Walking, Walking, Walking

I think facing my first 15 mile walk has been my most daunting challenge to date. I didn't get out as early as I had planned, because, quite frankly, my dears, I wasn't prepared. My pack wasn't ready, my food and water weren't prepared, even my clothes hadn't been cleaned. These I had to do before I took the first step out of the door. I ended up getting on the road about 9:30 am.

And it was the first day of fall, and it was gorgeous! Maybe just a tad bit warmer than I really like, but hey, I'll take it. I brought my camera, and took some photos of my sights along the way.

I've lived in the Westerville area for nearly twenty years, and actually worked at the Friendly Ice Cream that opened there in '74. But I've never got out and explored. Like the sign at the Stoner House, I've passed it I don't know how many times, but never stopped and read it. It was part of the underground railroad!

I got to Max & Erma's at 8 miles and stopped there to have my lunch break. I got the half sandwich, and salad combo--turkey club (yes, I was good and took off the cheese) with a field greens salad, that had roasted tomatoes and balsamic vinegarette. It was soooo good. And it was very relaxing to sit in the coolness in the dimly lit restaurant. I was facing the Nutts sign and it just struck my funny bone.

After I finished my lunch I hit the pavement again. On Cleveland Ave. I passed a farm (yes, we have farms in the middle of Columbus!) with a huge field of corn waiting to be harvested. It would have been perfect if Ray Liotta, as Shoeless Joe Jackson had emerged, looking for a game.

Then it was back to downtown Westerville, and then west on Main towards home. I stopped at Astronaut Grove, a memorial to the Challenger and it's lost crew. It's a beautiful little park.

Nearly home, I stopped to stretch at the little bridge that goes over the creek. This little swamp looked so pretty, and you'd never know there were houses on either side, and the elementary school in front.

I was so relieved to walk through my front door! I walked in at 3:3o pm, 6 hours after I left. Actual pavement pounding was 4 hours 59 minutes. Not bad, about 3 miles an hour, though those last three miles were slow and really killed my average.

So, what makes up that 15 miles? Well, according to my pedometer, that's 39,906 steps and I burned 1,548.5 calories. That's right, 15 miles only burns 1548.5 calories. That will certainly make me think the next time I order the Flourless Chocolate Cake at Claddaugh!

My Hero!

Yea! Jeremy! He brought my pc back to life. And we didn't have to spend a dime to do it. It's so nice to be able to sit down at 1:43 am and type an entry.

Against The Clock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Now that my distance walks are improving, I really need to start doing some timed walks, to get my speed up. This isn't a race, but I don't want to be the last one to straggle into camp each night because I'm so slow. So, last night, on my mid-week short walk, I did 3.64 miles in 61 minutes, which is about a 16.75 minute mile. That's down from my last timed walk of an 18 minute mile. On Friday, my 10 mile walk was an average of 21 minutes a mile, but that also included stopping for traffic signals. My goal for the 3 Day is to average 18 minute miles for each day. I have a lot of work to do!

Under The Weather

Yep, my PC went belly up over the weekend. I've had a problem with it since I've had it, but Jeremy has been able to do patches on it and keep it afloat. Now it looks like I will have to have Windows XP reinstalled, but I don't have the disk. So, until I am able to procure one, I will have to do my updates before work, or during lunch. Hopefully it won't take long and I'll be back to my midnight blogging!

Richard McGuire, 1945-2007

The loss of Richard on Tuesday was huge, not only personally, but to all who knew him. He had only been diagnosed with cancer in June, and he fought valiantly against the disease. However, lung cancer is a horrible disease and is so hard to beat, but Richard kept his sense of humor to the very end. Today, at work, we held a celebration of his life, and this is what I said:

"Richard is one of the few people I can actually remember meeting for the first time. In ’87 I was still working the switchboard. Back in those days, the front desk was this tall cubicle thing. Even when I sat up straight, all anyone could see of me was from my nose up. Usually, though, I would be working on data reports, so I would be bent over reading them, and anyone walking through the front door would see no one sitting there. This particular day, I was engrossed in a data report, and I looked up to see this big guy peering over the counter at me. Most people would have introduced themselves at that point, but Richard wasn’t most people. Instead, he told a joke, I laughed and thought, “who the heck is this guy?!”.

We got into a routine where I would see him, say “who let you out of your cage”, he’d reply “What’s it to you? You writin’ a book”, I would say, “Why, yes I am”, and then he’d have a quip, like, “Then go hide and you can make it a mystery” or “Kiss me and make it a love story”.

I will always remember Richard for his quick wit and his ability to make everyone laugh. I have no doubts that at this moment, Richard is leaning across St. Peter’s desk, in front of the Pearly Gates, his pipe in one hand, telling him the one about the Priest and the Rabbi who meet a grizzly bear in the woods, which is just his way of introducing himself."

So, to my old pal Richard, this traditional Irish prayer....

May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face.May the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.

August Round-up

In some ways, August went by with a snap of the fingers, but with all the extreme heat, the month also seemed to go on and on and on….but hopefully that is behind us. We could use a string of gorgeous days. Shout-outs go to Sue, Patrick, Charlotte, Lois, Diana and Joyce this month. Thank you all so much!

I do have a tidbit of news to share..... Wednesday, we had our annual Employee Appreciation Day picnic. As I was headed up to the buffet, Mr. T. called me aside and told me that when I get back in November, he's going to have the publication department get with me to do an article on the walk and my fundraising. I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeVille.....

$$$
As I wrote a couple of days ago, I have achieved my minimum fundraising goal of $2,200. Yesterday I took another load of can to the recycling plant and got $16.90 (16 pounds) for my Pop Cans for the Cure Fund. That brings the fund up to $39.65 now (61 pounds of cans). I want to give special shout-outs to Johnny for collecting two bags of cans, and to his beautiful wife, Nikki, for delivering them to me. Also, to Joyce Metal & Iron for always being so nice to me when I take my monthly load of cans in.

Weight: 210
I just can’t seem to get below that number. I’ve only lost 5 pounds since the end of May. That’s better than nothing, but I’d like to be down to below 200 by the time I leave for SD in November.

Walking
I’ve been doing really great at getting my walks in. I’m to the point where walking 7 miles at one time is quite comfortable. That’s a good thing, because there's only 10 weeks to go until event! I've got a lot of walking this weekend, and thank goodness the weather is going to be great.