HARD FOR ME NOT TO WALK

Yesterday was the last day of a five day visit to New York to visit my Mom. On the second day of this visit my Mom tripped and fractured her ankle in three places while we were in Connecticut. (I have suggested to her that she embellish her story and claim that it was a parachute jump accident - something to do with the chute not deploying properly.  Surely this is a more interesting story than tripping on a hemp rug, but this is her decision what she wants to tell people.) After a late night trip to the the Emergency Room in Sharon, Connecticut.  She spent one final night at the home of my youngest brother. On Sunday, we managed to drive home to Long Island with my Mom stretched out in the back seat. We needed the Police to help get her in her home after getting out of the car as they were able to lift the wheelchair to get past the front steps to the front door. She cannot put any weight on her left foot. Since I was with her in New York, within three days, we were able to get her chairlift fixed, purchase a shower chair, get a temporary ramp in the backyard installed, visit a surgeon (although not the surgeon who will perform the surgery) who was able to cut down the original splint so my Mom could at least bend her knee. This surgeon that we did meet was a specialist in shoulders. He was a very young guy and just to add some levity to this visit, we discovered that this day that we met him was his very first day at this particular practice - although not his first day as a doctor.  Still, it was a productive visit as he ordered a cat scan, which we managed to get done at another nearby location. Although nothing is 'nearby' when the struggle to get in and out of the car is so difficult. And finally, and most importantly, round-the-clock home health care workers were organized. I have met one of the three who will be rotating care, and this woman is simply the most wonderful person a person could imagine. We established a rapport and friendship within minutes of her arrival. It turns out that she is a marathon runner. In fact, that is incorrect. She is an ultra-marathon runner. I don't find myself wondering if this woman will have the stamina to take care of my Mom. That apparently is not an issue.  Every step that my Mom takes with her walker is painstakingly difficult and it will be a while before she is walking.

This only serves to remind me how lucky I am. Each and every day I am bopping around counting steps that often exceed 20,000 per day. I often try to walk 10 miles per day.  Yesterday, since it was my last day with my Mom during this trip, I thought it best not to go out for a walk. Even so, when my flight arrived at around 10:00PM in Midway Airport in Chicago, I did hop onto the subway. I departed the train about three miles from home and walked the rest of the way home. When one's hobby is walking, it is 'easy' to find a way to walk no matter what the circumstances of one's day. For me, it is hard for me not to walk. This is in stark contrast to the situation my Mom is in. 

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Your Food Diary For:

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Great Grains - Raisins Dates & Pecans	500	98	10	10	321	31
	500	98	10	10	321	31
L U N C H
Luna Bar - 3 Chocolate Peppermint Sticks	570	84	18	24	330	24
	570	84	18	24	330	24
D I N N E R
Chicken Cacciatore	350	7	11	58	571	0
Homemade - Ratatouiile	100	0	8	8	121	0
Home Made - Garden Salad, 1 bowl	100	6	0	4	400	4
Challah	300	51	7	9	815	0
Bakery - Cookies	500	71	21	4	396	29
	1,350	135	47	83	2,303	33
S N A C K S
Nugo - Vanilla Yogurt Bar, 2 bar (50g)	340	52	5	22	300	26
Oreos - Oreos, 9 cookies	480	75	21	3	420	42
	820	127	26	25	720	68
Totals	3,240	444	101	142	3,674	156
Your Daily Goal	2,724	340	90	137	2,300	102
Remaining	-516	-104	-11	-5	-1,374	-54
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 794 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 214 lbs in 5 weeks.


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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
3 MILE WALK HOME FROM SUBWAY TO HOME	43	544
Daily Total / Goal	44 / 30	794 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	135 / 210	2,222 / 4,130

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I was curious how my MapMyWalk app would record the takeoff of my flight from LaGuardia Airport. So I activated the app just as the plane started roaring down the runway... It was interesting for me to see the path the plane took to turn itself around and start heading west to Chicago.

THINK PINK

The various subway lines in Chicago are color coded. Before making a trip to Midway Airport to fly to New York my first stop was at the dentist for a checkup and routine cleaning.  My wife dropped me off at 9:30AM for my 10:00AM appointment. Directly from the dentist my plan was to take the subway, which is right across the street from the dentist, and travel to Midway Airport. The one wrinkle in that plan was that the 'pink' line train near my dentist does not go the Midway Airport. I figured out that I was going to have to take the train back to downtown Chicago and transfer to an 'orange' line train to get to the airport.  Due to Hurricane Matthew, still more than 2000 miles away from New York, my original Southwest flight scheduled to depart at 3:00PM was delayed 3 hours. In the early morning, I rebooked my flight to the 1:00PM flight which was also delayed, but only by 2 hours and 20 minutes, which meant that it was scheduled to depart at 3:20PM (a mere 20 minutes later than my original flight.) My dentist visit was completed at 11:30AM.  I had plenty of time to get to the airport, and then I had an idea.  I decided to THINK PINK. I would take the 'pink' line train which does not go to Midway Airport and get off the train and walk to the airport.  That walk turned out to be 4 miles. When I arrived at the airport, my 1:00PM flight, which had been scheduled to depart at 3:20PM, had been pushed back even further to 3:55PM.  This gave me time to walk a bit more.  So after I ostensibly had arrived at Midway Airport, I 'circumnavigated' the airport, and by the time that I actually entered the terminal at 2:30PM, I had walked 8 miles.  I was very pleased to have squeezed in an 8 mile hike on a day that I thought I would surely not get a chance to walk or do any exercising at all. This particular walk was accomplished in my street clothes, wearing my backpack and wheeling along my carry-on luggage.  I did not walk at my normal 'blistering pace' of 13 minutes per mile, but I wasn't cheated out of a day of exercise either, so it felt great.  My flight did finally depart at 4:00PM, and I finally arrived at my Mom's home at around 8:30PM. We had a delicious Chinese dinner at a nearby restaurant, as guests of my Mom's friend, John.

After getting off the pink line subway train, I walked 8 miles before I came to this spot just before finally entering the airline terminal and subjecting myself to a full body search by TSA agents who didn't like how my entire upper body lit up in their body scanner. I guess the heat emanating from my body after walking 8 miles was mistaken by the machine as residue from a bomb-making factory.

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Eight mile urban hike from the Pink line train to Midway Airport

I usually weigh myself on Saturday, but this time I weighed myself on Friday before I left for New York.  I am simply going to pretend that this was my weight on Saturday.  I actually have gone on trips and brought my scale with me, but for this trip to New York I only brought 'carry-on' luggage, so there was no room to bring a bathroom scale. My weight this week is 219.4 (still down 90 pounds from where I started on December 24, 2014)

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Your Food Diary For:

Friday, September 30, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Roundy's - Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal	600	120	10	20	1,300	20
	600	120	10	20	1,300	20
L U N C H
Subway - Footlong Turkey Breast on Wheat	560	92	17	36	1,890	11
	560	92	17	36	1,890	11
D I N N E R
Miso Soup	100	9	4	7	1,188	3
Tempura Vegetables	400	91	3	4	134	23
Chinese Beef and Broccoli	300	7	17	28	592	2
Shrimp With Brocolli	300	40	14	26	0	22
Chinese - Fortune Cookie	30	7	0	0	22	4
	1,130	154	38	65	1,936	54
S N A C K S
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup	110	12	6	2	75	11
Southwest Airlines Lightly Salted Peanuts	70	2	6	3	95	0
Generic - Luna Chocolate Dipped Coconut	200	24	8	9	190	8
Red Delicious Apple, 1 medium apple	95	25	0	1	2	19
Chocolate Brownie	200	37	4	8	134	18
Sprinkles - Cupcake	250	29	15	2	0	0
	925	129	39	25	496	56
Totals	3,215	495	104	146	5,622	141
Your Daily Goal	3,336	417	111	167	2,300	125
Remaining	121	-78	7	21	-3,322	-16
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,406 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 208 lbs in 5 weeks.


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Your Exercise Diary for:

         Friday, September 30, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
8 MILE URBAN HIKE	124	1,328
Daily Total / Goal	124 / 30	1,328 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	851 / 210	12,400 / 4,130

OCTOBER 1, 2015 
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY....
THIS IS WHERE I WAS...
...ON THE SUMMIT OF HALF DOME IN YOSEMITE PARK.

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Hurricane Matthew which as of Friday Night was 1221 miles southeast of Tampa, Florida was already causing airline delays in Chicago yesterday?  This does not bode well for my return trip to Chicago on Tuesday.

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