked in the neighbors yard for the old pedometer. So I bought another one at Target after work. Yes, the fourth pedometer in as many months.

Last night, my neighbor paid me for mowing the lawn (it goes in the fundraising account.) She said, did you lose your Bluetooth?

No.

Hmm. I found this in the yard.

It was the lost pedometer.