Short Blog Today

I am going to make this fast and easy because I have several things I need to do Today.

SO Today I did over ten miles which brings my total to 304 miles. Just shy of reaching from my home to Cheryl's apartment in Chicago. My blood Pressure was 118/75, so I am glad about that for sure too.

Come on out to Edwardsville this weekend for pet pictures.

Due to me doing a event this weekend I am going to be walking a shorter distance for the next two days to make sure I am back in time. Also I may not have my walking blogs posted until much later. Sorry about that but you have to do what you can.

I wish everyone success on their journey and I will be back with more soon.

Keep on track,

Thomas

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I did 10 miles Today and this put me over 293 miles and almost 17 percent of my goal of 1750 miles. This would be more then the distance from St. Louis to The Kansas State line on Interstate 44. Which also means that I have walked the distance to Kansas City, Memphis, Indianapolis, Louisville and Nashville. I should reach the distance to Chicago with in a couple of days.

My blood pressure continues to stay within healthy levels. The best news is that the temperature should be getting warmer for the next week. I am pretty excited about that. According to the livestrong website I am on target to be at 240 pounds by March 10. I would be very happy about that.

More Than One Million Steps!

Interstate 44 is at the north end of Grant's Trail in Kirkwood.

Well that alone should be good enough for Today but I also walked all the way to the end of Grant's Trail. I also walked 12.5 miles Today too. That is 283 miles since December 28^th, 2010. Thew one million steps is from all of last year though. So it is from a much longer period of time. I was also surprised to find out that it got colder as the day went on. It was about 26ºF when I started and it was down to 12ºF when I got back home. I thought it was getting colder but I thought it was from the wind chill and not real temperature.

The number of steps I have taken since I began walking again is 567,066. So that is more than a half million in about six weeks. So at this rate I should reach my goal of 1750 miles in November. That has moved up due to the fact that I am walking more than my original goal. I think once I reach the goal I might go back to the 4 miles per day to maintain my weight.

My Starting place is Musick and Gravois.

My total distance Today was 12.5 miles and I think that is the longest I have gone in a long time with out a break somewhere a long the line. I am also feeling better and think I can see some differences in my waist. But it is so big it is going to take a long time. I know when I come in after a long walk like this I want to go in the bathroom and look in the mirror and see it ALL GONE. But it doesn't work that way.

But it sure feels good using the livestrong website for the food tracking and activity tracker. It helps a lot with keeping your totals on your food and calories on track. I know I have mentioned it before but if you have not used it yet or even looked at it it has so much good information that you cannot help but to gain some sort of useful information from it. And donate blood.

9109 Watson Rd, Home of Almon Chiropractic Therapy?

Grant's Trail passes near my niece's new office I am sure it is in the 9109 Watson Rd Building near Applebee's. It looks mighty fancy to me. I think she said she is going to name it Almon Chiropractic Center or Clinic I would name is Almon Chiropractic Therapy so the initials can be ACT. Then she could answer the phone, “Hello, ACT Center. What acting up with you?” Plus I think the name sounds better too.

She still needs Missouri car tags. Oklahoma is OK, Missouri is awesome!

Anyway, I hit 260 pounds Today. So that is more than 10 percent of my weight goal. WHAT? All that work and only 10 percent. I must be one fat tub of lard. Oh yes, I am. Back on track. That is really good news since I was going to stop Today if I wasn't any lighter. [not really] That is 30 pounds since the end of December. I am after all trying to reach a 30 percent goal so I am already one third there. To be honest the 30 percent is just a starting point. Then at that time I have to decide what I am going to do. Either working on weight training or more jogging. After I get under 250 pounds I might start jogging again. I might wait until 240 pounds. I am just concerned about my knees and the extra weight. SO far I have not had any noticeable issue with my feet or knees. However, my back hurts a bit but that has got to be from the 60 to 70 pounds of extra fat I am carrying.

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.

No Horsing Around, Back on Track

A world famous Budweiser Clydesdale at Grant's Farm.

After my return trip and a walk in the mall I am back to the trail. This time due to the distance I was walking in Chicago I am going a longer path on Grant's Trail. Now I am turning left on Gravois and walk toward Grant's Farm and the National Park. I got to see some of the world Famous Budweiser Clydesdale there as well. They have on their winter coat of hair too. It was nice that a few of the horse came to the fence and I even got to pet them on the nose. I saw how their hoofs make the snow fly up as they walk like in the TV ads. They were pretty friendly but still a bit skiddish.

The distance was over ten miles the way I walked. Most of that is on level ground or at least at a very slight incline. I also extended the walk to the Moose lodge at the end of Grant's Trail. On that last section there is some construction work being done and it looks like there might be some sort of bike park or trail there.

Without a doubt there is a need for some warmer temperatures soon. It wouldn't be bad to have about a week or longer of temperatures in the 30's or more. That should get rid of the ice and snow. But of course with the warmer weather will come rain and storms.

From the famous Grant's Farm bread package.

I am almost at 250 miles of the 1750 mile goal I am shooting for. I am looking forward to the next 60 days as that should really make a bigger difference in my gut and such. If I can lose about 40 to 50 pounds by then I will be most happy with the results. With Today's walk I did ten miles and even though that is the longest one for in St. Louis I still have several that are longer when I was in Chicago. I understand that due to Chicago being so flat that it is much more easy to walk further. That is why so many people are able to start and finish the Chicago marathon.

Look for a run near you.

I would say by April or May I should be jogging again and maybe by then I can consider looking at doing some actual runs for a charity or something like that. There is a website that has these events listed called “GO! St. Louis.” There are lists of many running and walking events.

My blood pressure is good so far for the month but do to the snow and travel I got only Today listed but I am glad that it is staying low going into the short month.