Back around the IBM Poughkeepsie Lab

No Malibu Breakthrough this year.....No LA trip! And I don't like
walking outside in hot weather, so I haven't been in a 5K for months.

But the IBM 5K loomed! On the right, you'll see me incognito (i.e., face obscured by the microphone) near the start.

 And, on the left, the non-dramatic finish for 2nd place with a time of 35:06. Notice the improvement from last year's race: about 18 seconds faster and my shoelaces are tied. I moved up a spot (but that was because last year's first place finisher didn't walk.)

Front leg is straight, but arms seem a little tired. I should stand up straighter!

The top three...on a pretty fall day in the Hudson Valley.

I'm back after a summer of indoor treadmills!

Lap4Life 4 Mile walk

First place Male Walker

48:15

A 4 mile successful "walk" on a stony trail with some inclines. A hot day! At each water station, I grabbed a  cup,  sipped and then poured the rest of the contents on my head.  A lot of friendly people, a worthy cause, excellent organization, a great race and very enjoyable food!

Lap4Life 

Treetops to Rooftops 5K

Over 500 runners and walkers beat the rain and had perfect conditions for a 5K jaunt over the "Walkway over the Hudson." See the Walkway web site for details about that scenic attraction.

Starting was a challenge. We lined up on an adjacent road by expected minutes per mile, so the actual start was kind of slow. The start rippled through the crowd and there was congestion (i.e., slow times) until the crowd started crossing onto the bridge itself.

There was no walker division, but my finish at 418 out of 494 "runners" was probably 2nd as a walker. The Woodstock races  time of two weeks ago is no longer my best time ever for a 5K. Today's time is!

34:38

It's hard to believe that I've done a walking 5K at about 11 minutes 11 seconds a mile.

My form in the last half mile:

2010 Woodstock Races

The second annual Memorial Day walk for the Aaronsons! Not only did California Emily join me again, but spurred on by her, Lauren and Carol, I posted my BEST 5K time ever:

34:54

Starting and finishing at the Zena Elementary school is nostalgic and fun. The roads - traveled many times by car on the way to the Zena Rec - are shaded and blessedly downhill on the return. A keeper of a local race. The tradition continues.

Races raise money....

Most races raise funds for charitable causes. The entry fees, plus the contributions of businesses in donating goods and buying advertising, provide the expenses, food, and awards of the event and the proceeds go to the cause. Many walks and runs raise money for health support (heart and cancer are common) and some are for local athletic scholarships in high schools. Some are for communities.

Today's  Annual Off-Broadway Run & Walk ( http://www.safe-harbors.org/event.cfm?page=190 )was for community support of  "Safe Harbors of the Hudson" in Newburgh in conjunction with St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital. See http://www.safe-harbors.org/ .

The timing of this positive event was apt. Six days ago, the NY Times published "In Newburgh, Gangs and Violence Reign" . On  Thursday, May 13, the headline read: "Agents Swarm Newburgh in Raid Against Gangs ". One of the pictures showed FBI agents raiding a house about two blocks from the race registration. 


Sometimes a race is more than a fund-raiser. The mayor of Newburgh started both the 1 mile race and 5K races and heartily thanked people for participating. There was a friendly police presence, but that was to handle traffic. The volunteers, bystanders and participants were all enthusiastic. A worthy cause and a worthy event.


How did I do? I tried something different. I entered both races, hoping to get an official sub-eleven minute mile time, rest up for 15 minutes, and then do the 5K (with the expectation of not getting my best time.) 

I won both events in the walking division:  10:46 for the mile and 36:26 for the 5K!  Got a nifty windbreaker in addition to enjoying being part of the races. 

Shorter race progress continues....

Within the past six days, I've reached personal bests in two different categories:

• Minutes per mile:   About 10 minutes 40 seconds in last Sunday's Ray's Run. The approximately 3.1 K (1.9 miles) course at Dietz Stadium was done in 20 minutes 22 seconds
• 5K time: 35 minutes 12 seconds, achieved Sunday at the Washingtonville 5K . (The official results finally corrected the walkers start time, dropping my original time by a few seconds. )

Both races were solid 2nd place finishes, behind an excellent formal race walker. A lot of my walker friends were present today and it was fun introducing them to each other.

I had been training "faster" on the treadmill, building on the conditioning from the preparation for the recent Half Marathon. But I don't like warm weather, so don't know if the spring/summer races will continue these times!

I had some fans today. When returning to the car, two parents said to brother and sister toddlers, "Here's the walker in the yellow shirt that you were routing for!"  I said hello and attempted a high (low?) five with the 2 year old boy. I now remember shortly after the start a mother telling her kids to wave to the walker and I passed them again towards the finish. I guess I was flamboyant in my bright yellow T!  (But, I should note, that one of the kids was in yellow.)

Back to the "shorter" races

Looks like training for a Half Marathon has paid off in getting my legs back in shape for the shorter, faster races. I did a 35:55  (about 11 minutes 34 seconds a mile) yesterday for my 2nd fastest 5K ever! And on a much hillier venue than for the IBM Poughkeepsie flat parking lots!

The movie of this past year's walking is in production and slated to open in Woodstock, LA and NY within the next month.

Celebrate Life Half Marathon

Success!!!

Chugging the last few yards to finish 13.1 miles  in 2 hours 52 minutes 36 seconds!

1st Male Walker, 2nd Walker overall

Official results 

http://www.celebratelifehalfmarathon.com/

More of son-in-law David Rodriguez pictures:
 Half Marathon Photos

On to the March 14 Half Marathon!

I've created a Mad Men avatar to preview possible results. The more "Snormies", the greater my elation!
(Remember: my first mantra is to survive.)

Surviving:

Finishing: 

Crossing the Finish Line in Under 3 hours 15 minutes: 

Crossing the Finish Line in Under 3 hours:

 

Crossing the Finish Line in Under 2 hours 45 minutes:

                        " Not possible unless the trauma of snow, strained muscles, inadequate breakfast, and/or bad iPod music instantly aged me and I've asked the gracious EMT team to drive me back to the food. "

On to the March 14 Half Marathon!

The loneliness of the long distance walker

I've mentioned the camaraderie (and food) before and after a race. What about practice? Walking (or running) is an individual activity unless on a team or in a relay. As in many endeavors, encouragement and companionship are often prime motivators to keep going and to have fun.

If you followed my 2009 progress, you'll have noticed a striking pattern: I rarely trained outside. Most of my activity was on a treadmill, in a gym with individualized TV screens and among dozens of other exercisers. The events I entered were outdoors, but the number of times I walked outside  "in training"  in 2009 could be counted on the fingers of one hand. I didn't enjoy it; truthfully, I never really tried. Walking on roads or paths by myself could be lonely, even with ipods.

Outside practicing, however, was going to be required for the Half Marathon. Cold - and potentially snowy - weather could not be simulated by a treadmill. What, for example, should I wear? The question was even beyond my limited fashion sense. It was potentially affecting my first mantra: Survival!

The Half Marathon web site highlighted practices every two weeks, with different options for distance (6.5 miles, 9 miles, the full 13.1 miles.)  I could taste winter walking on the event route with other, presumably faster, people. But I could choose a shorter distance so I wouldn't finish days (literary exaggeration!) behind. 

So, one Saturday, I drove the 50 miles from Woodstock to the motel where the practice was to start. The weather was relatively decent: clear, but about 30-40 degrees. I didn't know anybody. But, as expected, people were friendly and encouraging.  I started with others at 9 AM, got individualized directions about the 6.5 mile turnoff and, for the first three miles, was roughly close to  2 slower walkers. For the last 3.5 miles I was by myself. I later saw more people at the motel and, by the time I left, I knew a few names and definitely planned to return in two weeks.


And I now had a practice plan for March 14: walk one longer distance outside on the weekends in Rock Hill or Woodstock and do shorter workouts in the gym on a couple of weekdays.


The next Saturday, I did 9 miles in my local Woodstock roads. I saw, maybe 4 people on the route, but, to my surprise, enjoyed the workout. My ipod acted funny and I spent part of a mile fidgeting with it; a useful distraction! I walked about 9.5 miles.


The Saturday after I hopped in the car on a clear winter day for the  journey to official practice #2.  I  didn't pay attention to the temperature. The external temperature sensor on my car initially showed the garage temperature. 50 degrees. I drove on. 45, 40, 35, 30. A few miles later, as the residual temperature dissipated. 25, 20, 15.  Then 10. Then under 10. I think it was 5 when I got to Rock Hill.


I parked the car, ran immediately into one of the people I had met the first week and muttered: "Are we crazy?"  I  put on a second pair of pants, wore the winter jacket I wasn't expecting to use over my three other layers of clothing, and proceeded to walk 9.6 miles. My hat froze with my sweat.


It was exhilarating!  


A real sense of accomplishment. Back in the motel, I commiserated  about the cold with the more experienced runners and we all observed there was no wind, which was, of course, good.

The next weekend, back to Woodstock (Zena.)  12 miles.

Then Rock Hill. 10 miles. In the twenties, but windy. I made a decision not to go around the 4 mile lake and save that for the last practice or the race itself. I shared the first 3 miles with another runner until the 6.5 mile split. I joined a number of other participants for a delicious brunch at a local dinner.

Back to Woodstock. 12 miles. The terrain is similar to that of Rock Hill, but no lake.

Yesterday was the last scheduled practice on the course. I had intended to try the full 13.1 miles, but Mother Nature intervened. A second massive snowstorm.dumped a couple of feet of snow in the area and I didn't drive the 50 miles to walk on snowed-in roads. The lake roads in snow.

An irony here: Woodstock had very little snow.

My first 13.1 mile walk will not be in practice, but in the race itself.

Why the title of this post? Literally, except for the instances cited in the descriptions above, I have walked alone for the outdoor practices. Certainly in Woodstock. In Rock Hill, runners practicing the 9 or 13 mile routes are faster than me. However, since people start at different times and do different distances, we run into each other and wave or briefly chat. The camaraderie of race day continues on practice day. 




NEXT:  Anticipating the March 14 Half Marathon

Back to the Present

I'm back to present time. Almost. I started the blog in December, whining about my knee and initiating the prequels. The last post described my fall races, but stopped prior to the events that brought out my whining and 2010 indecision.

The fact is that, in December, I overcompensated for a lack of exercise during a rather delicious and enjoyable Thanksgiving period. I went to the gym three days in a row, cranking up the speed to 5.5 - 5.7 mph range (getting into the under 11 minutes per mile for a bit.) On the third day, I felt a "twinge" in my right hamstring. My knee started hurting, accentuated (in my mind) by all the car driving I was doing.

Bother. And I have a bit of hypochondria, as both of my daughters can verify.

What should I do? One answer was "write a blog" and the other was to lower treadmill levels and build up strength in leg muscles with other exercises. What winter events could I even consider? I obviously wouldn't be going as fast as in the fall and had never done winter walking. 

After I started this blog, I surfed the Sullivan and Orange County runners' club web sites for upcoming races. Maybe I should consider a 10K, where my training speed would more likely match my event speed?  I had noticed that once I got into a walking groove, I could keep going for a while at about the same pace.

A few events looked intriguing, but one stood out: a walker's start at 8:30 AM and a runner's start at 10 AM for a half marathon in March. The downside? A half marathon is 13.1 miles! Right. My previous high race was 4.3 miles and I had never even attempted a 10K (around 6.2 miles), I'm whining about a knee brace, and I'm going to leap into 13.1 miles in a winter race?

Not very logical. But then it wasn't too logical eleven months ago to enter my first ever 5K.

So the indecision is gone. My next event is on March 14 in Sullivan County: http://www.celebratelifehalfmarathon.com/  

As Carol likes to say, "Go Figure."

NEXT: The loneliness of the long distance walker

Prequel #6: The Golden Autumn Races

The "Malibu Breakthrough"  foreshadowed the Autumn races of 2009.

After returning from California, I continued my pattern at the gym, but now increasing the speed to 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 mph for 3.1 mile distances. Not stunning speeds for runners, but pretty good clips for walkers like me. These were indoor times and presumably aided by my hands balancing on the arms treadmill. My weight continued to fall.

The next two September races confirmed that my (imprecise) Malibu times were not a fluke. My 39+ minutes for a 5K were now in the low 37 minutes.

Mad Dash 5K:  The Dash was a well advertised and attended annual race in the center of the picturesque town of Rhinebeck; 299 runners and 28 walkers completed the gentle rolling hills of the 5K and 180 the 10K.  I trucked along in the midst of slower runners and other walkers. The race attracted some of the best area walkers. I finished 6th. Many of the 5 ahead of me had that race walking gait mentioned in the previous post. HOWEVER, I finished in exactly 37 minutes (37:00), my best time to date!

It was now obvious about my next goal: break into the 36 minute range in a 5K race outside the gym.

Wurstboro 5K: That wasn't to happen at the end of September race in Wurtsboro. The 5K was held in pretty terrain though a wooded path near a an old canal. There were many turns and tree roots to manage, but, more significantly, it had rained the night before and parts of the ground were slippery. (One of my walker colleagues told me later he had fallen.) I was still very pleased with my time: 37:38, or about 12.07 minutes/mile.


The AUTUMN PEAKS:.

IBM 5K - Poughkeesie: It is October 6th, my last day as a 62 year old, the weather is perfect, the course is flat, the local IBM Club is sponsoring a run/walk for health purposes, many of my colleagues are participating or volunteering or watching, and one of co-workers (an excellent race walker who was in the Mad Dash) is going to pace me before he finishes first. I'm pumped in my nerdy way.

   35:24

If you look closely at my finishing stride for 3rd place in the walker division, you should observe: 1) my form is a better than previous pictures, 2) I still need a clothing advisor, and 3) my shoelace is untied. I have been watching it for the last tenth of a mile to make sure I didn't trip. (I could, of course, have done the safer action of stopping to tie! I now double-tie shoelaces when I start.)

Bloomingburg Run for the Animals 7K: The race was intriguing. There seemed to be an emphasis on encouraging walkers, with the walkers starting significantly before the runners. The race was a longer distance (7K - 4.3 miles) than tried previously, so a different challenge. I didn't expect to know anybody participating.  I wondered if street directions were going to be clear.

Some things you just don't have to worry about. A police car was going to lead the way for the 73 walkers!

And, to my surprise, after about 50 yards, I was the one following it. For the entire 4.3 miles. Considering my non-athletic background and skill, this was a truly heady experience being lead by a car with flashing lights.

Winning time:  50:47 minutes. Pace: 11:42 minutes/mile for 4.3 miles

And the food and friendliness was most excellent!

I suppose that if the police car had been behind me, I might have had to go even faster. (:-)

Cornwall on Hudson Fall Harvest 5K: Cornwall on Hudson, another picturesque town, is on, well, the Hudson River. Their fall festival looked like a fun event if the weather was good. And it was, so I walked in the midst of the other 5K runners and walkers. The route was hillier than IBM. I acheived my first 36 minute (36:15) for a 5K, picking up the 1st place engraved drinking glass. And a really nice long-sleeved sweatshirt.

I didn't know it at the time, but those were my last races of 2009. I had accumulated a goodly number of sweatshirts, t-shirts, and, completely unexpected at the beginning of the year, various ribbons, etc. I had had fun, enjoyed the post-race camaraderie and food, and was now weighing under 180 pounds. 

NEXT: Back to the Present

What is "walking" when in a race?

A digression from the prequels. The general answer -  in the fund raising events that I see scheduled - is that people signing up for the walking categories are not meant to run or jog at any point in the distance covered. That's never been a problem for me - I never jog, nor run, nor have ever enjoyed doing that. Most walkers are in the events for the exercise, because they support the charity, because they want to improve their times, and because they like the camaraderie.

What I do can sometimes be categorized as fast walking, power walking, and fast recreational walking. All of it is "not running."

There is also the more formal "race walking." Have you seen Olympic Race Walking? Remember the very pronounced hip swiveling?

There are two basic rules of race walking. (USATF #39 & 150).

• Racewalking is a progression of steps so taken that the walker makes contact with the ground so that no visible (to the human eye) loss of contact occurs.

• The advancing leg must be straightened (i.e., not bent at the knee) from the moment of first contact with the ground until in the vertical position. 

The first rule is easy for a walker like me and for even very fast walkers. Part of a foot is always on the ground....at no point do we have both feet flying through the air as do runners and joggers.

The second rule is harder to master. The knew must not be bent when the front leg hits the ground and remain unbent until the leg passes underneath the body. Most walkers - particularly on hills - bend the knee at least a bit. The second rule is where walkers get disqualified in formal, judged race walking events. Don't think of formal race walking as "stiff legged" walking, like in the Munsters. It is quite legal to have your leg bent when the leg is behind you! The Empire State Games and USATF meets have formal, judged race walking.


The rules don't mention "swivel hips" at all. However, the gait that you see in formal race walking events is a very efficient, fast way of walking. If your hip swivels forward on each step, you're gaining an extra couple of inches on each stride and a very efficient motion.


I have seen no formal race walking judging as part of the Eastern New York mixture of 5Ks, etc. Having even a walking category (rather than only running)  is a plus and encourages recreational walkers, fast walkers, power walkers and any definition of walker to participate. For example, there were 144 walkers in the Lap4Life event and I don't remember any doing a sustained formal race walk technique.

In a couple of other events, I've see a few with the race walking gait and, in general,  they have been far ahead of me. I'm very impressed and, perhaps in time, will try to master rule 2 and also become more efficient. At the moment, though, I'm content in doing the kind of "fast" walking that I do! 


After the break are some URLs of various walking sites. A lot more detail there!

Prequel #5: The Malibu Breakthrough

Malibu? The beach of Stars and Starlets? Where the final scene of "Planet of the Apes" and multiple episodes of "Baywatch" were filmed? Where famous film directors and writers are encountered in coffee shops? How could that be a breakthrough to a 60+ walker from the East Coast?

The race URL was enticing. "Join us in the Malibu Sunrise 4-Miler. This race takes you along the beach actually running on the beach in the sand whether low tide or high tide on the first Sunday of every month." We were going to be visiting Emily in Los Angeles (Sherman Oaks) the first weekend of August, so maybe this longer-than-previously-walked race would be a challenge and fascinating experience. To Emily's immense credit, she agreed to accompany her dad for a 7 AM Sunday start. (Yes, 7 AM on a Sunday!)

After the Lap4Life race, I increased speed and distance on the treadmill. 5.0 mph for 3.1 miles,  5.1 mph and then 5.2 mph. I was now doing under 37 minutes for a 5K in preparation for the next outdoor challenge (Malibu!) I felt faster and more fit and was still losing weight. But how would I do with those tanned, athletic Californians?

We arrived in LA, enjoyed Emily's new apartment, outdoor downtown LA dancing, and the Saturday Malibu Library book sale. My family endured my planning for the big Malibu event.

Only 10 people showed up. California, I guess. One upper 30s woman asked if anyone wanted to jog with her at a 6 and a half minute a mile pace, not an auspicious beginning for the aspiring walker.

The race coordinator took out his stop watch, told us to run down this paved path, go down a little trail, and turn around at the driveway of a restaurant that we couldn't miss. 4 miles down and back. Ready. Set. Go.

Emily and I burst into last place. One-two-three-four, One-two-three-four, One foot in front of another. The paved lane was easy to walk on and flat, the scenery was beautiful, and I felt "fast" and comfortable.  The other runners waved as they passed on their return, telling me where they turned.

One-two-three-four. I  felt comfortable. The beach was pretty (and pretty empty), the end of the walk was in site and breakfast would be next.

I cross the finish line. Success!  The coordinator cried out "40 minutes!"   Huh? No way. I never even hit better than 10 and a half minutes for a one mile stretch on the treadmill. Something was wrong, even though I felt good about the run. After saying where I (and others) had turned, we determined that the distance was probably 3.5 miles.

Still a significant drop in time....verifying the improvements that I had felt in the gym and setting me up for future, less weirder kinds of races!

Our victory picture:

Prequel #4: The Springtime Series

After Lowe's 5K, I looked for races to reconfirm that I wanted to supplement gym sessions with organized events. Thus evolved the Springtime 2009 series:: Ray's run (Kingston), Woodstock 5K, Wappinger Fall's 5K, and Lap4Life (Newburgh). Each was different and new and ended up establishing:

• I enjoyed racing, even though apprehensive before each start!
  
• Runners and walkers are a friendly breed of people.
• The mantra of Prequel #3 stood the test of four more races.
  
• I - a non-jock in my preceding 6 decades - enjoyed competition.

A short highlight of each race, ending in the picture I call: "Demon on Fleet Street":

Ray's Run:  A 4 mile run through Kingston for runners and a 3K walk for walkers circling Dietz stadium started at the same time. I liked that format.  I followed (by far) an excellent formal race-walker and finished tied for second. And thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and food after finishing!

Woodstock 5K: In theory, this was a run and I did it for two reasons: a) It began and ended at the elementary school (Zena) that my daughters attended and b) Emily (the younger daughter) was visiting from Los Angeles and consented to accompany me. My goal was to beat 40 minutes. My third race and, for the third time, I started fast, for me. Surprised Emily.  39 minutes and 19 seconds (success!!) later, we crossed the finish line. The route was hillier than previous races.

Wappinger's Falls 5K: The walkers started a half hour earlier than the runners. I was assuming that there would be faster walkers than I; more precisely, I assumed there would be people ahead of me who knew the route. I found myself 1st and after various turns, I wasn't 100% sure I wasn't leading the rest of the walkers into strange territory. I stopped to ask a police officer for directions! I finished 1st, with a time of 40:04.

Lap4Life: The culmination of the Spring Series. An extraordinarily well-run event that had 144 walkers in a 5K separate from the 170 runners in a 4 mile race. As in most running/walking events in our area, this was a fund raiser and, in this case, for very touching and personal cause. The number of participants - particularly for walkers - was swelled by the fund-raising. The day's weather was excellent, but it had rained the night before and the stones on the path were a bit slippery.

My competitive juices were stoked. I lead for the 1st half and ended up second, with a time of 39:46. I was extremely pleased with the experience and will enter again. You'll see in the attached picture that my form and demonic aspect would scare many people.

NEXT: The Malibu Breakthrough









Llinks to available results:

Prequel #3: The First Race

Out of the gym, I did my usual "logistical" thing: research and look over web sites about this prospective hobby. I read in the local newspaper's running column that an upcoming 5K would break up the winter blahs and raise money for a worthy cause. Walkers were invited. I now had an external goal.

OK. If 15 minutes a mile is a reasonable time for a first race, that would mean under 47 minutes for a 5K (3.1 miles.) My workouts at the gym would now include walks of 3.1 miles at 4.1 mph, then 4.2 and 4.3 and occasionally higher speeds at lower distance.. The intent was to be ahead of my goal during treadmill time so that the actual road conditions (like hills! bad weather! floppy clothing!) could be overcome and keep my goal in reach.

I showed up at the Lowe's 5K with a bottle of water to carry, a towel to wipe sweat off my face, a hoody sweatshirt to walk in and my new mantra of goals for the day:

• SURVIVE
• Finish
• Have a good time

It was lightly raining and cool. I didn't know if I'd actual start. But I saw people warming up, some really serious and some not. I saw high school teams, but also people who seemed like me. All in good moods. So I stayed and lined up the rest of them, way towards the back where there were other walkers. Runners and walkers started together in this race.

"Start!" The runners spurted ahead. To my surprise, I bolted out at around my (then) top walking speed and was in the front of a small second tier of walkers and some runners. Step by step, counting mentally: "One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four." I kept up my pace. Mantra one was holding. When I reached the half way mark and turned around, it looked like mantra two was going to happen. When I crossed the finish line at 42 minutes and was 2nd for male walkers, I was hooked.

I stayed for two more hours, eating refreshments and waiting for my winnings: a coffee mug, which was brought in to work to show my lunch-time walking colleagues.

There are no pictures of this race (and that is good, since I looked very odd carrying my own water bottle and towel the way I did ) and the time printed for me in the paper listings was wrong, but that didn't matter.

I added a 4th mantra for future races:

• Enjoy the food after finishing.
  

My weight was now under 200. Hmm.....wonder if it could go lower.

A word about diet: 

Prequel #2: Treading the gym

I gathered my sneakers, old shorts, and an x-large t-shirt and drove back the next day to do 2 miles (at 3 or 3.5 mph) on the treadmill and 2 miles on the stationary bike. I signed up for a class on the exercise machines. A good start and, since I was on vacation, I stopped in every other day. Treadmill, bike. Treadmill, bike. Walk around. Try a couple of exercise machines after the instruction.  I quickly got my average cost per visit down to lower than past memberships!

I discovered that my analytical mind could busy itself by trying out combinations of distance and speeds. If I go 3.5 mph, why not 3.6? How about 4.0, to me, a magical number since I had read that a 15 minute mile was a nice brisk walk. How about monitoriing my pulse rate and target levels? What shows were playing on the TV channels?

A routine was established in January and February. Once or twice a week after work gym sessions, plus once and often twice for longer times on the weekend. Supplemented by the two or so less intense walks at lunch, I started walking an increased number of miles a week. The TV helped, particularly on weekends....finishing a half hour (drivel) show added more time exercising!

The net:

• I gravitated toward the treadmill.
• I discovered that, after about a half mile on the treadmill, my pulse rate stabilized and I was able to breath more evenly.
• Manipulating the distance and speeds was a fun intellectual activity
• I went under 210 pounds and thought, "That's cool, I wonder if I can hit 200."

Next: diet and my first 5K