Making a Difference

I'm generally not one to hero worship. There are people that I respect and trust in my life. There are people I know personally and from afar that I admire. But I never identified anyone as a 'hero'. Today it occurred to me that if asked "Who would you like to spend a day with and why" my answer would be Anne Mahlum.

Anne founded "Back on My Feet" (BoMF)in Philadelphia in 2007. My initial attraction to Back on My Feet was it's mission - to use running to help those experiencing homelessness build their self esteem and self sufficiency so they can become employed again and move on with their lives. If you are a runner - or a regular walker or exerciser - you know the effect consistent application of these activities can have on your psyche. Before long you start to feel better (even when you don't realize you needed to) about a lot of things and can see the world a lot more clearly and positively.

The simplicity of the BoMF concept blew me away from the first time I heard about it. I was initially proud that it started in our city. But it didn't start by itself. BoMF was Anne Mahlum's vision. She's since been recognized by multiple groups including CNN Heroes and ABC News Person of the Week. Awards don't really impress me though.

Ramblings mostly about fitness without a purpose

Ok so there is always a purpose to fitness. If one defines fitness as minding your overall health, physical & mental well-being. My title, of course, refers to not having a goal event on the horizon. For me, the net effect has been positive. As I stated in an earlier post I can pretty much do what I want when I want and how I want. My only “goal” right now is to exercise regularly but I have no need to do any specific things. Still, there are some very odd disconnected emotions floating around as well.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the battle over whether or not to give up a workout. Without an event to plan for, I’d have thought the decision would be easier. I’m struggling with that today. It’s hot and humid. There are air quality and excessive heat warnings posted all up and down the I-95 corridor. I’m tired and I have a minor sore throat. Yet, I’m fighting with myself about whether to go for an after work bike ride. Well not really fighting it anymore. I’ve already decided not to but I’m still suffering from the internal battle as to whether it was a proper decision or a wimpy one. I guess I should take comfort in knowing that I don’t have to have an event goal to make exercise a valued part of my life. J

Swimming in Smedley Park

With 74% humidity it felt like swimming anyway. I missed the Misery Loves Company (MLC) group this morning. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and when it got to 1:30 I knew I was never going to get up at 5:30 to meet them at 7:00. So I turned off the alarm.

I woke up just after 7 had breakfast and decided to go out on my own to Smedley Park. It's not the far from home (in fact I passed over it on my Independence Day walk on Thursday). I've only ever been there to get on to the Leiper Smedley trail.

The humidity is socked in now and we are under a heat advisory until Sunday or Monday. It was cooler among the trees but still a little like moving through soup. Within seconds I was covered in sweat which by itself wasn't so bad but it made all the cobwebs and bugs stick to me. YUCK! I had fun though exploring the trails and there are still some left I think so I'll go back. You might be interested to see THIS is the official trail map for the park and THIS is the Garmin track of my travels. I saw a few people walking their dogs and two mountain bikers while I was out.

Celebrating Independence Day 2013

July 4th, 2013 - I went for a walk from our house in Media to Independence Hall. The first question is probably - why? My initial answer is why not? It was kinda cool to do something just because I can on the day we celebrate freedom.

I am a softball widow frequently on the July 4th holiday. There is almost always a tournament of some kind and Dave is almost always umpiring one of them. This year he is in Quakertown at the TNT tournament. We do lots of things together but long distance walking or running is not one of them so being a softball widow from time to time works for both of us.

I got it in my head to do a lengthy hike of some kind and somehow tie it to a 4th of July theme. I thought about mapping a route on www.mapmyrun.com that would look like "July Fourth" or " 1776" but that would only work if I confined myself to Media borough where the streets more or less are in a grid. That did not sound like fun. And it wouldn't take very long either. I've done Valley Forge a lot plus I plan to be at the MLC meetup there on Saturday so I ruled that out.

On a whim I asked Google Maps to map a walking route from our house to Independence Hall.

What's Next?

Once again conjuring up my inner "Josiah Bartlett". :) (Miss that show!)

In 2013 I planned to complete a spring marathon, a century ride and a half marathon. The last two in the same weekend. HA! Life sure has a way of humbling a person doesn't it? It's all good. I learned a lot about me and my body in these past two months; and I'm not done.

So the marathon didn't happen. The bike ride won't either. I toyed very briefly with the idea of doing a shorter distance but bagged that pretty quickly. I haven't put in any significant bike miles in over three months so I have no idea where I'm starting from. I notified the MS folks yesterday and will volunteer for the ride instead. :)

I've also decided that I won't be doing the Ocean City half either. I'll be in Ocean City on September 29th, I'm just not running. I love OC and the race. I'll cheer on my friends and a few hundred random strangers instead. A good time will be had by all!

I've decided instead to take full advantage of this opportunity I've been given to reboot.