Happy Darwin Day

Happy Birthday Charles.

Tomorrow represents the 202^nd anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin. Regardless of a persons views on his work concerning natural selection, he certainly is a person that has influenced the world from his life's work. So go out and hug an ape.

Today is going to be another short day as I have got to get ready to go to Collinsville, IL and do some work. Plus Tonight Cheryl is going to be here so I want to be ready for her arrival.

Today was a very short walk. It is funny because it is as long as when I first started out back in December but now it is less than half of the distance that I cover. I weighted myself again Today and it seems like I might be at 256 pounds. That is twelve percent of my body weight that I have lost now and my blood pressure continues to stay in the “green” levels.

I find it so hard to deal with the long slow process of losing the weight. I mean the actual walking and watching food consumption is really hard. Plus when I look in the mirror and see how far I have yet to go to look the way I want to it seem like and unending path. I guess in a way it is.

That is the main reason I began this process of keeping a blog and recording my fitness numbers so I can have clear and tangible proof that I am actually moving toward my goal. How many of us have worked to lose weight and then after reaching a goal slack off and do not even realize that the weight lost comes back? It is that easy to gain weight. You don't have to do anything at all.

I know some people that can eat all they want, it seems, and are still skinny as a rail. That used to be me when I was in high school and college. But I think I was pretty active back then too. I did a lot of walking and was pretty active. Back then you had to go to an arcade and stand up while you played video games. Not these in home couch potato ones they have now. However I guess the manufactures are changing that too.

Highlights, I am at 307 miles which is enough distance to reach where Cheryl lives in Chicago. That also brings me to 17.5 percent of my goal of 1750 miles. This months average blood pressure is 125/77. Not too bad for a fat man, I say.

Keep on track,

Thomas

Waiting For That Warmer Weather

This horse ate some freshly tossed alfalfa on the ground.

Someone told me that some animal saw its shadow and it is suppose to be warm now. By the way Groundhog day was my Grandmother's 110^th birthday. Happy birthday Granny Tanner.

With the Super Bowl over and winter still much in effect for much of the country the only thing to do is to walk to entertain each other until some real sports begin. Like say, baseball. All you cricket and soccer and tennis people may say that your sport is worthy to be enjoyed but that is just because you have never enjoyed a good baseball season. But through the magic of time and some other magic, the gr4eenskeepers are transforming the white snow into green grass all across the country. So that on March 31^st real sports can begin again.

OK enough about that. I walked more than 11 miles Today which is the furthers I have gone on Grant's Trail. I went all the way to Watson Road. I think Tomorrow I will try to make it all the way to I-44. That would be the whole length of the trail. That would mark the first time I had done that, even on a bike. Plus it would be a good path to get on. That would make my walk about 13 miles. I just hope it warms up soon.

I have almost walked the distance from St. Louis to the Oklahoma State line following I-44. I should reach the total distance by the end of the week. I hope by Wednesday. I am at 271 miles as of right now. I figured the number of steps that is about 3.5 million to reach my goal distance of 1750 miles. It is odd to think that there are so many steps to that distance when we can drive it in just a few days or fly it in just a few hours.

It takes a lot of feed to feed these big bodies.

I wonder how long it would take me if I was using a Clydesdale to reach the distance. Maybe I should ask the people at Grant's Farm to see if they would let me ride one of their horses.

Oh this was a interesting tidbit. My Army uniform top is much closer to fitting that it has been in a long time. I still can't get it on but I am glad that I kept it all these years because when I can fir into that I know that I am on my way to my weight when I was in the service. I haven't tried the pants yet. I figure the shirt would fit before the pants will.

I found a tape measure and found out my chest is 48 inches and my fat waist is 52 inches and my neck is 18 ½ inches. Being that I have no prior measurements to compare this with I will have to use this as a comparison moving forward.

That's all for Today, Folks.

Thomas

Another Snow Story

Clydesdale in the snow.

When I woke up this morning and looked outside there was about 6 to 7 inches of snow and it was still coming down. I was pretty sure I was going to have to walk from home since the snow was so deep. I went a different path Today and went down to Grant's Trail through one of the neighborhoods that border it. Then I headed to Grant's Farm and then back the regular path. I was surprised how many people were out this morning. Before I even left I saw someone out jogging in the snow in front of the house.

I also saw several bike riders and even a cross country skier near Clydesdale Park. Actually I saw his tracks but when I began he wasn't there and they were there on the way back. So he must have been pretty fast. But they only went for about a mile so even going back and forth it was two miles. I did ten miles Today.

An abandoned rail track near Grant's trail showing the snow.

Due to the snow it was incredibly hard to walk. It took much longer than normal, plus I fell one time near the Affton Athletic Center. It seemed that at the AAC they had some event because there was a lot of traffic this morning. Some of the other areas that were hard to walk on was the intersections where the trail and a road met and all the streets. At least the snow was wet enough for me to get a good footing but still if I was to fall the road was right there.

The temperature was rather warm considering that it has been in the 20s for the past month or lower. It was in the 30s during Today's walk so the roads were clearing of snow fast. As of the writing of this the temperature was 37ºF and it looked like the snow on the street was melting.

I am also at 260 miles so far and that puts me near 15 percent of my 1750 mile goal. I am still averaging more than 1000kcal per day used and more than seven miles per day walked.

Back North on Clark Street

Two cool cats at the zoo.

This morning after I walked with Cheryl to work I went north and east from her office to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I didn't bother going to the zoo itself since it was so cold but I did at least walk in the park around it. There was also a memorial to the last survivor of the Boston Tea Party in the park too. I thought that was quite interesting. It said he dies in 1852 and lived to be 115 years old. That was pretty old for back then. This was 79 years after the actual event. Another plaque at the site stated that the man's age was in question but he still could have been at the site when it happened regardless. You can look up more about him on any search engine. His name was David Kennison.

A real Tea Party Patriot.

But before I made my way all the way up to Lincoln Park I was walking down Grand St. and passed a Telsa car dealership. The Telsa is an all electric sports car. There were several of them in the showroom but it was closed at the time so I just took a pictures from the window. They looked rather nice. I would have liked to been able to look at one close up. I understand that they drive pretty fast as well.

A fast and quiet car.

The temperature was good Today. I think it was at 24ºF. There wasn't that much wind this morning during the walk either. I did almost nine miles this morning and I still and three miles short of the ten percent of the goal mark. Of course that will be 175 miles.

The average for the days I walk in distance is more then six miles. Counting the Sundays also I am averaging about 10.5 miles per day. So at this current pace I have about 150 more days before I reach my goal. That would take me to sometime in June. Plenty of time to be ready for my next birthday.

I used to do this.

Also, while walking downtown I saw a line up of live trucks near city hall. I would guess that they were there due to the deal with Rahm Emanuel. I am sure he and his team are working hard to get the ruling overturned so he can get on the ballet. Personally I think he should be able to run. I had to deal with a similar situation when I came back from the Gulf War when I wanted to attend Kansas State University. I had to prove that I was a resident of Kansas. So while I can't vote on way or another but I can sympathize with his situation.

Hu is in Chinatown?

Around the corner from the Live trucks on the lamp posts were some of the banners that were hung up for the President of China. I stuck out to me because there was an American and China flag right next to each other. Not something that is seen so much. But the welcome sign was in English on one side and some Chinese language on the other side of the pole.I wonder in China if they have American towns like we do here?