One year ago I started walking to get healthy. I started at 296.6 with a 54 inch waist. Today 225.4 and a 37 inch waist. I admit I have fallen short of my goal of 100 lbs in a year but, I have enjoyed food this summer and managed to stay within 5 lbs at all times, so I at least know I can maintain it.
A year ago I did a Charity hike called Our Hike, I was one of the last three to finish and was hurting. This year I was one of the first four to finish and I had ran a 5k earlier that day.
Last year I joined a walking club called Dairyland Walkers, in the year I have walked almost every event of theirs. We (my wife also jointed) were some of the slower walkers when we started, now we are in the batsoutofhell club (its not supposed to be competitive but to those who know me know I don't understand how not to be competitive)
Last year walking a 26.2 mile marathon, forget about it. Proudly now done in under 8 hours and 20 minutes
Last year if there was a geocache that required tree climbing, my wife did it. Now I have done one (and after all the sap I got on me she can do them again)
Last year the idea of running a 5K would have been a joke to both me and my wife. I run 5Ks 3 times a week now and my wife will run her first in a day. Events like Warrior Dash would have been something that only foolish thin people did, we are looking forward to doing Warrior Dash in a few days.
If I look at all the distance I have walked and ran in the year I would have walked from home in Milwaukee to Santa Fe NM, that boggles my mind.
So what does the next year bring, I still want to get to 195. Starting in October I am starting to work on Couch Potato to 10K and if all goes right in early next year Couch Potato to 1/2 marathon. One of my goals is to run a 1/2 marathon in the next year (and a full marathon before July 2014 when I turn 50). Anybody want to run a half with me next year?
The person I was a year ago is long gone, and he I hope is never coming back. Taking a year to get healthy was one of the best decisions I have made in years. More work needs to be done , but I now know I can do it.
I put aside a hobby, geocaching, something we both enjoy in order to have the time to get fit, yes we miss the caching but once we get healthy we can always go back, just in much netter shape.
There are many people I owe thanks to those who have kept me motivated and maybe never even knowing it, like Dave of DeeJay for showing me a guy my age can do this. Or Anne for all her fitness challenges. The endless support of BQ, Drhass and all the caching community. To Kevin and Meg for starting their journey, we are rooting you two on. To all the friends we have not seen in months who didn't recognize us or had to do a double take. Dairyland Walkers for accepting us in and being supportive in our efforts. To Robin for having the first event I did and offering her support and showing me strength along the way, as long as their are "Our Hikes" I will be there.
And to my wife, she also has taken on this journey. She has pushed me when I thought I could not go any further. She supported me when I needed it and showed me an inner strength in both of us that I didn't know either of us had. To say I could not have done this without you is a monumental understatement. Thanks You
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Iowa and Cedarburg
The last weekend in March members of the Dairyland Walkers made a trip to Iowa to prewalk three off the AVA Convention walks. The walks in Rock Island/Davenport and Cedar Rapids our club is responsible for manning and the walk in Des Moines many of our members wanted to do since they would be working our booth at the convention that day (us we have to be back at work)
The first walk we did was Rock Island/Davenport which had its strong points and some weak ones. Rock Island is a city that just looks rough, old and tired but I assume that they added the area in so that we could cross the Mississippi (twice). First thought on this, the second crossing was part of the Americas Discovery Trail, a trail that goes from Delaware to California (I think this is the first I stepped foot on it). Second thought, crossing the river was bitter. We liked the Davenport side much better, having been in this are before I hoped the walk would go up by the Putnam Museum, but didnt. It did however go on the skywalk by the casino, in theory this sound nice (and the cache is still in the skywalk) but several hundred people going into this taking the elevator up will cause this to become a choke point. Walked by the Davenport Minor League Stadium which looked real nice, and along the downtown area.
From here we headed to Cedar Rapids, starting by their Minor League Stadium. This walk went thru some areas that were severally damaged by floods in 2008 and you could see it in some neighborhoods. The path took us thru their Czech neighborhoods and onto a River Walk that had a Czech Museum and an African American History Museum. In front of the later was a unique sculpture called Trumpet dedicated to Dr. King with some of the words from his "I Had a Dream" speech. Once off the trail the course took us thru some more residential neighborhoods and into a very ritzy neighborhood that include a historical mansion of one of the city's founders.
Sunday we found our way to Des Moines. The first thing I thought was a little odd is they have a Papa John education center. As we are walking we come to some sculptures that we donate by the found of Papa John and his spouse, well I understand art is abstract and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but really a 12 foot tall, red garden spade. The walk goes up to and onto the grounds of the Governors mansion and thru many of the streets around the governors mansion, most of which are cobblestone and the streets are very hilly making for tough walking. Finally we ended up back downtown after a long 12.75K walk
I can say that Cedar Rapids and Des Moines impressed me, not ever being to either one before the came off as friendly, inviting and seemed like a nice place to visit.
This last weekend we did the clubs Cedarburg walk, with a little twist, we invited friends along. For most of those who came with us the idea of walking a 10K may have seemed a little much, but I have a lot of respect for everybody as they all finished it. Some had some medical issues that prevented them form walking quickly or comfortably but they pushed thru. Kevin and Megan are who we originally challenged and I have to say they did better than I expected, but they have taken their lifestyle changes seriously and have really changed. When I first met Kevin this 10K would have kick his butt, not now. The both of you two continue to impress me.
As for me I saw some new milestones this last week, the 240's are gone and I am getting very close to 60 pounds down, my wife continues to loose at a faster pace than me. Other than one point when I got very ill I think this is the smallest we have both been during our nearly 17 year marriage, its kind of like having a different woman, but in a very good way.
I also eclipsed 900,000 steps walked in this journey. I figure roughly May 14 for 1 million and figure to get to the weight I want to be I am a little over 1/2 of the 1.75 million steps I am thinking I need to go.
Anybody want to go for a walk?
The first walk we did was Rock Island/Davenport which had its strong points and some weak ones. Rock Island is a city that just looks rough, old and tired but I assume that they added the area in so that we could cross the Mississippi (twice). First thought on this, the second crossing was part of the Americas Discovery Trail, a trail that goes from Delaware to California (I think this is the first I stepped foot on it). Second thought, crossing the river was bitter. We liked the Davenport side much better, having been in this are before I hoped the walk would go up by the Putnam Museum, but didnt. It did however go on the skywalk by the casino, in theory this sound nice (and the cache is still in the skywalk) but several hundred people going into this taking the elevator up will cause this to become a choke point. Walked by the Davenport Minor League Stadium which looked real nice, and along the downtown area.
From here we headed to Cedar Rapids, starting by their Minor League Stadium. This walk went thru some areas that were severally damaged by floods in 2008 and you could see it in some neighborhoods. The path took us thru their Czech neighborhoods and onto a River Walk that had a Czech Museum and an African American History Museum. In front of the later was a unique sculpture called Trumpet dedicated to Dr. King with some of the words from his "I Had a Dream" speech. Once off the trail the course took us thru some more residential neighborhoods and into a very ritzy neighborhood that include a historical mansion of one of the city's founders.
Sunday we found our way to Des Moines. The first thing I thought was a little odd is they have a Papa John education center. As we are walking we come to some sculptures that we donate by the found of Papa John and his spouse, well I understand art is abstract and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but really a 12 foot tall, red garden spade. The walk goes up to and onto the grounds of the Governors mansion and thru many of the streets around the governors mansion, most of which are cobblestone and the streets are very hilly making for tough walking. Finally we ended up back downtown after a long 12.75K walk
I can say that Cedar Rapids and Des Moines impressed me, not ever being to either one before the came off as friendly, inviting and seemed like a nice place to visit.
This last weekend we did the clubs Cedarburg walk, with a little twist, we invited friends along. For most of those who came with us the idea of walking a 10K may have seemed a little much, but I have a lot of respect for everybody as they all finished it. Some had some medical issues that prevented them form walking quickly or comfortably but they pushed thru. Kevin and Megan are who we originally challenged and I have to say they did better than I expected, but they have taken their lifestyle changes seriously and have really changed. When I first met Kevin this 10K would have kick his butt, not now. The both of you two continue to impress me.
As for me I saw some new milestones this last week, the 240's are gone and I am getting very close to 60 pounds down, my wife continues to loose at a faster pace than me. Other than one point when I got very ill I think this is the smallest we have both been during our nearly 17 year marriage, its kind of like having a different woman, but in a very good way.
I also eclipsed 900,000 steps walked in this journey. I figure roughly May 14 for 1 million and figure to get to the weight I want to be I am a little over 1/2 of the 1.75 million steps I am thinking I need to go.
Anybody want to go for a walk?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Been a long time..but still going strong
Although it has been a long time between posts I am still out there trying. Though there has been an albatross that has been on my back for quite sometime, namely the 250lb mark.
We ended the year with a candlelight walk at Fort Snelling State Park. This walk was sponsored by the North Star Trail Trekkers, which like Dairyland Walkers is a AVA club, but they are out of Minnesota.
Then in January we did a Dairyland Walkers walk in Middleton and did their walk at the West Towne Mall, along with walks in Frankfort and Geneva Illinois, and snowshoed at Lapham Peak State Park
February bought us walks in Coldwater, MI, and the campus at Norte Dame (South Bend, IN) and a 5k Run/walk in Green Bay sponsored by Seroogy's which according to our timing chip we completed in under 50 minutes (walking). Thanks to Robin for alerting us to this one, to bad your experience was not the same as ours. And finally back to Minnesota for a snowshoe event (we hiked due to not enough snow) at the William O'brien State Park near Scandia MN.
Some thanks to put out there, to Anne and her fit club. You kicked me in the a$$ when I needed it and stated to get me going again. Kevin and Megan for starting there journey and helping me remember mine. Hope to see you April 2 for your first 10K.
And always to my wife, who has now started her journey past 60lbs lost.
Somethings I remember saying I could not do. Run a mile, done and doing it pretty regularly. Run a 5K, done for the first time in 30 years this weekend (maybe awhile before I do that one again). Get under 250, done (finally). Loose 50lbs, ok did that to. I started at 296 and now at 245, I am 1/2 to my goal. It certainly feels good. My goal is to now be at goal by the time of the West Bend Cache Bash in August
We ended the year with a candlelight walk at Fort Snelling State Park. This walk was sponsored by the North Star Trail Trekkers, which like Dairyland Walkers is a AVA club, but they are out of Minnesota.
Then in January we did a Dairyland Walkers walk in Middleton and did their walk at the West Towne Mall, along with walks in Frankfort and Geneva Illinois, and snowshoed at Lapham Peak State Park
February bought us walks in Coldwater, MI, and the campus at Norte Dame (South Bend, IN) and a 5k Run/walk in Green Bay sponsored by Seroogy's which according to our timing chip we completed in under 50 minutes (walking). Thanks to Robin for alerting us to this one, to bad your experience was not the same as ours. And finally back to Minnesota for a snowshoe event (we hiked due to not enough snow) at the William O'brien State Park near Scandia MN.
Some thanks to put out there, to Anne and her fit club. You kicked me in the a$$ when I needed it and stated to get me going again. Kevin and Megan for starting there journey and helping me remember mine. Hope to see you April 2 for your first 10K.
And always to my wife, who has now started her journey past 60lbs lost.
Somethings I remember saying I could not do. Run a mile, done and doing it pretty regularly. Run a 5K, done for the first time in 30 years this weekend (maybe awhile before I do that one again). Get under 250, done (finally). Loose 50lbs, ok did that to. I started at 296 and now at 245, I am 1/2 to my goal. It certainly feels good. My goal is to now be at goal by the time of the West Bend Cache Bash in August
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Year in Review
I figure with one hike left to go in 2010 this is a good a time as any to review where I was when I started this adventure and where I will be when 2010 is finished.
When I started walking on Sept 11 I hate to admit I was at 296lbs and a whopping 52 inch waist (or should that be waste). Today 263 and a 42 inch waist. I am hoping to get to 195 and a 32 inch waist in 2011.
The first seriously long walk I did was 7.5 miles and the thought scared me with the thought can I even walk that far (I could) and now I am looking at walks of 18 miles in May and a full 26.2 mile Walk A Thon in June. These don't scare me as we have walked 20K (a little less than 1/2 marathon) in a day on back to back days. So with some training I know I can do it.
Have signed up for something that does scare me a little a running event (sort of) called the Warrior Dash in September. It a 5K run with some insane obstacles to do en route. Two things about this that scare me are can I even run 5K (at least I got 9 months to train) and with my impaired balance how much harder will the obstacles be for me. Regardless I will get by them.
I have discovered how uncomfortable foot injuries can be, but have learned to keep pushing.
Went on a vacation to do some serious caching, weather ruined that plan so we hiked. 110K in 7 days.
I have discovered my wife is a much stronger person than I thought and give her a ton of credit for all her resolve to continue on her journey and keep inspiring me to do better.
Since that first walk-482,391 steps taken, 263.7 miles walked 39,021 calories burned. Total time walked in that period is over three days.
I know some people will go but you have wasted three days of your life, and those people will never get it (I know I was one of them). Yes I may have spent three days but how much time did I add to my life by doing this? My knees that always bothered me, seldom hurt. The reduced stress on the heart and other organs all help. Even if I stop here I have added to my life, only thing is I am not stopping.
I am not sure what size I was when my wife and I married almost 17 years ago, but I know it had to be at least 230, I want to get to a point I am smaller and healthier than she has ever known me.
Finally a sincere and honest thank you to those who inspire me. Some realize it, some don't..but to name a few Robin, Roxy, Anne, Gwyn (you got Warrior Dash in my wife's head), the folks at Dairyland Walkers and many more.
A equally important group that deserves the same thanks are those who spur me on with kind words to my post, some of who have been named above, but Donna, Steve, Mary, Deb, Val and Co Workers who have offered kind words. And of course family
THANK YOU ALL!! I can't do this alone, no man is an island. And I hope that if anybody reading this is inspired to take there first steps towards this type of life style change if you need help or somebody to offer support, even if you decide to try walking a 10K and you need somebody to carry your water, let me know. I intend to pay it forward
When I started walking on Sept 11 I hate to admit I was at 296lbs and a whopping 52 inch waist (or should that be waste). Today 263 and a 42 inch waist. I am hoping to get to 195 and a 32 inch waist in 2011.
The first seriously long walk I did was 7.5 miles and the thought scared me with the thought can I even walk that far (I could) and now I am looking at walks of 18 miles in May and a full 26.2 mile Walk A Thon in June. These don't scare me as we have walked 20K (a little less than 1/2 marathon) in a day on back to back days. So with some training I know I can do it.
Have signed up for something that does scare me a little a running event (sort of) called the Warrior Dash in September. It a 5K run with some insane obstacles to do en route. Two things about this that scare me are can I even run 5K (at least I got 9 months to train) and with my impaired balance how much harder will the obstacles be for me. Regardless I will get by them.
I have discovered how uncomfortable foot injuries can be, but have learned to keep pushing.
Went on a vacation to do some serious caching, weather ruined that plan so we hiked. 110K in 7 days.
I have discovered my wife is a much stronger person than I thought and give her a ton of credit for all her resolve to continue on her journey and keep inspiring me to do better.
Since that first walk-482,391 steps taken, 263.7 miles walked 39,021 calories burned. Total time walked in that period is over three days.
I know some people will go but you have wasted three days of your life, and those people will never get it (I know I was one of them). Yes I may have spent three days but how much time did I add to my life by doing this? My knees that always bothered me, seldom hurt. The reduced stress on the heart and other organs all help. Even if I stop here I have added to my life, only thing is I am not stopping.
I am not sure what size I was when my wife and I married almost 17 years ago, but I know it had to be at least 230, I want to get to a point I am smaller and healthier than she has ever known me.
Finally a sincere and honest thank you to those who inspire me. Some realize it, some don't..but to name a few Robin, Roxy, Anne, Gwyn (you got Warrior Dash in my wife's head), the folks at Dairyland Walkers and many more.
A equally important group that deserves the same thanks are those who spur me on with kind words to my post, some of who have been named above, but Donna, Steve, Mary, Deb, Val and Co Workers who have offered kind words. And of course family
THANK YOU ALL!! I can't do this alone, no man is an island. And I hope that if anybody reading this is inspired to take there first steps towards this type of life style change if you need help or somebody to offer support, even if you decide to try walking a 10K and you need somebody to carry your water, let me know. I intend to pay it forward
Monday, December 6, 2010
Vibrams, Chicago AVA Walk and Dairyland Walkers Holiday Party
After taking a few days off from walking after our trip we went back to the gym on Thursday, hop on the tread mill for an hour and have it timed right that I can watch Jeopardy while walking. However this time I am trying something new on my feet, they are called Vibram's Five Fingers.
Vibrams are to your feet what a glove is to your hand, in one sense. They are a light weight shoe made of mesh material and in this case a 4 mm sole. And if you haven't guessed what makes them unique, they have separate pockets for each of your toes that can move separately and individually. And yes they are intended to be an athletic shoe.
Now I have worn them here and there and love the feel, its almost being barefoot, which I prefer. But this was the first test using them as they are intended. The first thing I noticed is I walk softer or lighter in them, it took me several minutes to quit slamming my feet down as I walked, which ultimately reduced knee stress. Additionally I suffer from turf toe, or hyper extending your toe upwards in both big toes. I always have my big toes hurt when I walk and have figured this was the price of getting fit, after an hour my big toes felt great. I did notice some increased stress to the outside edges of my feet and in the joints of my little toes and hope that is just because I need to become more accustomed to them. One other note, I have very high arches my wife is nearer to being flat footed, she has a pair also and loves the feel, however she has not yet put them to the test in the gym.
On Saturday my company has a yearly bus trip to Chicago for Holiday shopping. If you know me that really doesn't get me excited, last year my wife and I geocached. This year we checked to see if there were any AVA Walks in that area. We found two that started about 5 blocks away from where we were dropped off. The first walk basically went up Michigan Ave and back south and Dearborne with some walking around the LOOP and the neighborhoods north of Michigan Ave. The other went south towards the lake shore, the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. Both walks were 11K so there was no difference there, we went North simply because remember the weather, snowing cold and blustery, I didn't want to see how bad it would be along the lake shore.
Seems going North wasn't much better as the wind howled along Michigan but we were rewarded for our efforts when we got into a neighborhood full of old Brownstones that just felt very comfortable and homey. Did see one for sale sign but I was afraid to look at the price. Once we headed back south we stopped at the only store we did any holiday shopping, found a tea store and perused (and got warm) for a while, they sold some different types of teas that I had not seen before and I will have to check them out on the web. In the end I hate saying we did not enjoy this walk, but I think it was the conditions that made this difficult, cold, snowy and my wife had shoe related problems, it just seemed to take forever. Normally we complete a 10K in about 2 hours, this took us nearly three.
On Sunday we headed out to Madison for the Dairyland Walkers (the local AVA Club we belong to) Holiday party. So first off what do you suppose we do, a quick 5K. Nothing special about the walk or it was just we had more cold windy weather, but it felt good to get out again and walk in successive days. One very positive thing was warm cider when we got back, it helped.
One thing I have found with this club is that they are very supportive and very friendly, they want to share in your adventures and share there adventures with you. My biggest issue I had was forgetting how much I rely on my wife for my hearing in crowded room situations. Being hearing impaired can have its benefits but at times it sucks as it was hard for me to communicate properly
Since we have started walking we have now lost over 70 lbs, I worry over winter if I can keep it up. I had at one point wanted to get below 250 before a walk marathon I want to do in Stevens Point, I need to rethink that amount, I am now aiming for 235.
Congrats to one of our caching friends for completing a 5K run in under 40 minutes. If I can get my tired old knees to work maybe I will have to see if I can do it.
To date 468,679 steps for 255 miles walked since September. 37,590 calories burned
158 days to Syttende Mai, a 17 walk event in the Madison area and 179 days to the Steven's Point 26.2 mile walkathon. I intend to do both.
Links you might be interested in:
www.vibramfivefingers.com
www.ava.org/index.htm
www.dairylandwalkers.com
Wanna go for a walk?
Vibrams are to your feet what a glove is to your hand, in one sense. They are a light weight shoe made of mesh material and in this case a 4 mm sole. And if you haven't guessed what makes them unique, they have separate pockets for each of your toes that can move separately and individually. And yes they are intended to be an athletic shoe.
Now I have worn them here and there and love the feel, its almost being barefoot, which I prefer. But this was the first test using them as they are intended. The first thing I noticed is I walk softer or lighter in them, it took me several minutes to quit slamming my feet down as I walked, which ultimately reduced knee stress. Additionally I suffer from turf toe, or hyper extending your toe upwards in both big toes. I always have my big toes hurt when I walk and have figured this was the price of getting fit, after an hour my big toes felt great. I did notice some increased stress to the outside edges of my feet and in the joints of my little toes and hope that is just because I need to become more accustomed to them. One other note, I have very high arches my wife is nearer to being flat footed, she has a pair also and loves the feel, however she has not yet put them to the test in the gym.
On Saturday my company has a yearly bus trip to Chicago for Holiday shopping. If you know me that really doesn't get me excited, last year my wife and I geocached. This year we checked to see if there were any AVA Walks in that area. We found two that started about 5 blocks away from where we were dropped off. The first walk basically went up Michigan Ave and back south and Dearborne with some walking around the LOOP and the neighborhoods north of Michigan Ave. The other went south towards the lake shore, the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. Both walks were 11K so there was no difference there, we went North simply because remember the weather, snowing cold and blustery, I didn't want to see how bad it would be along the lake shore.
Seems going North wasn't much better as the wind howled along Michigan but we were rewarded for our efforts when we got into a neighborhood full of old Brownstones that just felt very comfortable and homey. Did see one for sale sign but I was afraid to look at the price. Once we headed back south we stopped at the only store we did any holiday shopping, found a tea store and perused (and got warm) for a while, they sold some different types of teas that I had not seen before and I will have to check them out on the web. In the end I hate saying we did not enjoy this walk, but I think it was the conditions that made this difficult, cold, snowy and my wife had shoe related problems, it just seemed to take forever. Normally we complete a 10K in about 2 hours, this took us nearly three.
On Sunday we headed out to Madison for the Dairyland Walkers (the local AVA Club we belong to) Holiday party. So first off what do you suppose we do, a quick 5K. Nothing special about the walk or it was just we had more cold windy weather, but it felt good to get out again and walk in successive days. One very positive thing was warm cider when we got back, it helped.
One thing I have found with this club is that they are very supportive and very friendly, they want to share in your adventures and share there adventures with you. My biggest issue I had was forgetting how much I rely on my wife for my hearing in crowded room situations. Being hearing impaired can have its benefits but at times it sucks as it was hard for me to communicate properly
Since we have started walking we have now lost over 70 lbs, I worry over winter if I can keep it up. I had at one point wanted to get below 250 before a walk marathon I want to do in Stevens Point, I need to rethink that amount, I am now aiming for 235.
Congrats to one of our caching friends for completing a 5K run in under 40 minutes. If I can get my tired old knees to work maybe I will have to see if I can do it.
To date 468,679 steps for 255 miles walked since September. 37,590 calories burned
158 days to Syttende Mai, a 17 walk event in the Madison area and 179 days to the Steven's Point 26.2 mile walkathon. I intend to do both.
Links you might be interested in:
www.vibramfivefingers.com
www.ava.org/index.htm
www.dairylandwalkers.com
Wanna go for a walk?
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Nevada, California, & Utah
Funny how life changes plans, this was supposed to be a trip to go out and attack a 1000 geocache power trail and dinner with a friend in LA. Plans will change, but since we made the original plan before even step one in this journey it would be fair to say we have changed.
We arrived in Las Vegas late Friday and had seen there was an organized walk in Henderson . 10K so what would 2 hours out of our day be. This was an organized club walk but we were slightly disappointed in the turn out. See it was us, the head of the Hawaiian AVA club and her husband plus the head of the Las Vegas Club (he had to leave after 5K). What was cool about this walk was how it took you thru the lobby, pool and casino of the Green Valley Ranch Casino. The other really cool thing was how the Hawaiian couple tried to provide us more knowledge about the AVA and its different walks and events, we hope to get a chance to walk with them again this summer as they will be in our area.
From there we set out geocaching and got the first 100 caches in the series before night fell, so we made the decision to head to Toponah for the night. The 100 mile drive should have bee no problem, but as we mad higher elevations we started getting snow. After a bit it started sticking and there was black ice. Our speeds went from 70 to 40 to finally 25. Along the way we saw a flipped SUV and even did 500 feet going sideways our self. Once in Toponah we found that they do not use salt or sand even very much and the some nearby areas were being closed. The snow finally tapered off about 10 Sunday morning, we stayed stuck there until 4 am the next morning.
We made it into Onatario CA and grabbed lunch and got to our hotel by noon and my wife suggested doing 2 nearby walks in Claremont, both 10K. Until this point we had never done more than 10K in one day. The first walk is a 4 terrain (5 being the highest) and it is called The Hills. The walk instructions indicate the 4 terrain is for a steep hill at the beginning, how bad can this be. The hill was over 2 miles long and rose 1200 feet, before leveling off and allowing 2 more miles on basically flat terrain until a 2 mile downhill descent to the parking lot. Along the way we saw several deer and a tarantula and the walk has some amazing views of the valleys below. In the past there is no way we would have made it up 1 mile of this hill, and yes we were huffing and puffing some, but not like we had done on some smaller hills we climbed while geocaching. We climbed Mount Baldy. The challenge and views make this an immediate favorite.
The second in Claremont came with a bit of bad news, our friend that we had planned to have dinner with contacted us to inform us he had to cancel due to a family emergency. The second walk in Claremont was in the college grounds and the general downtown of Claremont itself. This walk was a treat as the college area is really 4 or 5 schools that share parts of the same campus and each has its own flavor and it has a very nice downtown area of small shops that make you want to peak your head in for a look.
Tuesday bought us first to San Gabriel and then South Pasadena, both 10Ks . The San Gabriel walk lead us thru some of there neighborhoods, much with a mission style of architecture. The highlight of this walk was the San Gabriel Mission itself, a historic old church that has been used in Hollywood for several films including Father of the Bride, and a curious item we saw was a plant that is on the historic register of places. Grapevine Park features a grapevine that was planted in 1861 and is still growing today, the twisted trunk of the vine is bigger around than me.
The Pasedena walk took us thru part of the area that Route 66 is part of and along Arroyo Street. Last year when we went on vacation in LA we cached the park that is below this street, we had 20 finds over a 5 mile hike then and this time we stayed on the street above. This walk started up small blisters for both of us. The start point was a shoe store that sells Vibram Shoes. They are a unique pair of shoes as they have individual areas for each of your toes and have a thin but durable sole to them. Supposedly they make you feel bare foot and supposed to improve balance and posture. We both purchased a pair at home and will be finding our if the claims are true.
Wednesday left us heading for Redlands and Riverside. Redlands was a very nice walk as there are varied architecture from Mission to Victorian right next to another. Many homes had rose bushes growing or fruit trees, we saw grapefruits, limes, oranges and peaches. One part of the walk featured a city park that includes a orange orchard. But by the end we were hurting, our blisters had refilled and gotten bigger. Not wanting to stop after we completed we found a Walmart and stopped to do some blister maintenance.
Stubborn as we are we decided to try Riverside, but we opted out of the 10K and only did 5K. This walk featured a very large hotel called Mission Inn, it was at least two blocks in size and I think we arrived a few days to soon as they were hanging the holiday lights, I think this place would have looked even more amazing all lit up. If I can remember it this would be on my list of a place I would like to stay during a future visit.
Thursday bought us back to Vegas and two 11 K walks, basically Strip East and Strip West, From the Mandalay Bay area to Stratosphere and back going thru a variety of the hotels, liked the fact it went thru new places like Aria. Since we have had been to Vegas before we have done this walk previously, however this time cost us less as we didn't sit down at any location.
Friday we headed for Boulder City to do the Tunnels walk to Hoover Dam, this walk can be as long as 5, 11 or 13K, due to time issues we opted for the 5K. The entire hike we could see Lake Mead as we passed thru two tunnels that were created during the building of Hoover Dam. The 13K takes you thru 5 tunnels, over the Damn and into Arizona. There is a walk for the Grand Canyon that is on my to do list, I am adding this to that list, but I want to do the 13K next time.
Finally we drove to Ivins Utah to do a 10 K there, Ivins is North East of Saint George and this walk takes you into Snow Canyon State Park. This is a fabulously pretty park, lots of red rock all around you, many great views. My only complaint is the first half of this walk is downhill, making the second half a real pain. We really like the Saint George area and have considered moving to this area of the country, this hike may have caused my wife to fall deeper in love with the area.
In all 3 states, 113K and roughly 65 miles inn 7 days. I know I have a friend or two that could do this, but to those who look at this and say I'm nuts (thanks), remember it was a little more than 60 days ago I was on the couch and if I can do it anybody can.
We arrived in Las Vegas late Friday and had seen there was an organized walk in Henderson . 10K so what would 2 hours out of our day be. This was an organized club walk but we were slightly disappointed in the turn out. See it was us, the head of the Hawaiian AVA club and her husband plus the head of the Las Vegas Club (he had to leave after 5K). What was cool about this walk was how it took you thru the lobby, pool and casino of the Green Valley Ranch Casino. The other really cool thing was how the Hawaiian couple tried to provide us more knowledge about the AVA and its different walks and events, we hope to get a chance to walk with them again this summer as they will be in our area.
From there we set out geocaching and got the first 100 caches in the series before night fell, so we made the decision to head to Toponah for the night. The 100 mile drive should have bee no problem, but as we mad higher elevations we started getting snow. After a bit it started sticking and there was black ice. Our speeds went from 70 to 40 to finally 25. Along the way we saw a flipped SUV and even did 500 feet going sideways our self. Once in Toponah we found that they do not use salt or sand even very much and the some nearby areas were being closed. The snow finally tapered off about 10 Sunday morning, we stayed stuck there until 4 am the next morning.
We made it into Onatario CA and grabbed lunch and got to our hotel by noon and my wife suggested doing 2 nearby walks in Claremont, both 10K. Until this point we had never done more than 10K in one day. The first walk is a 4 terrain (5 being the highest) and it is called The Hills. The walk instructions indicate the 4 terrain is for a steep hill at the beginning, how bad can this be. The hill was over 2 miles long and rose 1200 feet, before leveling off and allowing 2 more miles on basically flat terrain until a 2 mile downhill descent to the parking lot. Along the way we saw several deer and a tarantula and the walk has some amazing views of the valleys below. In the past there is no way we would have made it up 1 mile of this hill, and yes we were huffing and puffing some, but not like we had done on some smaller hills we climbed while geocaching. We climbed Mount Baldy. The challenge and views make this an immediate favorite.
The second in Claremont came with a bit of bad news, our friend that we had planned to have dinner with contacted us to inform us he had to cancel due to a family emergency. The second walk in Claremont was in the college grounds and the general downtown of Claremont itself. This walk was a treat as the college area is really 4 or 5 schools that share parts of the same campus and each has its own flavor and it has a very nice downtown area of small shops that make you want to peak your head in for a look.
Tuesday bought us first to San Gabriel and then South Pasadena, both 10Ks . The San Gabriel walk lead us thru some of there neighborhoods, much with a mission style of architecture. The highlight of this walk was the San Gabriel Mission itself, a historic old church that has been used in Hollywood for several films including Father of the Bride, and a curious item we saw was a plant that is on the historic register of places. Grapevine Park features a grapevine that was planted in 1861 and is still growing today, the twisted trunk of the vine is bigger around than me.
The Pasedena walk took us thru part of the area that Route 66 is part of and along Arroyo Street. Last year when we went on vacation in LA we cached the park that is below this street, we had 20 finds over a 5 mile hike then and this time we stayed on the street above. This walk started up small blisters for both of us. The start point was a shoe store that sells Vibram Shoes. They are a unique pair of shoes as they have individual areas for each of your toes and have a thin but durable sole to them. Supposedly they make you feel bare foot and supposed to improve balance and posture. We both purchased a pair at home and will be finding our if the claims are true.
Wednesday left us heading for Redlands and Riverside. Redlands was a very nice walk as there are varied architecture from Mission to Victorian right next to another. Many homes had rose bushes growing or fruit trees, we saw grapefruits, limes, oranges and peaches. One part of the walk featured a city park that includes a orange orchard. But by the end we were hurting, our blisters had refilled and gotten bigger. Not wanting to stop after we completed we found a Walmart and stopped to do some blister maintenance.
Stubborn as we are we decided to try Riverside, but we opted out of the 10K and only did 5K. This walk featured a very large hotel called Mission Inn, it was at least two blocks in size and I think we arrived a few days to soon as they were hanging the holiday lights, I think this place would have looked even more amazing all lit up. If I can remember it this would be on my list of a place I would like to stay during a future visit.
Thursday bought us back to Vegas and two 11 K walks, basically Strip East and Strip West, From the Mandalay Bay area to Stratosphere and back going thru a variety of the hotels, liked the fact it went thru new places like Aria. Since we have had been to Vegas before we have done this walk previously, however this time cost us less as we didn't sit down at any location.
Friday we headed for Boulder City to do the Tunnels walk to Hoover Dam, this walk can be as long as 5, 11 or 13K, due to time issues we opted for the 5K. The entire hike we could see Lake Mead as we passed thru two tunnels that were created during the building of Hoover Dam. The 13K takes you thru 5 tunnels, over the Damn and into Arizona. There is a walk for the Grand Canyon that is on my to do list, I am adding this to that list, but I want to do the 13K next time.
Finally we drove to Ivins Utah to do a 10 K there, Ivins is North East of Saint George and this walk takes you into Snow Canyon State Park. This is a fabulously pretty park, lots of red rock all around you, many great views. My only complaint is the first half of this walk is downhill, making the second half a real pain. We really like the Saint George area and have considered moving to this area of the country, this hike may have caused my wife to fall deeper in love with the area.
In all 3 states, 113K and roughly 65 miles inn 7 days. I know I have a friend or two that could do this, but to those who look at this and say I'm nuts (thanks), remember it was a little more than 60 days ago I was on the couch and if I can do it anybody can.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Gearing up for my biggest walking attempt yet
We haven't been able to get out as much as we would like because things like life and weather have kept us busy. This last weekend we had hoped to do our first AVA walk outside of Wisconsin. We were up at my Father in Laws and were going to leave a little early to do a 10K in St Paul on Sunday.
If you missed it they had a major snowstorm on Saturday, so toss that plan. We drive right by Eau Claire and there is a AVA walk there, that goes on some non paved trails. As we near the city we can see everything is soaked. Strike two. Ok there's Madison and many AVA walks there, and pouring rain. Ok the Snap 24/7 will have to be the option for today.
One of the things we have done is started going thru our closets. Since my waist is down nearly 4 inches I don't want to have a wardrobe malfunction. I was amazed at the number of shirts and pants I grew out of that are now big on me. The nice thing is I saved enough that I can replace my now fat dress clothes with slimmer version that I can hopefully make a temporary stay in. I was at one point nearly a 52 inch waist, now at 44.5 and hoping to get to 34 or so. My wonderful wife of 16 years has never sen me under a 40 inch waist, I graduated some 27 years ago (yikes how did that happen) from high school and that was where I was at then. It would be nice to return to that size.
Over Thanksgiving we have some time off from work and plan on doing some geocaching. Presently we are at 3221 in finds and in the next 10 days we would like to be over 4000 finds and between Saturday the 20th and Saturday the 27th we are hoping to walk 50 miles. Yes I said 50,and before you ask is he nuts, be aware you should not need to ask you should know this answer already. So who thinks we can make both goals? Any bets
If you missed it they had a major snowstorm on Saturday, so toss that plan. We drive right by Eau Claire and there is a AVA walk there, that goes on some non paved trails. As we near the city we can see everything is soaked. Strike two. Ok there's Madison and many AVA walks there, and pouring rain. Ok the Snap 24/7 will have to be the option for today.
One of the things we have done is started going thru our closets. Since my waist is down nearly 4 inches I don't want to have a wardrobe malfunction. I was amazed at the number of shirts and pants I grew out of that are now big on me. The nice thing is I saved enough that I can replace my now fat dress clothes with slimmer version that I can hopefully make a temporary stay in. I was at one point nearly a 52 inch waist, now at 44.5 and hoping to get to 34 or so. My wonderful wife of 16 years has never sen me under a 40 inch waist, I graduated some 27 years ago (yikes how did that happen) from high school and that was where I was at then. It would be nice to return to that size.
Over Thanksgiving we have some time off from work and plan on doing some geocaching. Presently we are at 3221 in finds and in the next 10 days we would like to be over 4000 finds and between Saturday the 20th and Saturday the 27th we are hoping to walk 50 miles. Yes I said 50,and before you ask is he nuts, be aware you should not need to ask you should know this answer already. So who thinks we can make both goals? Any bets
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Back from Injury
Last Sunday I blew up a blister on the back of my heal and I knew that would slow me down. How much I didn't know but at least some.
Monday came and it was apparent that wearing my wingtip shoes to work, simply to tight on the raw skin of my heel, even with a bandage. So I switched to more of a Dockers style of shoe. It only hurt 50% of the time, whenever I took a step with my good foot it didn't hurt. And of course several people are telling me I should go to the doctor, including my wife who has become my home health care practitioner, pouring hydrogen peroxide here and applying liquid bandage there. Needless to say no walking.
Tuesday I wake up to a developing cankle, ok I have had this before and I know this isn't good and of course being male I convince myself that I am invincible and there is nothing wrong with it. But that night my wife makes comments about the lovely colors its turning and she finally gets thru to me and I make a doctor appointment on Wednesday.
Now my doctor is a really good guy who has tried over the years to get me to change bad habits, but I don't make it easy on him. When I quit smoking he suggested a cholesterol test, now I didn't fast like your supposed to and a few weeks later he is calling me with the results, cursing. I am lower than him and he is a avid runner. My blood sugar level is very low and I have an above average resting heart rate. In fact he has declared me one of the healthiest big guys he has met.
So he sees me and first looks at the chart and comments about my weight and blood pressure looking much better, and then asks me if the reason I was there was to see him for an injury due to me trying to get healthy. When I said yes the poor doc nearly fell out of the chair.
The good news was he didn't think it was infected , but could not rule it out. So I get to go on antibiotics. Better news is he gives me a few tips to help prevent the blistering in the future, and tells me I can start walking again once it scabs over well.
Friday morning I new it was scabbed over, so I was good to go. Saturday my wife helps me put a piece of gauze to the injury and applies duct tape to it. It hurts a little but nothing I can't take and nothing causing reblistering. We head to Janesville to take a city streets walk there, with the exception of about 1 mile when we are on a paved portion of the Ice Age Trail, they even have a sign on the trail showing 776 miles to Interstate Park (the drive seems less than that). This is a nice easy walk with just one hill and it felt great to be out walking again, and a 10K none the less.
Sunday we were back at it, this time for the Jingle Bell run/walk and the Milwaukee County Zoo. This was only a 5K but it was with a group that my wife's employee sponsored, so I knew one or two others on the trail. The best part of this walk was when we passed the Brown Bear exhibit two bears were playing. Or at least I hope it was playing, if not they were having a fight. But it was fun to stop a moment and watch.
It felt good to be back out walking, and after a week off I was worried about my weight but when we weighed in on Saturday and did measurements I was happy, nice losses in both areas.
This weekend over 20K steps for a total of 287712 steps since starting and 158 miles walked. I have reached a point where I can see a change in myself, not mentally either, the body is starting to change in a positive way. Exercise and better eating is starting to pay off.
Monday came and it was apparent that wearing my wingtip shoes to work, simply to tight on the raw skin of my heel, even with a bandage. So I switched to more of a Dockers style of shoe. It only hurt 50% of the time, whenever I took a step with my good foot it didn't hurt. And of course several people are telling me I should go to the doctor, including my wife who has become my home health care practitioner, pouring hydrogen peroxide here and applying liquid bandage there. Needless to say no walking.
Tuesday I wake up to a developing cankle, ok I have had this before and I know this isn't good and of course being male I convince myself that I am invincible and there is nothing wrong with it. But that night my wife makes comments about the lovely colors its turning and she finally gets thru to me and I make a doctor appointment on Wednesday.
Now my doctor is a really good guy who has tried over the years to get me to change bad habits, but I don't make it easy on him. When I quit smoking he suggested a cholesterol test, now I didn't fast like your supposed to and a few weeks later he is calling me with the results, cursing. I am lower than him and he is a avid runner. My blood sugar level is very low and I have an above average resting heart rate. In fact he has declared me one of the healthiest big guys he has met.
So he sees me and first looks at the chart and comments about my weight and blood pressure looking much better, and then asks me if the reason I was there was to see him for an injury due to me trying to get healthy. When I said yes the poor doc nearly fell out of the chair.
The good news was he didn't think it was infected , but could not rule it out. So I get to go on antibiotics. Better news is he gives me a few tips to help prevent the blistering in the future, and tells me I can start walking again once it scabs over well.
Friday morning I new it was scabbed over, so I was good to go. Saturday my wife helps me put a piece of gauze to the injury and applies duct tape to it. It hurts a little but nothing I can't take and nothing causing reblistering. We head to Janesville to take a city streets walk there, with the exception of about 1 mile when we are on a paved portion of the Ice Age Trail, they even have a sign on the trail showing 776 miles to Interstate Park (the drive seems less than that). This is a nice easy walk with just one hill and it felt great to be out walking again, and a 10K none the less.
Sunday we were back at it, this time for the Jingle Bell run/walk and the Milwaukee County Zoo. This was only a 5K but it was with a group that my wife's employee sponsored, so I knew one or two others on the trail. The best part of this walk was when we passed the Brown Bear exhibit two bears were playing. Or at least I hope it was playing, if not they were having a fight. But it was fun to stop a moment and watch.
It felt good to be back out walking, and after a week off I was worried about my weight but when we weighed in on Saturday and did measurements I was happy, nice losses in both areas.
This weekend over 20K steps for a total of 287712 steps since starting and 158 miles walked. I have reached a point where I can see a change in myself, not mentally either, the body is starting to change in a positive way. Exercise and better eating is starting to pay off.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
La Crosse, Madison, Caching, Team B& B, oh and a milestone
Busy weekend. On Friday about 2:30 my wife made a off handed comment about going up to a B&B in LaValle , WI a day early. We were planning in getting together with several other caching friends, a partially dangerous group since I am the only male and they can be rather spirited, on Saturday but I had a crummy day at work and I suggested she call. They had a room so we went up a day early.
So on Friday night we stayed up much later than what we normally do as we had some wine and chatted with friends, some new one and some we have known for quite a while longer. They were good for some attitude adjustment and had made my day much better.
Saturday we were up early and headed for La Crosse to do the AVA 11K walk. Get to the start location and ask the young lady working there for the AVA box and she has no clue, great, but her co worker did. We have been in La Crosse a bit in the past both caching and for family stuff (my father in law grew up in La Crosse), but I had never been thru this part of the city before. At about the 3K mark we went off the streets and onto a path that headed us towards the bluff, I started getting a familiar twinge in my heel, a blister starting. One of the coolest things on this walk was on the trail they had young adults (Students at UW LaCrosse I think) passing out candy to Trick or Treaters. Saw plenty of little kids enjoying the candy. The walk would eventually take us thru the UWL campus and past some of the historical homes in La Crosse. Ended our trip by getting our first awards fro caching, a beer stein shaped pin.
From there we headed back to Mauston to do 29 caches with our caching friends. It took us about 3 hours to do them all. Six sets of eyes made this a pretty easier and fun trip. We then headed back to the B&B for more wine, chat, laughs (being the only man I was getting a fair share of teasing) and some really good food, Chicken Enchilada Casserole and Chili, both very good.
Sunday morning took us to Madison to do a second AVA walk, this time around the state capital and the UW Madison Campus. This one a 10K and I had thought I prepared from the blister I got in La Crosse and covered the blister well with duct tape, but before we even get 1K in I know something in wrong. Find a bench pull the shoe and sock off and readjust the tape and it seems to fell better, not. This walk drove us a little nuts for awhile as it was go one block and turn right and then go one block and turn left as we covered the entire area around the capital and got a view of Lake Monona also. Finally we start going several blocks at a time and head toward Lake Mendota. We weave all thru the UW Madison Campus (and feeling slightly old with a bunch of 20 somethings everywhere) even watched somebody driving on the pedestrian walk ways near Bascom Hall (for those who don't know there is no vehicle traffic in this area). We found Madison to be a very walking friendly city and as we headed back at the capital we were getting very hungry as we past many restaurants of many different ethnicities. One good smell after another.
Get back to the car and I want to put my Crocs on, get the shoes and socks off and get to time to pull the tape off. I dont look at the foot but I can tell by the look on the wife's fact that this wasnt going to be a good conclusion. I ripped about a quarter sized piece of skin off the blister, which is larger than a 50 cent piece. Since it is the dentist tomorrow I dont have to worry about it but I would like to get to the gym on Tuesday and right now I am thinking that wont happen.
Cant complain 21K done over the weekend, some caching and some good friends. Hope to have more weekends like that.
Now over 250K step walked for almost 150 miles, oh and that milestone. I have not been under 275 in at least 5 years and maybe as much as 15 years. I will not be there again, Friday the scale rewarded my efforts with 274.8. It maybe only two tenths of a pound under but it is under, now onward to getting under 250. And working on blister maintence
So on Friday night we stayed up much later than what we normally do as we had some wine and chatted with friends, some new one and some we have known for quite a while longer. They were good for some attitude adjustment and had made my day much better.
Saturday we were up early and headed for La Crosse to do the AVA 11K walk. Get to the start location and ask the young lady working there for the AVA box and she has no clue, great, but her co worker did. We have been in La Crosse a bit in the past both caching and for family stuff (my father in law grew up in La Crosse), but I had never been thru this part of the city before. At about the 3K mark we went off the streets and onto a path that headed us towards the bluff, I started getting a familiar twinge in my heel, a blister starting. One of the coolest things on this walk was on the trail they had young adults (Students at UW LaCrosse I think) passing out candy to Trick or Treaters. Saw plenty of little kids enjoying the candy. The walk would eventually take us thru the UWL campus and past some of the historical homes in La Crosse. Ended our trip by getting our first awards fro caching, a beer stein shaped pin.
From there we headed back to Mauston to do 29 caches with our caching friends. It took us about 3 hours to do them all. Six sets of eyes made this a pretty easier and fun trip. We then headed back to the B&B for more wine, chat, laughs (being the only man I was getting a fair share of teasing) and some really good food, Chicken Enchilada Casserole and Chili, both very good.
Sunday morning took us to Madison to do a second AVA walk, this time around the state capital and the UW Madison Campus. This one a 10K and I had thought I prepared from the blister I got in La Crosse and covered the blister well with duct tape, but before we even get 1K in I know something in wrong. Find a bench pull the shoe and sock off and readjust the tape and it seems to fell better, not. This walk drove us a little nuts for awhile as it was go one block and turn right and then go one block and turn left as we covered the entire area around the capital and got a view of Lake Monona also. Finally we start going several blocks at a time and head toward Lake Mendota. We weave all thru the UW Madison Campus (and feeling slightly old with a bunch of 20 somethings everywhere) even watched somebody driving on the pedestrian walk ways near Bascom Hall (for those who don't know there is no vehicle traffic in this area). We found Madison to be a very walking friendly city and as we headed back at the capital we were getting very hungry as we past many restaurants of many different ethnicities. One good smell after another.
Get back to the car and I want to put my Crocs on, get the shoes and socks off and get to time to pull the tape off. I dont look at the foot but I can tell by the look on the wife's fact that this wasnt going to be a good conclusion. I ripped about a quarter sized piece of skin off the blister, which is larger than a 50 cent piece. Since it is the dentist tomorrow I dont have to worry about it but I would like to get to the gym on Tuesday and right now I am thinking that wont happen.
Cant complain 21K done over the weekend, some caching and some good friends. Hope to have more weekends like that.
Now over 250K step walked for almost 150 miles, oh and that milestone. I have not been under 275 in at least 5 years and maybe as much as 15 years. I will not be there again, Friday the scale rewarded my efforts with 274.8. It maybe only two tenths of a pound under but it is under, now onward to getting under 250. And working on blister maintence
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Little Victories
I had hoped to see a milestone weight drop bye but it has not proven to be a good time to have this occur. On Saturday my one sister in law who lives 5 plus hours away had been in town for a job interview and staying with her boyfriend, my other sister in law lives somewhat local, but we didn't have any plans. When my wife sees a posting on Face Book that her cousin from Virginia is in town, next thing you know we are going out for lunch with family. It was a nice visit. But suddenly plans for walking were shot and neither of us felt like going to the gym.
Sunday was more crappy weather so we ran some errands. With all my jeans in the laundry I grabbed a pair from the I used to fit in these stack. I'm hoping that I can just button them and if nothing else I can change later, not quite they way it worked, needed a belt.
Stop at Wally World for some fitness gear and my wife grabs two pair of compression shorts to go try on, one her present size and one of one size smaller. By the smile on her face I can tell it is one pair that she fits into on one pair of her now to big for her size. A pair of nice small victories for us.
Hit the gym and did an hour on the treadmill for both of us and went home to catch up on the DVR. Some how we are watching less TV but there is more stuff on it, we never seem caught up.
Monday the wife went on a trip to buy wine for our get together with Geocaching Team B & B and after being on a 500 calorie per day diet for awhile her little samples of wine had her feeling good.
Tuesday bought the wind and rain, so it was back to the gym for another hour for both of us on the treadmill. The wife was humored by the guy next to her who appeared to be in better shape than either of us, but struggling to keep it at a pace we consider slow. Have we started to change?
Want to get to the gym on Wednesday because I won't on Thursday since I have an appointment with Drs. Drill & Phil
Hoepfully this weekend we can get two 10K walks in and also try one of the WhereIgo caches in Madison
230629 steps and counting
Sunday was more crappy weather so we ran some errands. With all my jeans in the laundry I grabbed a pair from the I used to fit in these stack. I'm hoping that I can just button them and if nothing else I can change later, not quite they way it worked, needed a belt.
Stop at Wally World for some fitness gear and my wife grabs two pair of compression shorts to go try on, one her present size and one of one size smaller. By the smile on her face I can tell it is one pair that she fits into on one pair of her now to big for her size. A pair of nice small victories for us.
Hit the gym and did an hour on the treadmill for both of us and went home to catch up on the DVR. Some how we are watching less TV but there is more stuff on it, we never seem caught up.
Monday the wife went on a trip to buy wine for our get together with Geocaching Team B & B and after being on a 500 calorie per day diet for awhile her little samples of wine had her feeling good.
Tuesday bought the wind and rain, so it was back to the gym for another hour for both of us on the treadmill. The wife was humored by the guy next to her who appeared to be in better shape than either of us, but struggling to keep it at a pace we consider slow. Have we started to change?
Want to get to the gym on Wednesday because I won't on Thursday since I have an appointment with Drs. Drill & Phil
Hoepfully this weekend we can get two 10K walks in and also try one of the WhereIgo caches in Madison
230629 steps and counting
Friday, October 22, 2010
I dont know how many steps
We took a few days off this week because real life took over for a few days. On Tuesday we went to a local running shoe store and got equipped with better footwear, here is to no more blisters (cross my fingers and hope, and no more duct tape on the heels)
On Wednesday I was feeling down and dragging, could it be two days with out walking had gotten to me. It was a long and miserably slow day at work and work didn't seem to be a bad day, so it had to be me. So on the way home I decide to get my blood pumping before the gym. Plugged the Ipod into the car radio and cranked some Rush. Got thru 2112, Fly by Night, Finding My Way and Working Man and I was amped up. Good old heavy metal does the trick for me (and remember to turn the radio down so the wife wouldn't be upset). Changed and off we went.
Hit the treadmill and plugged in a program called Pikes Peak for an hour. Still trying to find the right level of intensity for me so I ended up with something more like Pike's Mounds. But as the course ran along I would increase the incline to make it harder and I usually go at a 3.4 pace, so I started playing with that also. The last minute before cool down I was on flat terrain so I bumped the speed to the point I had to jog. I may have only been for a minute but now I remember what that is supposed to feel like. We will be back to that point again, even if next time its for 2 minutes.
So how many steps? I don't know. Remember him the ghost character from Family Circus that Billy always blamed things on. He must have turned off my pedometer.
Friday night takes us out to Middleton for a 10K AVA walk. This is a group walk so we get to start to meet some of the other AVA members in the local club, most seem to be a very nice group, but there is always one. This walk was a little different it is a night walk and they ask that you don't use your flashlights. We started by going up a unpaved trail that was a long slow hill that twisted and turned until you got to a nice view that featured the State Capital in the distance. We kept near the front of the group and I surprised my self that over uneven and rough terrain I didn't roll my ankle at all, I do that at least twice on flat paved pavement. The trail took us behind some very nice homes in the area and Middleton has done a nice job interlocking its trails together.
The biggest complaint we had was there was another husband and wife that droned on and on and on about politics. Now maybe some of the reason it grated us was their views were different than ours, but there is a time and a place for those discussion. This was neither. I was wishing I had duct taped my heels, I could have used the tape to tape their mouths shut. Thankfully they eventually dropped back into the crowd.
So how many steps? I don't know turned off my pedometer after 343 steps, I need to have a serious discussion with that ghost.
Hopefully the weather holds off on the rain, would like to do the AVA Cedarburg walk and also test our PiGo app on our Iphone and see if we can do The Pharm Girl's WhereIGo Cahce with that app. Hopefully I don't know stays home
On Wednesday I was feeling down and dragging, could it be two days with out walking had gotten to me. It was a long and miserably slow day at work and work didn't seem to be a bad day, so it had to be me. So on the way home I decide to get my blood pumping before the gym. Plugged the Ipod into the car radio and cranked some Rush. Got thru 2112, Fly by Night, Finding My Way and Working Man and I was amped up. Good old heavy metal does the trick for me (and remember to turn the radio down so the wife wouldn't be upset). Changed and off we went.
Hit the treadmill and plugged in a program called Pikes Peak for an hour. Still trying to find the right level of intensity for me so I ended up with something more like Pike's Mounds. But as the course ran along I would increase the incline to make it harder and I usually go at a 3.4 pace, so I started playing with that also. The last minute before cool down I was on flat terrain so I bumped the speed to the point I had to jog. I may have only been for a minute but now I remember what that is supposed to feel like. We will be back to that point again, even if next time its for 2 minutes.
So how many steps? I don't know. Remember him the ghost character from Family Circus that Billy always blamed things on. He must have turned off my pedometer.
Friday night takes us out to Middleton for a 10K AVA walk. This is a group walk so we get to start to meet some of the other AVA members in the local club, most seem to be a very nice group, but there is always one. This walk was a little different it is a night walk and they ask that you don't use your flashlights. We started by going up a unpaved trail that was a long slow hill that twisted and turned until you got to a nice view that featured the State Capital in the distance. We kept near the front of the group and I surprised my self that over uneven and rough terrain I didn't roll my ankle at all, I do that at least twice on flat paved pavement. The trail took us behind some very nice homes in the area and Middleton has done a nice job interlocking its trails together.
The biggest complaint we had was there was another husband and wife that droned on and on and on about politics. Now maybe some of the reason it grated us was their views were different than ours, but there is a time and a place for those discussion. This was neither. I was wishing I had duct taped my heels, I could have used the tape to tape their mouths shut. Thankfully they eventually dropped back into the crowd.
So how many steps? I don't know turned off my pedometer after 343 steps, I need to have a serious discussion with that ghost.
Hopefully the weather holds off on the rain, would like to do the AVA Cedarburg walk and also test our PiGo app on our Iphone and see if we can do The Pharm Girl's WhereIGo Cahce with that app. Hopefully I don't know stays home
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Congrats to my walking partner
Most of you who have read my comments know that I walk most of the time with my wife and most of you know that she is on her own journey to loose weight. She is on a program that for a three week period she lives on about 500 calories a day and then goes 4-6 weeks between and does the 500 calories again.
For my caching friends the West Bend Cache Bash was the end of her second week last time, anybody remember how tired she looked. Well we are at the end of week two of her second session thru this program. She has made one major change in her approach from last time, she is walking most of the time with me.
Earlier this week she hit a milestone for pounds lost, and today while on the HeartWalk she hit 100 miles walked since starting . This week we walked almost 35 miles, so my wife has walked nearly a mile for every 100 calories she has eaten over this last week. Anybody want to try giving that a try?
So congrats to my wife who never ceases to amaze me
For my caching friends the West Bend Cache Bash was the end of her second week last time, anybody remember how tired she looked. Well we are at the end of week two of her second session thru this program. She has made one major change in her approach from last time, she is walking most of the time with me.
Earlier this week she hit a milestone for pounds lost, and today while on the HeartWalk she hit 100 miles walked since starting . This week we walked almost 35 miles, so my wife has walked nearly a mile for every 100 calories she has eaten over this last week. Anybody want to try giving that a try?
So congrats to my wife who never ceases to amaze me
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Go the extra yard. It makes a mile of difference-Mason Cooley
Today started a little busy for us. Some friends were at a nearby craft sale and we wanted to stop and say hello, we wanted to work on The Crippler's Amazing Geo-Race cache series, oh and a little 10K walk around Lake Geneva which is one of the YRE (year round events) they offer.
Geared up and headed to Brookfield to stop by Scrappy Scouts (Its a caching nickname) stand. Seems Scout stayed home and slept but we spent about an hour chatting with Scrappy. Nice and not as interesting as last time we visted with them, no runaway corn trailers this time (yes I am being serious).
Got to Lake Geneva and I assumed it would be slowing down since it is off season, wrong beautiful day and cars everywhere. Found a parking spot and headed to pick up the map for the walk. The start of the walk took us along the north edge of the lake, with a wind that made me wonder if I was wrong in ditching my coat and long pants in the car, I prefer walking in shorts. But soon the route took us on a trail that circles all 26 miles of the lake, the walking is very uneven through this area but the breeze was blocked.
Eventually the route breaks away and we headed into town and near the first cemetery in town (GR8 Eyes you missed placing a cache here) and would eventually start heading south on the east side of the lake. Now the lake front property on the North side is nothing I can dream about owning, and the property on the east side is what the people on the north side dream about never owning. A four floor 50 room mansion built in 1930 for $2 million, that included a mini golf course and a pool on the roof and a Frank Lloyd Wright design would be among the properties we would pass.
After what seemed like and endless distance we get routed back onto the path that circles the lake. This is an interesting area as it basically goes thru peoples back yards. Some have tried to get the path removed and fought it court but the path remains and basically it is public access but everything around it is private property. Some people have put down pavers for the path that cuts thru their yards and some have left it very primitive. In a few spots you are close enough to the lake to get splashed.
The cool part is you get to see all the multi million dollar homes much closer than when we past them on the road earlier. The coolest part of this walk was near that 50 room mansion I mentioned earlier, on the lake path there is one person who has put up a fence on both sides and the fence boards are ornately painted and there are inspirational quotes painted on the fence. From Lynn Redgrave to Michelangelo to Jiminy Cricket to various other thinkers, some religious, some proverbs from foreign county to the quote I have above. Even Munchkins get love here "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". You cant help but walk away from this place with an uplifting feeling in your heart. You owe it to yourself to walk this route once.
We finished the day but doing 2 legs of the geocache series I mentioned. One thought came to us on the second cache, we had to park almost a 1/2 away from one cache and after walking over 6 miles you would have thought we would have groaned about it. I know in the past we would have, before walking that is. No real complaints, except I had some mud to cross and I almost lost my shoe. Times are changing
With todays walk I have over 200K steps into my journey. Tomorrow is the HeartWalk and soon we will be adding walks in Vegas and Pasadena to our list. I have started to wonder can I hit 400K steps yet this year? I know I need to keep a go pace going if I am serious about the marathon walks in May and June.
Anybody want to go for a walk?
Geared up and headed to Brookfield to stop by Scrappy Scouts (Its a caching nickname) stand. Seems Scout stayed home and slept but we spent about an hour chatting with Scrappy. Nice and not as interesting as last time we visted with them, no runaway corn trailers this time (yes I am being serious).
Got to Lake Geneva and I assumed it would be slowing down since it is off season, wrong beautiful day and cars everywhere. Found a parking spot and headed to pick up the map for the walk. The start of the walk took us along the north edge of the lake, with a wind that made me wonder if I was wrong in ditching my coat and long pants in the car, I prefer walking in shorts. But soon the route took us on a trail that circles all 26 miles of the lake, the walking is very uneven through this area but the breeze was blocked.
Eventually the route breaks away and we headed into town and near the first cemetery in town (GR8 Eyes you missed placing a cache here) and would eventually start heading south on the east side of the lake. Now the lake front property on the North side is nothing I can dream about owning, and the property on the east side is what the people on the north side dream about never owning. A four floor 50 room mansion built in 1930 for $2 million, that included a mini golf course and a pool on the roof and a Frank Lloyd Wright design would be among the properties we would pass.
After what seemed like and endless distance we get routed back onto the path that circles the lake. This is an interesting area as it basically goes thru peoples back yards. Some have tried to get the path removed and fought it court but the path remains and basically it is public access but everything around it is private property. Some people have put down pavers for the path that cuts thru their yards and some have left it very primitive. In a few spots you are close enough to the lake to get splashed.
The cool part is you get to see all the multi million dollar homes much closer than when we past them on the road earlier. The coolest part of this walk was near that 50 room mansion I mentioned earlier, on the lake path there is one person who has put up a fence on both sides and the fence boards are ornately painted and there are inspirational quotes painted on the fence. From Lynn Redgrave to Michelangelo to Jiminy Cricket to various other thinkers, some religious, some proverbs from foreign county to the quote I have above. Even Munchkins get love here "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". You cant help but walk away from this place with an uplifting feeling in your heart. You owe it to yourself to walk this route once.
We finished the day but doing 2 legs of the geocache series I mentioned. One thought came to us on the second cache, we had to park almost a 1/2 away from one cache and after walking over 6 miles you would have thought we would have groaned about it. I know in the past we would have, before walking that is. No real complaints, except I had some mud to cross and I almost lost my shoe. Times are changing
With todays walk I have over 200K steps into my journey. Tomorrow is the HeartWalk and soon we will be adding walks in Vegas and Pasadena to our list. I have started to wonder can I hit 400K steps yet this year? I know I need to keep a go pace going if I am serious about the marathon walks in May and June.
Anybody want to go for a walk?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
100 miles
When I started this in early September I actually wondered how long it would take me to get to 100 miles walked. Today I found out, while on the treadmill at the gym I started my second 100 miles. In about 4 1/2 weeks I have made it to 100 miles, trust me I am shocked byt his, I was hoping maybe 100 by Christmas or so, but never such a short time.
But I now look back and see some very clear cut changes in me. I may not have lost the weight I wanted to, but it is starting to come off, my lifestyle has become healthier. I would have never set health related goals or fitness related goals. Now I am looking at a 17 mile walk near Madison in May and a 26.2 mile walk in June and I am telling mys self that if I want to seriously do these two events (and I am seriously interested) I need to get at least 30 pounds off my body (or under 250) before that date. But I have 6 months so I think I can (guess I need to sound like the little engine that could).
My biggest fear is winter, I normally hibernate and come out 3 months later 10-15 pounds heavier. I can't do that this year, I don't know how not to, but I suspect it will be by putting one foot in front of the other. Other things that will help is we are planning a trip to Vegas and LA, I have already found walks in areas we will be staying. Visiti0gn family up north, already know what trail we can hike. Halloween with caching Team B&B do a walk in La Crosse first, finding a way to still do everything else but to also start to take care of myself.
Thanks Roxy for being there most every step of the way and inspiring me to start and get my butt off the sofa. Thanks Robin for Ourhike, it may have been for your cause, but it has shown me a new path
To date 182041 steps for 102.6 miles. I have now burned enough calories that if you wanted to visualize them in one sense, I could eat one fast food chain specialty Cheeseburger for every day in February, during a leap years an still have not used up my calories burned. Onward to the Heartwalk and The Dairyland Walkers Lake Geneva 10K walk this weekend
But I now look back and see some very clear cut changes in me. I may not have lost the weight I wanted to, but it is starting to come off, my lifestyle has become healthier. I would have never set health related goals or fitness related goals. Now I am looking at a 17 mile walk near Madison in May and a 26.2 mile walk in June and I am telling mys self that if I want to seriously do these two events (and I am seriously interested) I need to get at least 30 pounds off my body (or under 250) before that date. But I have 6 months so I think I can (guess I need to sound like the little engine that could).
My biggest fear is winter, I normally hibernate and come out 3 months later 10-15 pounds heavier. I can't do that this year, I don't know how not to, but I suspect it will be by putting one foot in front of the other. Other things that will help is we are planning a trip to Vegas and LA, I have already found walks in areas we will be staying. Visiti0gn family up north, already know what trail we can hike. Halloween with caching Team B&B do a walk in La Crosse first, finding a way to still do everything else but to also start to take care of myself.
Thanks Roxy for being there most every step of the way and inspiring me to start and get my butt off the sofa. Thanks Robin for Ourhike, it may have been for your cause, but it has shown me a new path
To date 182041 steps for 102.6 miles. I have now burned enough calories that if you wanted to visualize them in one sense, I could eat one fast food chain specialty Cheeseburger for every day in February, during a leap years an still have not used up my calories burned. Onward to the Heartwalk and The Dairyland Walkers Lake Geneva 10K walk this weekend
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Gyms and MIlwaukee AVA walk
With the bustle around Al's Run/Walk I failed to mention other new things that are occurring. Given we live in Wisconsin the likelihood that we will be able to walk thru winter is nil. Between cold,snow and early sunsets it just isn't a good match up. So what to do, join a Gym.
So we go to one place and the guy behind the counter seems annoyed because we ruined his attempted pick up, shows us some prices and none of the equipment, we didn't buy. So we try another place and the manager is about to go off duty but stays to give us the tour. The place is a little small but alot of high quality equipment in it, the same equipment they use on the Biggest Loser in fact. Clean, neat, not a meat market and prices that were good enough, so we bought a membership.
Friday after doing a few things around the house, we grab a bite to eat and hit the gym. Right know just an hour on the treadmill is all I am looking for. Quickly I realize that walking right after dinner isnt smart, as I get a B of a side ache, but I keep going. The other major difference is when your walking a trail you set your own pace and soemtimes have to stop for traffic. The treadmill just keeps going at the pace that I entered in, which in the end seemed much tougher than trail walking. But thru the winter it will work and just 10 minutes from home is all the better.
Sunday we did our second AVA walk. This one was a little different than our first as it is a unsupervised walk (they do many of these). In this case we went to a hotel near Grand Avenue Mall and picked up the start cards and maps. The walks would take us 10K starting down Wisconsin Avenue to the Calatrava, then North on Lincoln Memorial to the snack shop at McKinley Beach, up the hill to the Water tower by Columbia /St. Marys and weaving our way back down to Lincoln Memorial. This time we veer off at the War Memorial (who knew there was a statue of Lincoln in front of the War Memorial?), over to Cathedral Square and finally back to the hotel to stamp our books to show we did the walk.
In the Friday thru Sunday time frame we walked a 5K and two 10Ks, roughly 15 miles. No wonder the wife is tired. Next weekend brings the AVA in Lake Geneva and a 5K Heartwalk.
Its funny on how quickly we have gotten some serious distance accomplished, at times I have been a little bummed that the weight hasnt gone as quickly as the miles have but 280 is near for me and I started at 296 so I cant complain much. People are starting to see it so I know there is some good happening.
To date168316 steps for 94.7miles, Tuesday I should go over 100 miles
So we go to one place and the guy behind the counter seems annoyed because we ruined his attempted pick up, shows us some prices and none of the equipment, we didn't buy. So we try another place and the manager is about to go off duty but stays to give us the tour. The place is a little small but alot of high quality equipment in it, the same equipment they use on the Biggest Loser in fact. Clean, neat, not a meat market and prices that were good enough, so we bought a membership.
Friday after doing a few things around the house, we grab a bite to eat and hit the gym. Right know just an hour on the treadmill is all I am looking for. Quickly I realize that walking right after dinner isnt smart, as I get a B of a side ache, but I keep going. The other major difference is when your walking a trail you set your own pace and soemtimes have to stop for traffic. The treadmill just keeps going at the pace that I entered in, which in the end seemed much tougher than trail walking. But thru the winter it will work and just 10 minutes from home is all the better.
Sunday we did our second AVA walk. This one was a little different than our first as it is a unsupervised walk (they do many of these). In this case we went to a hotel near Grand Avenue Mall and picked up the start cards and maps. The walks would take us 10K starting down Wisconsin Avenue to the Calatrava, then North on Lincoln Memorial to the snack shop at McKinley Beach, up the hill to the Water tower by Columbia /St. Marys and weaving our way back down to Lincoln Memorial. This time we veer off at the War Memorial (who knew there was a statue of Lincoln in front of the War Memorial?), over to Cathedral Square and finally back to the hotel to stamp our books to show we did the walk.
In the Friday thru Sunday time frame we walked a 5K and two 10Ks, roughly 15 miles. No wonder the wife is tired. Next weekend brings the AVA in Lake Geneva and a 5K Heartwalk.
Its funny on how quickly we have gotten some serious distance accomplished, at times I have been a little bummed that the weight hasnt gone as quickly as the miles have but 280 is near for me and I started at 296 so I cant complain much. People are starting to see it so I know there is some good happening.
To date168316 steps for 94.7miles, Tuesday I should go over 100 miles
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Sorry if this one sounds like a PSA
This walk today was personal. Several years ago WKLH radio thru there morning team Dave & Carole started the Miracle Marathon. It was 60 hours of them on the air the days before Memorial Day Weekend, they simply were raising money for Milwaukee's Childrens Hospital. Had a nice little program that with a credit card they took $20.00 per month for a year. Thru job changes and downsizing we have done that now for a while.
They have used this explanation as to why you should give, simply think of it this way if you have a child who never in there lifetime has any reason to use Childrens consider yourself lucky. I am one of those people. But if you are not, or you have a grandchild, niece or nephew who need Childrens this is why you donate. To help them. And recently with Little Man E we have fallen into that second category, we have a loved one that needs Childrens all to often. Or even if you have an friend or acquaintance that has a child that needs Childrens, it is amazing how many of us either directly or indirectly have been effected by Childrens , even if you dont know it.
If what I have wrote to date cant inspire somebody to get off there tail and walk some to get rid of some of that excess weight all to many of us carry, then let me ask you to open the wallet and help the nearest Childrens Hospital to where you live, the loved one you may be helping maybe somebody that will have an effect on your life.
The day was picture perfect and great for a walk. We were going to do two walks so we parked nearer the second walks starting point (and it was free I parked at work), so we had some distance to walk to the starting line. As we approached we could hear Dave & Carole on the speaker system as the MC's of the event. The event is split into several different categories. An 8K wheelchair event, and 8K run and a 5 mile and 3 mile walk. We opted for the 3 mile walk since we had other plans after.
By the time the starters gun (actually an air horn) fired there was 16,000 participants. For those of you who know downtown Milwaukee that is about 5 blocks of people in both the East and West lanes. One item I thought was very cool was thre was a group a of Marines and Sailors running, two across in formation and the ovation the men and woman got as they weaved up to the starting line was quite loud.
Th walk itself was great MU Cheerleaders and Woman's Basketball team cheering you on as you passed the starting line. Several bands set up on the route playing as you went by, even the Milwaukee Festival Choir singing God Bless America. UWM Panther Cheerleaders were also visible as we rounded the last turn into the Summerfest grounds.
I think the one visual that will stay with me for years is when we first came down Wisconsin Avenue and could see the Sunburst statue on the left and the Calatrava with wings opening in front of us and about 8 solid blocks of runners and walkers (it spread out a little bit), the lake glittering in front of us, truly a wonderful thing to be apart of.
Once we made it to Summerfest we walked back to my car and headed to Grand Avenue Mall (are they ever empty three) to get a bite to eat. Between getting dehydrated and being on 500 calories per day said she couldn't go on to do our 10K. But that was ok since our 3 mile walk with going to and from the car was now over 10K itself. We called it a day and will head back downtown tomorrow to do that 10K
11211 steps today-ALL FOR A GREAT CAUSE!!
They have used this explanation as to why you should give, simply think of it this way if you have a child who never in there lifetime has any reason to use Childrens consider yourself lucky. I am one of those people. But if you are not, or you have a grandchild, niece or nephew who need Childrens this is why you donate. To help them. And recently with Little Man E we have fallen into that second category, we have a loved one that needs Childrens all to often. Or even if you have an friend or acquaintance that has a child that needs Childrens, it is amazing how many of us either directly or indirectly have been effected by Childrens , even if you dont know it.
If what I have wrote to date cant inspire somebody to get off there tail and walk some to get rid of some of that excess weight all to many of us carry, then let me ask you to open the wallet and help the nearest Childrens Hospital to where you live, the loved one you may be helping maybe somebody that will have an effect on your life.
The day was picture perfect and great for a walk. We were going to do two walks so we parked nearer the second walks starting point (and it was free I parked at work), so we had some distance to walk to the starting line. As we approached we could hear Dave & Carole on the speaker system as the MC's of the event. The event is split into several different categories. An 8K wheelchair event, and 8K run and a 5 mile and 3 mile walk. We opted for the 3 mile walk since we had other plans after.
By the time the starters gun (actually an air horn) fired there was 16,000 participants. For those of you who know downtown Milwaukee that is about 5 blocks of people in both the East and West lanes. One item I thought was very cool was thre was a group a of Marines and Sailors running, two across in formation and the ovation the men and woman got as they weaved up to the starting line was quite loud.
Th walk itself was great MU Cheerleaders and Woman's Basketball team cheering you on as you passed the starting line. Several bands set up on the route playing as you went by, even the Milwaukee Festival Choir singing God Bless America. UWM Panther Cheerleaders were also visible as we rounded the last turn into the Summerfest grounds.
I think the one visual that will stay with me for years is when we first came down Wisconsin Avenue and could see the Sunburst statue on the left and the Calatrava with wings opening in front of us and about 8 solid blocks of runners and walkers (it spread out a little bit), the lake glittering in front of us, truly a wonderful thing to be apart of.
Once we made it to Summerfest we walked back to my car and headed to Grand Avenue Mall (are they ever empty three) to get a bite to eat. Between getting dehydrated and being on 500 calories per day said she couldn't go on to do our 10K. But that was ok since our 3 mile walk with going to and from the car was now over 10K itself. We called it a day and will head back downtown tomorrow to do that 10K
11211 steps today-ALL FOR A GREAT CAUSE!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Nice Milestone today
My wife has really surprised me the last two days. I had expected her to cut back on walking due to her 500 calorie days. She has not and we have walked 5K each of the last two nights.
I had wanted to see if I could run a mile but I rather have her by my side than try running. And truthfully on Tuesday I couldn't have run a mile, I could barely walk one. I have been having some serious cramping in the calf, above the ankle on the outside of the leg. Hurts like a SOB but I keep going
Good news for this weekend got our bibs 6601 and 6682 for Al's Run/Walk. They offer a 3 and 5 mile walk. So what would you expect out of us? Well we are doing the three mile. No we are not going soft.
The Dairyland Walkers has a Year Round Event (basically go to a set location get the map and take the hike and get credit upon completion), that is located within a 1/2 block of where we are parking so we are going to go there and after doing the 3 miles do another 10K (6.2 miles)
One thing I like with this walking club is that they are part of an international walking club and therefore if you are say in Nevada walking up the east side of the strip is a YRE that you can get credit for. Plus they have various challenges such as doing a club walk in all Wisconsin Counties, or all states, or one honoring fire and police professionals. One thing I learned from Geocaching is we like challenges so this should help us go more places to find new areas
As for that milestone, since I started I have passed the 75 mile mark. Over the next two weekends I will surpass 100 miles
I had wanted to see if I could run a mile but I rather have her by my side than try running. And truthfully on Tuesday I couldn't have run a mile, I could barely walk one. I have been having some serious cramping in the calf, above the ankle on the outside of the leg. Hurts like a SOB but I keep going
Good news for this weekend got our bibs 6601 and 6682 for Al's Run/Walk. They offer a 3 and 5 mile walk. So what would you expect out of us? Well we are doing the three mile. No we are not going soft.
The Dairyland Walkers has a Year Round Event (basically go to a set location get the map and take the hike and get credit upon completion), that is located within a 1/2 block of where we are parking so we are going to go there and after doing the 3 miles do another 10K (6.2 miles)
One thing I like with this walking club is that they are part of an international walking club and therefore if you are say in Nevada walking up the east side of the strip is a YRE that you can get credit for. Plus they have various challenges such as doing a club walk in all Wisconsin Counties, or all states, or one honoring fire and police professionals. One thing I learned from Geocaching is we like challenges so this should help us go more places to find new areas
As for that milestone, since I started I have passed the 75 mile mark. Over the next two weekends I will surpass 100 miles
Monday, October 4, 2010
2nd 10k in 3 days
My wife has taken most of the steps I have during this journey, but she also has another journey. She has been some seriously hardcore dieting, its three weeks of 500 calories then back to a more normal intake. One side effect of this is lack of stamina and energy, so I don't expect her to go as far or as often as we have during the 3 week period.
The person who is helping her has told her she can continue to walk once she is in her three week cycle since she has built some stamina herself at this point.
So we set out, I am just hoping to see mile marker two on our trip today, the weather is a little chilly but not bad for walking. To help we have gotten some better designed clothing for walking from the Nike Outlet store (finally no chaffing YEAH!!) and it seems to be going pretty smooth. We pass Mile Marker 2 and she wants to keep going.
Past the next road crossing, then the bend in the road the signifies the furthest we have hiked on the Bugline. Then the light goes on, she wants to see Mile Marker 3. How she is doing this on only 500 calories I have no idea, but I respect it. I dont think she has any idea how much she impresses me with her journey and how that makes my journey easier
On the way back she starts dragging and by the time we get home I think she would rather just go to bed than have dinner. We walked just a bit short of our second 10K in three days
No walking for her tomorrow, we will adjust to every other day while she is in her three weeks. I figure that I am going to try to up my game tomorrow, when I started I didnt know if I could walk a mile, many years ago I could run a under 6 minute mile. Tomorrow it is time to see if I can run a mile again, but I won't worry about the six minute mark
11351 steps today for a total of 123248 so far
The person who is helping her has told her she can continue to walk once she is in her three week cycle since she has built some stamina herself at this point.
So we set out, I am just hoping to see mile marker two on our trip today, the weather is a little chilly but not bad for walking. To help we have gotten some better designed clothing for walking from the Nike Outlet store (finally no chaffing YEAH!!) and it seems to be going pretty smooth. We pass Mile Marker 2 and she wants to keep going.
Past the next road crossing, then the bend in the road the signifies the furthest we have hiked on the Bugline. Then the light goes on, she wants to see Mile Marker 3. How she is doing this on only 500 calories I have no idea, but I respect it. I dont think she has any idea how much she impresses me with her journey and how that makes my journey easier
On the way back she starts dragging and by the time we get home I think she would rather just go to bed than have dinner. We walked just a bit short of our second 10K in three days
No walking for her tomorrow, we will adjust to every other day while she is in her three weeks. I figure that I am going to try to up my game tomorrow, when I started I didnt know if I could walk a mile, many years ago I could run a under 6 minute mile. Tomorrow it is time to see if I can run a mile again, but I won't worry about the six minute mark
11351 steps today for a total of 123248 so far
Sunday, October 3, 2010
How I walked 10K to do a 2 terrain Geocache
Been a little tardy and neglectful in my posting-Sorry to anybody who is reading this.
We started geocaching in an attempt to loose weight, that never occurred so now we have started walking. Nice thing is that sometimes these to things can coexist. To non cachers a 2 terrain geocache means there are some hills involved and the terrain is a bit rougher but no big deal, so people normally don't walk 10K (6.2 miles) to do these types of caches, but who said I was normal.
We arrived in Union Center to the Dairyland Walkers (part of the American Volkssports Association) sponsor walk on the Hillsboro spur of the 400 bike trail. We wore our Wisconsin Geocaching Assocication sweatshirts and while we were talking and getting information about the club (which we did join) about the club we were also waiting for a shuttle to take us to the starting point. The sponsor from the club then informs us there is a cache nearby, but it is time to go.
The walk started as a walk around the city streets of Hillsboro for about 4K. I am not a huge fan of walking on city sidewalks as it jars my knees and ankles. But the guy who decided airline seats should be smaller, must have designed the width of the sidewalks in this town, we couldn't walk two across the sidewalk. Finally we get to the access point to the trail (so we thought) and did a tour of a liquid fertilizer plant (good thing I quit smoking years ago, open flame would equal BOOM here). Tried again and found the proper route, the next 6K was on a trail similar to what I am used to walking on and was no problem on the body and completely different from the first portion. This part was heavily wooded around you, there were several bridges you had to cross and most of the time you couldn't hear Highway 33 even though it was just a few 100 feet away.
In the end it took us about 2 hours to do the distance, this make the furthest my wife has gone in one hike and she handled it wonderfully. Oh and we nabbed the cache after walking the trail
On the way homes stopped at the Nike Outlet to get some more cold weather friendly gear for hiking.
Next weekends goals Al's Run/Walk for Children's Hospital and hopefully doing the Dairyland Walkers YRE in downtown Milwaukee which is 10K. Will try to do both in the same day for a total of 15K that day
To date 111897 steps and 62.6 miles, startign to wonder if we can do 250K steps before year end
We started geocaching in an attempt to loose weight, that never occurred so now we have started walking. Nice thing is that sometimes these to things can coexist. To non cachers a 2 terrain geocache means there are some hills involved and the terrain is a bit rougher but no big deal, so people normally don't walk 10K (6.2 miles) to do these types of caches, but who said I was normal.
We arrived in Union Center to the Dairyland Walkers (part of the American Volkssports Association) sponsor walk on the Hillsboro spur of the 400 bike trail. We wore our Wisconsin Geocaching Assocication sweatshirts and while we were talking and getting information about the club (which we did join) about the club we were also waiting for a shuttle to take us to the starting point. The sponsor from the club then informs us there is a cache nearby, but it is time to go.
The walk started as a walk around the city streets of Hillsboro for about 4K. I am not a huge fan of walking on city sidewalks as it jars my knees and ankles. But the guy who decided airline seats should be smaller, must have designed the width of the sidewalks in this town, we couldn't walk two across the sidewalk. Finally we get to the access point to the trail (so we thought) and did a tour of a liquid fertilizer plant (good thing I quit smoking years ago, open flame would equal BOOM here). Tried again and found the proper route, the next 6K was on a trail similar to what I am used to walking on and was no problem on the body and completely different from the first portion. This part was heavily wooded around you, there were several bridges you had to cross and most of the time you couldn't hear Highway 33 even though it was just a few 100 feet away.
In the end it took us about 2 hours to do the distance, this make the furthest my wife has gone in one hike and she handled it wonderfully. Oh and we nabbed the cache after walking the trail
On the way homes stopped at the Nike Outlet to get some more cold weather friendly gear for hiking.
Next weekends goals Al's Run/Walk for Children's Hospital and hopefully doing the Dairyland Walkers YRE in downtown Milwaukee which is 10K. Will try to do both in the same day for a total of 15K that day
To date 111897 steps and 62.6 miles, startign to wonder if we can do 250K steps before year end
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Off the DL or How to effectively use Duct Tape in walking
Well two days off and the body wants to go out but my nagging injuries still nagging at me. So for the chaffing issue my wife picked up some liquid bandage. Worked good but it stung like a SOB when first applied.
My blister was down but the surface skin was still soft so I knew it would fill up again. So I did some looking on line and I saw an odd item that I though ok I can try this, but it wont work.
There is some camo'd Duct Tape that a lot of geocachers buy because it will work so good to hide items with, only thing is this particular brand sticks to nothing, not even itself, well almost nothing, it sticks to your hands pretty well. Well it sitting in the same room as my shoes, this cant work, but then again what can it hurt to try. So I apply camo'd duct tape to the back of my heal and by the end of the hike the blister is starting to fill a tiny bit.
So now the two nagging injuries seem to be under control and we are back on the trails, goal for this weekend is a 10K (6.2 miles) on the 400 trail in Union Center WI, it is a sponsored event of the Dairyland Walkers of which we are joining this weekend
Another 6622 steps on my journey taken. Goals for this week are to get over 60 miles to date and break 100K steps. If we walk nightly we have a very good chance of me doing this
My blister was down but the surface skin was still soft so I knew it would fill up again. So I did some looking on line and I saw an odd item that I though ok I can try this, but it wont work.
There is some camo'd Duct Tape that a lot of geocachers buy because it will work so good to hide items with, only thing is this particular brand sticks to nothing, not even itself, well almost nothing, it sticks to your hands pretty well. Well it sitting in the same room as my shoes, this cant work, but then again what can it hurt to try. So I apply camo'd duct tape to the back of my heal and by the end of the hike the blister is starting to fill a tiny bit.
So now the two nagging injuries seem to be under control and we are back on the trails, goal for this weekend is a 10K (6.2 miles) on the 400 trail in Union Center WI, it is a sponsored event of the Dairyland Walkers of which we are joining this weekend
Another 6622 steps on my journey taken. Goals for this week are to get over 60 miles to date and break 100K steps. If we walk nightly we have a very good chance of me doing this
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