Snow Day, Lone Way

This is the snow covered Grant's trail Today. The area in blue are my tracks.

Today due to the snow I had to do a different course for my walking. This is from my house down to Grant's trail then turn around at the halfway point and come on back. This really had a lot more hill walking than normal because I had to walk down the hills from the house to the trail then on the way back I went up Union Rd which has a big hill from the trail to Reavis BRKS Rd. Then of course the hill back to the house so that was quite a bit more hill climbing than normal all together about 200 feet climbing up and down.

Two cold birds this morning.

The trail had some indications of people having been on it. Mostly from the foot prints in the snow. There were some kids playing near the trail in the snow with sleds but that was just having fun on a snow day. I really don't think that it was necessary to have a snow day because the roads were clear and the snow is dry and packs well. But the big news was failure to see anyone else on the trail. So Today is the first day I was the only one on the trail.

Since I had to modify my walking plan Today I had to guess where to turn around and come back but I did pretty well. I an more likely to go further then cut it short if I am to guess on my own. I was close my steps Today were 11, 610 so that was withing a quarter miles of the same distance. I did see many birds on the trail Today and got a few pictures of them. However one of a Cardinal that I wanted to take failed due to me holding the camera upside down and pressing the wrong button on the camera phone.

A cardinal

Not much new fitness wise to report other than progress is still being made. I am over 4% or my distance goal of 1750 now. Of course when you are more than 80 pounds over weight it takes a while to get that gone. It would be nice if I could get it down as fast as my buddy Rob Fahn who has lost a lot of weight at his doctors urging. I just knew I had too. I was having some odd feelings in my body that I decided were indications of being too fat. Not that I really needed any other indication than my clothes and mirror. With Today's walk I am at 73.69 miles for my journey.

Not endorsed by Mayo

I did shovel the drive way this morning too. According to the Mayo Clinic that is a good aerobic exercise too. But it only took about 20 minuets to do. By the time I got back home the wind had blown a couple of drifts back onto the driveway. I will have to try some of my clothes on again to see if any more have mysteriously grown lately.

I did a new style of the cover.

With the snow shoveling in mind and having done my snowy walk Today I must say, in the words of James Brown, “I feel good.”

Keep on the trail,

Thomas

New Years Goal Already Underway

A section of Grant's Trail looking west toward Tesson Ferry Rd.

The temperature was a bit colder than yesterday. According to the stltoday.com the temperature was 25ºF at about 11:00 this morning. The walk sure started out cold though. It seemed even colder to me than the second day I went. I think that was because there was more wind and no snow to insulate us more. But after the first section I was warm enough that it didn't matter than much. That is the main deal it isn't so much how you start but how you finish.

So the number of steps from where I begin at Musick to when I get home must be really close to 8850 steps. Because the past two days I hit that number almost exactly. Soon I am going to go on down to the fitness trail office on Reavis Barracks. That should add almost two more miles to the trip. Eventually I want to go from Musick to the end of Grant's Trail and walk back on Union to home. That should about double my current walking trail. But I may wait until I am back to jogging at that time because that will take a bit of time too.

Future plans include walking to Reavis.

Happy New Year to all. I did see about 12 people out this morning and for as cold as it was that seems pretty good. We will see how it goes over the next few days. Oddly enough our of the 12 I would say 6 were fat men like me. So maybe they are starting the new year out right. The real measure will be if they make it to DEC 31, 2011. I sure hope that I do.

Also on the trail I saw a cardinal. A bright read one. He looked like he was looking for some food. But he had a nice red beak and very red markings for his feathers. I wish I could have taken a picture but it was a nice thing to see for my first walk of the year. GO CARDINALS!

A few stats, I have gotten over 25 miles so far. I am averaging more than 10000 steps per day. My BP was 139/89 which was a bit higher but I was having some trouble with my phone so that could get my pressure going for sure. And my pulse was a good 76. I think this is a good way to begin the New year right. However I did notice at the beginning of the walk my shins were a bit painful but I am thinking that is due to the cold because I don't walk faster than I normally do.The hardest part, of course, to losing weight is the slow long process of actually doing it. The results seem to take forever even after all the effort you have put out. That is one of the main reasons that I want to use this blog as a tool to help me keep going and maybe a source to encourage others to keep going as well. 

Again, Happy 2011 everyone.

Thomas