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.

dirty girl...barefoot edition

Yesterday was the Dirty Girl mud race. I was so exhausted that I posted in my online class, I'd look at there work today. I didn't even do that through my sibling funerals.

I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up at 10:45. Clearly all I needed was a nap. It took until 1:30 to fall back to sleep. Oh well.

Team Tatalicious ended up being only Dawn, Lyd and I. Kathy was sick, Bonnie on the DL, and Amanda in the hospital.

We left Lydia's at 7:30 and arrived in Scranton around 9. Sign in and swag pickup was pretty easy. Though the tees ran small and I should have gotten a 2x. (It fits, but there is no room for shrinkage.)

We checked out the area, found the bag check and the rinsing station and headed to the start line.

We were in the 10 am group, but arrived just in time for the 9:45 group. And we're off.

It started easy. A few muddy spots. The walk thru tires. Then we reached the woods and the mud hazards got more extreme. First there were small creeks that I could almost step over. After a couple of those there was this bumpy triangle thing that you climbed up and over, then I slid on my butt down the other side.


The next water hazard was a large, wait high river of mud. There was also a line because you had to go thru it so carefully. Lydia fell in. I made it thru that one. But there was a series of them in this section and I lost my shoe. Found it, kept going and lost it again. This time I couldn't find it. I was down one shoe. And then I fell in, up to my neck.

The next water hazard I was down again, holding on to the caution tape. Lost another shoe. I am now barefoot. Well not quite. I had on the thinnest socks I own. Did pick nice cushy ones because I didn't want to get weighed down when they soaked up mud. Silly me.

The next section wasn't horrible. Still in the woods, I was careful where I walked. It was actually easier to navigate the mud barefoot, except when you couldn't see the bottom. Stones were slippery. I used the ropes to pull me up and down the hill.

Then the course moved to the parking lot. But not the nice paved lot, the auxillary lot with small stones. It hurt my feet but I kept pushing forward. A little at a time.

Lydia suggested I quit. I asked her how long she'd known me. Quitting was not an option, so I continued. I did all the obstacles, each time catching up to Lyd and Dawn as they were doing it. Each obstacles had a small line that moved quickly. You wove thru the parking lot from one end to another. Nothing was a straight line from A to B.

Eventually the trail took you up the mountainside and back into the woods. You came down backwards holding a rope. Then the final one was the funky monkey. A cargo net that you had to craw across to the other side. Lyd bailed on that one, but I did it. Then I couldn't figure out how to get off it. Didn't want to jump shoeless.

All along the way I had people help me so I wouldn't fall. One lady said I was a "tough bitch". Guess I am. Stubborn. Maybe stupid too.

Once was plenty for this type of race. I don't need to do it again.

fat girl, flying

Today was the day Lydia picked to do the zip flying adventure at Camelback mountain. Personally, I'd like to do the treetop course.

The original plan was Lyd and Bonnie were going to fly in this seat-like thing, and I was going to take pixs. But with Bonnie in the hospital, and no takers for the extra ticket, I had to do it.

I think Lyd enjoyed it. I didn't. But I didn't hate it either. Would I do it again? Hell no.

We checked in and took the shuttle bus to the top of the hill.The area marked lot is the parking lot. The end of the "ride" was just a little further.

First thing they do is weigh you. Heavier person goes on the right. (I was on the left!) Then they strap you into the seat thingy. The seat is held by a real, rather than novelty, carabiner. There's a gate in front of you that is locked. After you are strapped in they undo the carabiner and unlock the gate.

Leaving the gate is terrifying. There is no turning back. I screamed like a girl and had a death grip the whole time. The actual ride, might have been okay if I could relax, but I couldn't. The end was horrible.  The top pix is me coming in for my landing.

Then we headed to Bushkill Falls. I didn't remember so many rocky, steep, trails and steps! Online we read 1267—as much as the stair climbs we do. It was two miles, we did it in 2 hours.  Lots of water falls, both big and small. Lots of bridges and scenic overlooks. We worked up quite a sweat.

It's been quite an athletic weekend. School begins tomorrow. For me summer is over. I can't cross a single "to-do" off my list. Oh well.

My next challenge—the 10K on Labor Day.