From Saturday 9:00 am and then for the next 24 hours the American Cancer Society’s has the Lancaster Relay for Life,  (also there is one in Palmdale). Northrop Grumman was present with a small team. The booth was active and many “swag” items were available. The t-shirt is a collectable, the back of the shirt has our company’s name misspelled in both words, “Northrup Grummon”.

I decided to walk five hours, so I picked midnight to 5:00am. I brought my family over after dinner to meet the folks. I started around 11:30 pm and walked and walked until 5:00am. I walked a total of almost 17 miles. No blisters, but my feet were tried and I was sore. I got really cool and added three layers (some folks only had a t-shirt). I confess I was not feeling well, my stomach was a mess. The walk seemed long due to walking in circles. During the first hour, my friend Clay Patten and his daugther Kendall came to walk with me. Clay during the same day ran 21 miles! Awesome. Also one the High School friends from church, Devon hooked up . Clay loaned me a book, “Ultra Marathon Man“, by Dean Karnazes and Devon read to me for an hour. That was awesome.

I donated some money to have some Luminaria Ceremony bags. All the folks are in remission, my friends Romina Avery and Meg Kelly; family Sue Pike, and a co-worker, Steve Wade (no relations).

Some pictures.

I have not posted my blood pressure in a while. I have been taking and journaling it. So, today I decided to post it. It is close to one of my resolutions, which is to have my pressure be at or under 120/80 and a pulse at or under 50. Today it was 119/79 with a pulse of 52. I have a small graph of my progress.

I have been wanting to have a road bike. I was talking to my friend Michael Sbihli, who just happen to be selling his older one. He wanted to purchase some very high end components, but his lovely wife Lauren is due with their first baby very soon and they are down to one income. This is a nice bike (look at the picture). It is a GT Fury and is a bit old, but one fine bike. It has flames painted on it, so it must be fast (grin).

I had my first ride this last Friday. I rode to work in the morning, it is about 10.5 mile. We have bike lockers at work, so I can lock up my bike, walk in to the lockerroom and showered, got dressed and complete my day then rode home. The ride home was better then the coming to work, (I think I am not good at exercise in the morning).

My speed is about four miles faster than my mountain bike. If may be due to me wanting to ride faster. See my results at my account with MotionBased .

This has been a disappointing week. I set out to hike 22 miles on Saturday. However, my right hip has flared up. I decided to postpone the hike until this Friday. Thirty one miles is a bit low in the Wellness Challenge, but I did not walk but 3 miles from Friday through Sunday.

I am afraid on my hip getting worst. On long walks it might shut down on me leaving me with some big pain. This last week believing the pain is inflammation, I started using Ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation, but I do not sense that it has any affect.

This week I had my 30 year High School reunion and I was unable to do any activity on Saturday my biggest mileage day. I was able to get in 38 miles of walking for the Wellness Challenge during the rest of the week. I did not hike or bike, so this is a lot of miles walking around town. On Thursday alone, I did 10.5 miles (trying to hit my weight target), I am encouraged by reaching my weight target and looking forward to the next. It is only about four pounds away.

Today I purchased the book New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. I read on some posts about this book and it has my attention. I am only about 20 pages into the book, and I still like it. I like that it does not promise any results, such as inches losted or gained, like those silly info commercials. It is based on 6 basic moves. I have no desire to live at the gym, so hopefully, I can read through the book and try it out.

One of the items that I check regularly is my blood pressure. I have been visiting our nurses at work on a regular basis to have my pressure checked. When I had my physical this last August, my doctor wanted to medicate me, at the time it was around 148/89. I did not want to do that. It was the last few days of classes for my BSSE. I asked to retest in 2-3 weeks. When I retested I was below the 140 mark, so I did not need to medicate.

Blood Pressure

On of the issues with my legs is shin splints. I get sharp pain 75% of the time on my left shin. They start in the first 1/2 mile and will continue up to mile 2 to 2-1/2. I thought that it has to do with support in the shoes. I have some good shoes like my running and hiking, and some bad shoes, like my work shoes. The shoe does not seem to matter. I have added support with no help. The more I walk, it does get better. I have been walking about six days a week, and only one day will I have pain, that was last night. “Middle aged man“, normally has knee pain. Oh the pure pleasure of getting older.

Altitude! I am starting to add altitude. Most of the five to nine miles a day are around the house. http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2696346

Yesterday, Teri and I set out to go to Antelope Valley College to use the bleachers and track. We met the Patton’s, really good friends. Clayton is a physical therapist and is very fit. He uses the track to keep fit and be accountable to the running group. He wife Tanya and their son Zach were also there.

I ran up and walked down the bleachers. I total of 15 sets. This is the first time doing so. It was not great progress but a start. We walked laps. Teri got in her miles. (four laps = one mile). I did some jogging. I am still too heavy to really jog or run. But it felt good.

I finished and went home to have dinner. I also, did three more miles after dinner with the dog. Total six miles or walking, and bleacher climbing.  I started to feel my lungs.

I continue to do the work. I am walking and walking. I am walking at least 5-6 times a week. Interesting that Saturday’s have not been good for walking. It seems to be filled with yardwork or shopping, and I try to even get a nap in.