day 9 of 18

Today it rained. I never made it down to Spring Garden street. But I did walk a bit. Again, probably not more than a mile.

I was really late with creating my Christmas gifts and I was pretty sure the on-campus copy shop wouldn't be able to do it. But they did. A Christmas miracle. I had to walk over and pick them up, then I took the scenic route back to campus. At that point it was only drizzling.

That little walk in the drizzle was the highlight of my day to that point. Helping Angel's family decorate the tree was the only other highlight.

Since I am done with both classes I don't need to be in class tonight so I decided to update my walking trackers. I last did it on NOVEMBER 16. I am more than a month behind. When I went to my FitBit page to get my totals I saw how poor my numbers were for the last 6 weeks.

1 day under 5K
16 days under 7.5K
16 days over 10K
8 days over 12.5K
and only 1 day above 15K

Youza. That hurts. The bulk of my days were between 7.5 and 10K.

Tomorrow I will be walking down to the Comfort Suites and over to the Hotel Bethlehem to deliver Volkssport cookie thank-yous.

my old fitbit has a new home

Everyone knows how I love to recycle, repurpose, reuse. I call it being environmentally responsible. Others call it cheap. Still others say the acorn didn't fall far from the tree.

As you know from a previous post, I left my Fit Bit in Pennsylvania before my walking vacation. So as an impulse I went to radio Shack and bought a new one (see, I'm not cheap!). Because I had my laptop, I didn't sync it. It turned out to be a wasted purchase because none of the data saved. Oh well. I've always wanted this model.

Bonnie has one. Megan has one. So I decided to give this one to Lydia. I ordered her the green case. Nothing I can do about it being pink. She downloaded the program to her laptop, and her phone. We personalized it. We set her initial goal to 6000 steps a day. We'll slowly take that up to 10K. And maybe higher. I've just set mine at 12,500. Heaven help me.

She started using it about noon, so today will be a wash. Tomorrow, we'll see how it goes. Hope she remembers to put it on!

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.

athlinks.com

If you go online to the above website it will show you every race you've done. It tracks your time and the location. You can watch yourself get older, or slower, or better yet faster.

My list begins in 2009 and is far from complete. I think it has to do with timing chips and maybe who organizes the race. The Race Against Racism doesn't show up. I think it's because it a mom & pop type race. We're lucky they have a clock.

I love that it lists me as a runner (because I've crashed a few run-only events), a RACE-walker, Trail Runner and Triathlete. That mini-tri I did this winter was not a Triathlon.

Speaking of R@R this year it's on my Brother Dave's birthday—June 28. I've signed up.

Today is the Phillipsburg Relay for Life. Yep, it's that time of the year to walk in circles.  But this year I'm just doing 3 or 4 miles and coming home. The things you do for your friends ...

the 165 mile challenge is back!

I received an email today. The 165 mile challenge is back. This year it runs from May 1 to Nov. 1. I'll start this challenge off with the 32 mile "Great Saunter".

Here's the email for those who might want to register. They are being very vague about prizes. Actually it says Prize. Singular. Last year we received 5. Bet they won't be plentiful like last year. I, of course, will reach the 500 mark. No problem. (Now I have to do it. I put it in writing.

Dear Tail on the Trail Participant,

Our Spring 2014 Challenge is here! This Thursday, May 1, our NEW 165 Mile Spring Challenge begins.

The six month challenge will begin May 1 and end November 2, 2014. Get outdoors, get active and explore nature by walking, running or biking the D&L Trail — 165 total miles of natural beauty in your own backyard! We encourage you to walk, run or bike the 165 miles on the D&L Trail but the goal is to get healthy along the way — however you decide to achieve it.

Sound familiar? It is. For completing the 165 Mile Challenge all participants will receive a prize. However — this year we are offering a Super Challenge! Double (330) or Triple (495) your miles and earn extra prizes!

There is no registration process for all participants already enrolled in our Tail on the Trail program. Simply begin tracking your miles on May 1 via our Trail Tracker and join us for our special events throughout the season.

We listened to your feedback from last year's challenge and have upgraded our website. Beginning May 1, the "Other" option listed on the Trail Tracker has been enhanced so our participants can enter non-D&L trail locations they are using to track their miles. In addition, this year we have added a family registration feature where a parent will be able to register and track miles for their minor children.

All details about our Spring Challenge and our 2014 Event Schedule can be found on our website: www.tailonthetrail.org.

Now, where is the 2014 Passport For Fitness?

my 2013 fitbit report

I use a FitBit tracker to track my steps. Best. Pedometer. Ever.

Every week they send me my report. I can also look online. Weekends are high. Workdays sometimes very low. I've been using it since January of last year. The year end report is fun. So I thought I'd share it.

I bet I would have made it to 2000 if I didn't have interruptions. There was three. A week were it was wonky and they sent me a new one. A couple days when the battery was dead. And when I lost it in Collegeville at a Volkssport walk.

collegeville, boyscouts, and a lost fitbit.

Today was the Collegeville group walk with the Liberty Bell Wanderers. Right off the bat we went the wrong way. They car turned onto the turnpike. I wanted to take 663. But Bonnie's map reading skills came in handy once again and we got there almost on time.

But we couldn't find anyone.

 The instructions said at "Rednor's, between Sears Hardware and Wendy's". Couldn't find anyone outside. Didn't see anyone inside. Bonnie finally recognized someone. They were indeed inside, but oddly hidden at the end of the checkouts near the potties.

We didn't have our books, and needed to get insert cards. Our books have been on a wild adventure. I'm starting to think that I will need to start over.

Two, maybe three,  weeks ago we did the two walks in central Pennsylvania.  The checkpoint was closed. I arranged with the Susquehanna Rovers to mail the books, they'd stamp them and return them. Problem is the books haven't arrived. Bonnie and I decided to do the prepaid envelope— "Priority mail".

I mailed it Sunday after our walk at the LV post office. I figured it would be there Tuesday, Maybe Wednesday, and be back Friday, maybe today. Instead it's been bouncing all over eastern Pennsylvania. Clearly there is something wrong with the address. Why don't they just return it? It left the LV went to Harrisburg, back to LV, then to Philly and has been sitting in Harrisburg since 4:43 am on Friday. That little "i" button says it's being delivered. It arrived at 4 am. It should have been delivered yesterday. Nothing. Today. Still nothing. What the hell is it doing?

Up to this point I was a big cheerleader for the post office. Now they are on my shit list. I'm angry. Just return my damn letter and I'll drive it to Harrisburg. Clearly, I should have done that initially.

I digress. Rant over. Back to the walk.

We left the store and headed to the Perkiomen Trail. We walked thru town, and then headed to Ursinus College. It's a really nice campus.

Phil and Murial Berman have a art museum there, and the campus is littered with sculpture. I took some time to check out what this girl was reading, and kept those boy's away from her.

We left campus, and walked a good distance up Main street and into the modern 'burbs, then the 70s 'burbs, then into the old money neighborhoods, and back to town.  At the community park Bonnie and I waited for the others and swung on the swings.

It was dreary when we started, but by the time we finished it was bright and sunny.

We stopped at the car for water and purses, and I discovered my FitBit was gone. I hoped that it was at home. (It wasn't. It's gone. Devastated.)

We decided to head to Wendy's for salads, and noticed almost everyone going in the pizza place. We ended up eating with the other Volkssporters.

Then we headed to Redner's and the cub scouts were selling popcorn. We picked what we wanted, tormented children by making them do the math instead of using the calculator ("You must be a teacher.") and then realized we didn't have enough money. So the boys put the items aside, we shopped, got money and picked the stuff up. The roomie was very happy when we got home.

Tomorrow we'll do the Palmer Rail Trail.

a gem hiding under the susquehanna street bridge

Bonnie has lived in south Allentown for 35 years and was never in this park. In fact, she was clueless that it was there. Gotta love the park system. A sign would be helpful. (For those of you who know the area, this park is not Trout Creek Park that runs from the bridge to 8th street.)

Two weeks ago we saw the trail from the Susquehanna Street bridge. Today, we went to see where it goes. It meanders thru a lovely park with wide fields and a creek to about Auburn Street. There, there is a little parking lot, and a set of baby swings. (There was also a disgusting port-o-potty, but yesterday was the 4th of July.) The park reminded me of Cedar Beach in many ways. But it was only about a half mile long. It is much nicer than Trout Creek park. Bet it isn't used as hard because it is so hidden.

Below is some of the graffiti we found in the park.

 "I tried to drown my sorrows, but the little bastards learned how to swim—Frida" Clearly Frida wrote everything in the part. Except for these lovely words of wisdom. There was very little graffiti.

 "Art is what you make it."

 "Love the life you live. Live the life you love."

After leaving the park with no name, we headed down Auburn to the valley, and back up the hill to 7th Street to avoid the bridge traffic at 8th. It was, after all, the beginning of rush hour. That road ended and we headed over to eighth. Lucky for us it was pretty shady. Then we went down the hill to Trout Creek Park and back to the car. After a water break, Bonnie checked her watch and we had only gone two miles. What? We were soaked with sweat! (Top pix.) So returned to the found park, and did the trail...again. Total mileage—a hair over three.

I'm scheduled to do three more miles with Betsy at one.

Tomorrow, we'll be back on the D&L. Eight miles Saturday, six miles Sunday. Or vice versa. On the Tail on the Trail challenge Bonnie leads the pack at 120+ miles, Lydia at 88+ miles, and me at 78. Hopefully over the weekend I make up some time on the Walk Around the World. Haven't walked at lunch time. It's so hot, I'd need a shower when I came back!

Update 6 pm

Betsy and I didn't go at one. We are going at 7:30. Hopefully cashing in on the sun being lower and it getting dark. It won't help the humidity, but what can we do. I had wanted to go to First Friday to see the banana car, but oh well.  (Sharon had seen it once at Ahart's. They stopped for groceries.) Alas, my July 30 doctors appointment is looming and I have 5 pounds to lose before going. Not to mention a world to walk around, and a canal path to navigate.

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.

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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.

apparently there are no original ideas

I thought that my Walk around the world was a unique spein on the virtual walks. Today I discovered otherwise.

One of the groups I belong to on Facebook is virtual runs. They are very into medals. And like most races are for charity. But I'm not into conspicuous consumption at all. I give away the bulk of the t-shirts I get at races. I really don't want, or need metal. Especially one that is 7 inches! I was going to delete them, and then I thought no, this would be a great place to share the walk around the world. Now I'm not so sure.

Today I clicked on a link to Fit For Life.  It said they had a variety of virtual runs. Nothing interesting came up, but there was a button for "challenges". I clicked it. And there it was Shoot for the Moon. "Our goal in 2013 is walk, run, hike, swim, bike, crawl, row or dance our way to the moon. All 238,900 miles! This is a group challenge where every single challengers miles count towards our overall totals. Our goal is to reach the moon on or before December 31, 2013."

Crap.

It's not exactly the same. Now mine is a solo project. This is a group project. They are collecting miles, I'm collecting minutes. But it's very similar. I am so disappointed.

Maybe I'll post mine anyway. Maybe there's someone out there who likes a challenge, is cheap, and doesn't want a medal.

Today, Betsy, Bob and I walked thru her neighborhood.

Tomorrow is the Dirty Girl and Sunday for Lung Cancer.

a new challenge

I'd miss so much if I didn't read the newspaper. I'm too lazy to log on to my FREE digital subscription, and have no desire to search for bad news. The ore me go digitial, the more ignorant I will become.

In today's paper was a photo of children walking. It got my attention. The caption said it was BASD school children kicking off a new walking challenge—Get Your Tail On The Trail. That got my attention!

From the website: "It doesn’t matter if you are fifteen or eighty five, physically-fit or a self-proclaimed couch potato, this challenge is for everyone. Get outdoors, get active and explore nature by walking, running or biking the D&L Trail, 165 total miles of natural beauty in our own backyard." I've always wanted to do this, and the AT. So this is the perfect time to start. I have 6 months to finish. Like all these programs you logo you miles via the Trail Tracker and receive free prizes as you achieve your milestone goals.

Just signing up allows the mail carrier to bring you goodies! Travel water bottle, drawstring backpack, flyer with list of key events, information on how to track your miles, D&L Trail Map and of course, St. Luke’s Live Your Life Program Information. The hospital is a major sponsor. Apparently they want people to get healthy so they don't have any customers! That would stop the expansion plans...

Reach your 50 Mile Goal and receive a Get Your Tail on the Trail t-shirt. Reach your 100 Mile Goal and receive a Get Your Tail on the Trail hat. Reach your 150 Mile Goal and receive a Get Your Tail on the Trail cooler. Reach your 165 Mile Challenge Achievement Award and receive a Get Your Tail on the Trail fleece jacket and 165 Mile Challenge car window magnet.

I think this is doable. We'll be training for the half marathon so we'll need distance and space. I don't think you have to do the whole trail, but I'd be game. We've got many sections covered. Kathy has a section of the trail in Mauch Chunk, Angel in Easton, Bonnie in A'town and Catty, Lyd's in Northampton,  Dawn in the slate Belt, and me in the Christmas City.

I signed up today, but the tracker isn't active yet. They better get it working soon. Schools almost over, and I can start serious walking. I have this, the Passport to Fitness, the Walk This Way program. I can kick some walking but this summer. Not to mention my walk around the world. I might post that on the virtual run Facebook page.


Speaking about milestones, I hit the 500 mile mark on my Fit Bit Tracker a couple days ago.

Saturday is the Dirty Girl mud 5K is Saturday in Scranton. Tatalicious is down two members—Bonnie and Lydia. Kathy, Dawn, Bonnie, Lydia and I are still going to get mighty dirty. It benefits breast cancer research.

Sunday is the Lung Assn. Walk For Life at Rodale Fitness Park in Trexlertown. Not sure if we are doing that or one of the Passport walks.

reached gold!

I reached the gold level today in the Presidential Challenge. One or two days short of the one year mark. I don't know what happens now. Does it just continue and allow me to move on to the platinum. Or does it start over at zero? I have no idea. I guess we'll see on Monday.

I have moved thru four ranks in the year.

• Lifestyle Achievement on May 25 (24,000 points, I think)
• Bronze on July 24 (40,000 points)
• Silver on Nov. 7 (90,000 points)
• Gold, finally on April 13 (160,000 points)

If the challenge continues with the old points, my next rank, platinum,  is 1 MILLION points. At my current rate it will take SIX YEARS to reach that goal. Will I do it? Hope so. But you'll have to check back in 2019. I still have 839,690 points to go!

arrived in email

we found David!

Clearly Dave was hiding in Nome. Maybe avoiding me? Rechecking the finisher's roster, he arrived before his wife Barb! Easter sunrise services in "Nome" were lovely and now we're all headed home. The sensible people are flying. I've rented a car to drive home.  Sharon's coming with me. She's aching for a road trip.

After weeks of snowshoes in Alaska, I don't know how I will adjust to spring in Pennsylvania. But all good things must come to an end.

All the "scoobies" have been found and accounted for. Here's how we fared in the standings:

59 – me. I've spent my waiting time snowshoeing. Haven't lost an ounce.
102—Adonis (and Lydia). Clearly Adonis was walking with Carol (aka Bobodancer) from the Liberty Bell Wanderers. Carol came in 105. Does it count that they walked back to Anchorage?
429—Dave. He did a good job of hiding. Nome is not that big!
435—Sharon. She's still sleeping. Exhausted from the walk. "Never again" she says.
461—Barb H. Didn't see her much. Maybe she was hiding with Dave part of the time?
518—Megan. She "flew" right back to Louisville to train for a Half-Marathon and stopped logging miles. Why she didn't want to train in the snow and the cold is beyond me.
634—Bonnie came in 634.  She was not last.

The dog sleds have left. The walkers are leaving. Pretty soon Nome will return to a quiet sleepy town in Alaska. Hopefully the Boy Scouts raised a lot of money for their camp. 

impossible!

Tomorrow the Iditawalk ends. Barb has arrived without Dave! And we haven't heard from Bonnie in awhile. I think we need to send out a search party.

I just checked the finishers rosters to see who is in first place and I'm astonished. How do they do it?

The top finisher has logged 23,658 minutes in two months. That is my goal for the round the world "trip". Divided by 58 days (Feb. 1 to March 30) that is 408 minutes a day—over 6-3/4 hours a day! Every day. For two months.

The next couple has 19,377 or 5-3/4 hours a day.

When do they work? Are they retired or training for the 3-Day? But even training for marathons and the 3-Day you only do one mega walk a week, and take at least two days off to rest your body and prevent injuries.

Oddly the one person that I do know that is walking cross country is in 7th place walking 3-4 hours a day and logging 12,385 minutes.

I hope Dave and Bonnie get here soon. Easter dawn service in "Nome" might be cool. Hope they don't miss it.

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Update!  (2:37 pm Nome time)

Bonnie has "arrived" in Nome. Looks like we'll have company for Easter services. We have a choice between Baptist, Morman, Catholic, Nazarene, Evangelical, Lutheran and Methodist. (I've had a lot of time on my hands. Not much to do in Nome other than snowshoe.) The Methodist church appears to have a large native Alaskan congregation. The sunrise services begins at 8. The sun rises at 8:20. The Lutheran church doesn't begin their services until noon. Clearly we'll be Methodist for the day.

Update!  4/1 
Dave has been hiding in plain site all along.

bunnies!

Our Friday walks thru Betsy's sub-division often net holiday decorations. Today we found bunnies. And from the extension cords they light up! Their nest of eggs is a little beaten from the wind and the storm but still cute. This is the same house that had the "lucky" reindeer at Easter-time.

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The "Walk" to Jerusalem is over. Wednesday we received word that we "reached" Israel, and Father John sent us an itinerary for while we were there. The religious among us will be very busy Holy Week. On Friday afternoon they are all meeting for real in Lehighton, and walking the last mile to the crucifixion. Since I'm on duty at the homeless shelter at 5:30, I won't be going. It would have been nice to meet Father John. He's quite the humorous writer.

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My persistent sore muscle in my upper leg butt is getting to be a pain in the butt. Looking at an anatomy chart online, it is not the hamstring or the glutes as my minimal science thought. I'd say it's the biceps femoris or the adductor magnus. Sadly, that and a $1.50 will get me a cup of coffee. That particular body part shows up on none of the walking websites. Clearly it's because I'm stressing it out with my weight. Doctors, x-rays, CT scans, MRIs are all out. They are expensive. No insurance, remember? Friends have suggested massage (about $100) or a chiropractor first. I'm considering it.

another long walk

Since Lydia is still a sick-o-gal, we canned the 3.5 planned walk and made it longer. What were we thinking?

After Lyd called I was still planning on doing the 3.5 thru fountain Hill and south Bethlehem. But remember the stop at the outlet mall yesterday? Bonnie walks in and says "we're going to the Sands!"  And holds up her credit card and coupons.

Now a normal person would have changed the route, but noooo, not me. I just tacked it on the end. Really Gayle. Do you have no common sense? A long walk is followed by a short one. Your body needs time to recoop. Right? Right.

So off we went. Out Itaska, then Cherry and Sioux. If Lyd would have been with use we would have gone down Lechauweki and out Stanley Ave. Probably with a stop at the swings. But no, macho girl needs to walk up the Dodson Street hill to Graham, and down Graham Street. Then it was out Jeter to Clewell, cross Delaware and out Seneca past the old house.

Once we reached Fourth, we headed down the hill, out Graham Place, to New and out Third Street to Sands Boulevard.

Then we shopped. Bonnie spent enough to get a free tote bag, so we had the clerk take it out of the plastic bag, and put her purchases in it. Then we took turns carrying home. Dig out your teal and peach. Those are the hot colors for spring.

We left the outlet mall, walked around the casino, and crossed Daly to the skateboard park. It had lots of boys using it. Bonnie took some pixs, but this one was the best. Getting moving pictures is hard.

We took the Greenway back to Fourth, then Broadway, then wove our way up the hill and home.

Total mileage = seven.

Lydia, I'm sure, is happy she didn't come along. I was whining a bit at the end. Than goodness I didn't have to take Adonis for a walk.

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Update on Nome virtual walk:
Arrivals—Gayle, Lydia and Adonis, Sharon, and Megan. Bonnie, Dave and Barb are still on the trail. I heard something about a whiteout slowing them down. I know for sure Bonnie is playing with the dogs. Lydia only stayed in Nome one night, and returned to Anchorage. They are almost back.

Update on Jerusalem virtual walk: 
The last update from Father John had us making land in Morocco around Wednesday. It should be no problem getting to Jerusalem in time for Good Friday.

Update on Dave Brown's Cross Country Trip:
He's past Baltimore in Cooksville, Md. Wish I would have ordered a shirt. When the Liberty Bell Wanderers sent out the order there was no pix so I didn't order. Now I've seen them in photos and I'm sorry I didn't get one. Cute logo.

Logo decision:
With a whopping three votes, the winning logo is "Vitrual Walk Around The World."

whatcha think?

Which one or none? For my round the world "trip".

Also thinking about doing this walk around Manhattan. It's the same distance as the One Day.

really walking the walk

I've walked to Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the middle east, Nome, and come July 1, around the world. When I was training for the 3-Day, I almost made past Nashville, and the next year almost made it to Des Moines. But I really haven't walked anywhere. It's was just virtual tracking. Mile for mile or minute for mile...how the crow flies.

Dave Brown (in safety green) is a member of the Liberty Bell Wanderers, the Volkssport group I belong to. He set-off yesterday on a eight-month journey from Atlantic City to San Francisco to raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer Research, in memory of his wife Joan. Real walking. 14-miles a day. It takes a lot of planning, fund-raising, walking and coordination.

I really had wanted to go to AC yesterday with the rest of the group and walk that first 14 mile leg. But I had two jobs yesterday so it wasn't possible.

God speed Dave. Safe journey. Raise that $110K and kick cancer's butt.

If you want to follow Dave's journey, here's the blog or follow him on FB. All the hash tags in the FB posts (#) make me think there is a twitter feed, but I didn't see any. Also there's this interview on Fox. (I borrowed the photo from the blog.)

Me, I haven't even done much walking this week. I'm barely getting 8K steps in a day. I'm in full up-to-my-ears in grading and other commitments time. Today I did a long walk with Betsy and have finally cracked the 10K barrier, but I won't make 15K.

However, it's now the "month that shall not be names" and Bonnie begins training for her mini this weekend, so that mileage should start piling up. Now that it's getting light earlier, and staying light longer, I'll also be able to go back to my first thing in the am walks. So much better. Do it and done. No excuses.

No walks for me Saturday, though. I have an all day GS event, and then I'm driving friends to the airport.

The St. Patrick's Day 5K is on the 17th. Hope I'm ready.

walking and bingo

Walking I love. Bingo, not so much. But it was for a good cause, near and dear to my late nephews heart. So we go. We even have a name—Jarrod's Jems. That boy was a lightening round for winning. Once we had to take all his stuff to the car at the intermission.

Sharon, Lyd and I met at my place, and came in one car.  We were to meet Bonnie at the Fearless Fire Company at 1:15, leave our car, and take the other one back to Bonnie's, and walk. Bingo started sharply at 3. Sounds great in theory, but with me along you know things won't go easy. And they didn't. I pre-bought our tickets and put them in a basket with my daubbers. Then I forgot the daubbers. So we lost a little walking time having to go back home. I stuffed the tickets in my pocket, and left the daubbers. Didn't want to carry them.

So we walked down Tioga into the wind for several blocks. Finally we turned and headed down to Emmaus Avenue, and cut back at the V. After walking a bit around that neighborhood, we headed to the cemetery, said hi to Jarrod, and went to the fearless. It was close to 3 miles. Considering a straight shot from Bonnie's is about a mile, we did pretty good.

Then at 6ish, when we got home, we took a very excited Adonis for a walk. He wouldn't go out for Pat at all, so he needed to go! Sadly it wasn't a fun walk. We met up with 4-5 other dogs. (Big A doesn't play well with others.)

Another week or so we start training for Bonnie's Derby Half Marathon. I think I'll plan loops so that marathoners are not subjected to 13 miles.

Bonnie only has about 300 minutes for the Iditawalk. Training for the half might get her to Nome before the snow melts.