Wednesday, August 13, 2014. So far, so good!

After two days of freakish rain, today was one of those absolutely stunning, crisp mornings that warm into the perfect temperature by the afternoon.   Yesterday, I did not repeat the same mistake by waiting to go for my walk in the afternoon.  So I, along with my fearless walking companion, ventured out before the rain started.

Duke has always been a very high-strung dog and is fiercly loyal in protecting his humans as well as his house and yards.  So, when a dog barks at us from a backyard, or worse, a front window, Duke goes into hyper-drive.  He starts whining, and doing this high-pitch "yip yip yip."  (sigh)  He's much easier to control than he used to be when he was younger and all in all, I enjoy sharing my walk with him.

I take him around the first loop, which, I learned today is about .65 of a mile.  As we do this more and more, I'll work him up to walking more.  He's just starting to pant when I get him back to the house.  He made it further today, so it won't be long before he's walking two loops.

This past week, I've started to notice pain in my knees when I walk, which is not surprising since I spent a good deal of my adulthood carrying around extra weight--at one point weighing just over 300 pounds.  Thankfully it's not debilitating at all, and serves as a constant reminder of one of the important reasons WHY I'm doing this.  

Here are a couple of things I enjoy seeing when I walk in the neighborhood.  The sunflowers were planted around an ugly telephone pole that is right on Ann Arbor Trail.  I think they're the coolest flower!

The next photo is one of a house just down the street.  It's difficult to see  the details of the front yard because most of the "good stuff" is in the shadow of the tree.  But,this house always has the most interesting flower beds.  They are an eclectic collection of wild flowers of varied color.  What I love about it most is they incorporate giant sunflowers into the landscape every year.  One a side note, what I referred to as a giant sunflower has altered somewhat since Tom decided to grow a patch of his own that are now reffered to as "Magic Sunflowers."  That story, however, is a story deserving of it's own post.   

This was today's walk---it was nearly two miles!  Since a healthy diet it also an important, nay vital, component, I wanted to share a "what's for dinner" photo with you.  This afternoon, I stopped at a small Middle-Eastern meat and veg shop in Eastern Dearborn to buy some of the most amazing Bulgarian feta cheese I've ever eaten.  So, tonight I made fluffy scrambled eggs (made with organic eggs) with feta cheese, garnished with fresh green scallions and organic roma tomatoes.  Fresh and simple.   And with that, I leave you until next time.  Bon appetit!

Monday, August 11, 2014. Almost an opportunity missed!

Look how dry I was able to stay!  Amazing!  Walking in the rain is a unique experience, one that I hope everyone gets to try once in their lifetime.  Instead of being worried about getting wet, I was able to focus on what the neighborhood is like during the rain.  

Other than the occasional car, it was strangly quiet!  Notice that awesome water puddle on the sidewalk?  One of the best walks I had living in Los Angeles, was the day I walked right through the middle of a water puddle six times of the size of the one pictured here.  

I was amazed to see that the next couple of streets were flooded.  Check out my path of travel as recorded on "MapMyRun" app--can you guess which streets were flooded?  I was trying to make a circle from the starting point (indicated by the green dot below).

Reboot Monday was a success after all!  But, my good thoughts for those folks with flooded streets.  I hope the water stayed in the streets and out of the basements.

Monday, August 11, 2014 . . . Rain, rain, rain, rain...

The life lesson of "get it done now" should have been learned well enough to realize that I should have put on my walking shoes first thing this morning because it looked VERY rainy!  I didn't, instead thinking that I would walk at lunchtime.  At about 9:00 o'clock this morning, the heavens opened and "let loose" buckets of rain for most of the day.  I ventured out to Kroger at around 5:30 thinking it HAD to be nearly finished.  I mean, how much could it rain?  Wicked.  That's how I would describe it.  Cars were stranded on Hines drive and most streets had rivers running down each side forcing cars to use the middle lanes.  

Am I relieved that I was able to legitimize my not getting to walk?  Not really.  Sort of.  Well.   I truly had intentions of going at noon and it was truly pouring outside.  And as I sit here and type this, I am realizing that the rain has stopped (for almost an hour now).  So, why am I still sitting here?  Could I still salvage my exercise time?  

Hmm.......

Well.......

I guess.............

GRRR!  Let's get 'er done!

Sunday, August 10, 2014 . . . A Walking I Shall Go!

Tomorrow is Monday, a perfect "reboot" day.   So after a rocky start with my bike and all, I am focusing on plan B, which is a daily walk of some kind.  Fortunately, I have a willing walking partner (except on rainy days).  The only trouble is that he becomes over-excited when other dogs are present (either in the window or back yard) and walking becomes anything but relaxing or renewing.  

Hard to believe a face like that could be so much trouble!  So, I will take Duke for a stroll around the long block before dropping him off to finish my walk. I have to start with him because he's always "onto" me when I start to put on my tennis shoes--he starts the tail wagging whimper show, racing to the door everytime I move.  

I'm posting what is going to become one of my "before" photos.  Nothing motivates a person like confronting a picture of what one REALLY looks like.  An amazing thing is that filter that allows each of us to view ourselves in the mirror with our illusion-filter of what is really there. As I gaze in the mirror, thoughts float through my mind like, "My gut isn't THAT big."  "This shirt with horizontal strips actually makes me look THINNER."   How startling it is when the veil of self-delusion is lifted!

So there it is...more of the ugly I promised.  The good news is that it will only get better from here!  One quick observation before I close: how appropriate that my before pic is sitting on a motorcycle.  It reminds me that this is a new trip--a new journey, which begins with the first step.  First thing in the morning.  Reboot Monday.

Saturday, August 9, 2014 . . . The Update (1 Week Later)

The "Ugly" that I mentioned in an earlier post certainly didn't wait very long to put in an appearance!  After the test run, I was all set with a new helmet, pedals and renewed enthusiasm.   My first offical run was a success.  I'm tracking my rides with a "Map My Walk" app, which works great, by the way.  Below is the first ride.  It was a little strange being on something so small after riding a 2005 Harley Fatboy, but overall, was a great experience.  

It was only a twelve minute trip, but it was gratifying to see I had ridden nearly 2 miles!   So, I struck out again the next day and halfway through the ride, I noticed something was seriously wrong with the right pedal.  It seemed a little "off," but it was working okay, or so I thought.  

During the first part of my ride, what seemed "off," was the pedal slowly boring a nice smooth hole in the pedal arm.  

 

So, now there is nothing to hold the pedal and will unfortunately require professional intervention.  

The upside of this is that I did get my exercise for the day!  I rode half the trip and walked the other.  

Refusing to give up this early in the game, I have decided to alter my approach and put the bike riding on hold for now for one main reason:  an issue of safety.  Even though I'm riding in a park, the road serves as a main artery to get folks from the west side of Dearborn  and on to the freeway without several stoplights, so there is a significant amount of cars racing along 40 - 50 MPH.    Without riding on the narrow walking trail, which always has pedestrians, I have to ride on the shoulder of the road (which many people do all the time).  I'm not quite as confident of a rider with that much traffic,  so, I'm moving forward with plan B.  Walking.  I've had huge success with walking in the past.  Here are a few photos from those times (proving to myself that, yes, I CAN do this and I WILL see positive results!)

Walking.  That's the next step (and the next blog entry).  

August 3, 2014

Success!  Not only did I get the adjustments made on the gear controls and the tires inflated, I took my bike out on a trial run.   I could tell that it has been over five years since I last rode!  I definitely have some catching up to do!   Here I am right before the ride....determined!

Saturday, August 2, 2014.....the beginning.

Today is the day that I have started down a new road toward better health.   It seems I have had many of these journeys yet, instead of being discouraged by what some might perceive as failures, I view them as learning experiences!  Successful short journeys are opportunities to gain valuable information about how what makes us tick.  For example, one summer I road my bicycle as many as 20 miles in one day.  I remember what drove me to build my physical endurance to ride that far--I also remember how terrific I felt while I was doing it, how well I slept, how good it felt to buy smaller clothes and how great it was having friends and family remark on my improved appearance.  Unfortunately, life happens and for whatever reason we stop treating ourselves well.  The beautiful thing is that we can, at a moments notice, turn a corner and begin again on a new journey.  Here is mine.

So, I will record my progress here....the good with the bad...the pretty with the ugly!  And so, for day one, I have located and/or replaced pieces of my bicycle.  When the movers put it on the truck over three years ago, they felt it would be better to remove the front tire, seat and pedals and not wrap them all together in one package!   But here, she is....unridden since my accident, June 16, 2009.  Thanks to Tom for encouraging me to give it another try.  Notice the price written on the bike seat?  I was going to sell it before I moved...thankfully, no one bought it.  I still need to get air in the tires and adjust the brake/gear controls on the left handle (they were bent when I flipped over the handle bars).  My goal is to go for a test ride tomorrow afternoon!

Welcome Back Kotter!

After a long and transformative hiatus, I have returned to the blogging world to once again document my life, interests and what-not.  Be sure to check back now and then.  One never knows what one will find here!