Full Moon Record

This is one of the coldest Januaries (does the plural of January look funny or is it just me? It's right. I looked it up at Dictionary.com.) I can remember in North County. I'm sure my friend Gordon near Salem, Massachusetts (Yes. That Salem.) wouldn't really think of this as cold, but for this part of California it is really and truly cold.

Last night and tonight the full moon has been beautiful during my walks with the dog. I was reminded of nearly 30 years ago waiting in line with my brother and my dad in the middle of the night at the Salton Sea. We went hunting there a couple times. My dad and older brothers went a lot more than I did - especially my oldest brother, Mike. He's the one who had pancreatitis recently. I've never really thought of the Grateful Dead and my family before now. But I can honestly say "What a long, strange trip it's been." I'm not going to get maudlin here. I just touched a happy memory when I was taking a walk is all.

I'm happy to say that today is a new high on the long (strange?) walking trip I'm taking - over 8 1/2 miles. Visit my stats at Lime.com.

I am walking. You can walk. Please walk today. No matter what.

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I saw this amazing story about a father who found out he had a daughter, Tran Thi Kham, who had been looking for him and didn't realize that she had found him. It might make you believe in miracles. Click on the title of this post to read the BBC story.

Six Miles By 1 (Almost)

First, I want to remind you that each of us, you and I, are competing against ourselves. I'm competing against my past performance (no guarantee of future results?). So, when I get home from completing a 2 1/2 mile walk and today's total so far of six miles, I must remember that I'm not competing against Tommy Daly.

Who's Tommy Daly? I was thinking the same thing when I saw the giant poster on his garage. Apparently, a guy in the neighborhood ran in the H.U.R.T. 100 mile trail race over the weekend and did 100 miles in 35 hours and 18 minutes. I did my 100 miles in 21 days...

H.U.R.T. stands for Hawaii Ultra Running Team. I don't think I even qualify for the Ultra WALKING team yet. You just can't compare yourself to the super athletes if you're not part of that group. And everyone is different, so stick with comparing you to you.

As for me, I was walking at Palomar College while my son, Stuart, was in Calculus class. I got a nice surprise. I walked the track five times and found that my quarter mile is around 498 steps now as opposed to 575 when I measured last summer. If I have improved, that's great. If the shoes make a difference, if I walked the middle of the track this time, if I was overly careful in the steps I took last summer, whatever...I don't really mind the reason. It's good to know that only 498 steps are a quarter mile for me, which means a mile is 1992 steps. I guess I'll keep measuring to stay on top of it in the future.

That brings me to my six miles before 1 pm (almost). My pedometer said 12063 steps when I got inside the door, so the six miles is correct because 11952 (less than 12063!) steps is 6 times 1992. But, it was a couple minutes past 1. Still a great achievement for me, Charlie Hicks-Moore.

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Click on the title of this post to see the H.U.R.T. blog.