Walking Across the USA

I can't believe I've never talked about this before!

There used to be an older gentleman at my work who set a goal by "walking across the US" on his treadmill.  That thought stayed in my mind and I poked around the Interwebz and found exercise.lbl.gov.

I signed up on April 21, 2011.  I started out pretty spotty.  I logged 56.2 miles in 2011.  83 miles in 2012, 128.4 miles in 2013 and already 64.7 miles in 2014!

This was a combination of WalkAtHome DVDs and trips around the park with the dog.  So far this year, it's from the treadmill, elliptical and the bike at the gym and the occasional dog walk - due to it being so freaking cold I only take him out on nice days.

It's pretty neat that they show you a line on the map with the trek you're taking and where you're at on it.  At 332.4 miles, I'm not even out of Virginia yet!!  It also shows you the view of exactly where you're at, like from a Google street car view.

 This is my log.  

9 times out of 10, I enter info from my phone, so I tap on the date & it takes me to a screen where I can enter my miles for the day.  

 Here's where I am.  

If this isn't a stereotypical Appalachian scene, I don't know what is!

 I can choose different maps to look at. 

The only problem I have is that you can't choose your own route across the US.  

This is the only option.  Meh.

At least I'm on a good roll so far for this year. I can't even begin to guess where I'll be at the end of my 6 month gym membership.  Maybe into Kentucky??  We shall see! 

Friend Makin' Monday - Random Getting to Know You

Happy Monday!    We have a new hostess for a while while Kenlie takes a little break.  Hi, Sarah!!



If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

1. Introduce yourself in under 10 words.   Married, dance mom, pet mom, Navy veteran, blogger x3, haunter

2. How did you find Friend Makin Mondays?  Oh crap - I don't remember!  I just went back an looked and my first FMM was June 20, 2011!

3. Have you ever met any of your blog readers?  Nope.

4. How many states have you visited?   I've visited Arkansas many times (my MIL lives there), Ohio.  Do weekend/overnight visits count?  Oregon, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana.  I've driven thru many of them.

5. What did you have for lunch yesterday?   Ummmmmmm, eggs & grits. I had to check my tracker!

6. How many different places have you lived in?  Ooops, wait while I go change # 4.......OK.  I've lived in Michigan most of my life.  I was in the Navy for 8 years so I lived in a couple states.  Florida for about 6 months for bootcamp & school.  Georgia for about 2 years while on my first ship.  California (ok, I lived on the ship but was stationed in CA) for about a year - 6 months of which was spent at sea.  Then we changed homeports to Washington, where I lived for about 3 years until my enlistment was up and I came back to MI.

7. What’s your favorite color?   Blue

8. Do you have any pets?

My walkin' buddy, Jack.

He knows when I put a certain pair of shoes on we're going for a walk and he gets excited!

Maddie & Chester

and we have 3 aquariums - 2 of which have 1 fish. This guy is about 12 years old now (taken at Christmas 2009!!!)  

9. What would your ideal job be?  I love photography & animals so something with both of those.

10. Do you have any tattoos?  I have 4.  A morning glory vine on my left chest, a heart with 2 flowers on my right ankle that I'm going to eventually/soon have covered up, a mandela & feather on my calf above that & a rose vine (with Love in it) around my left ankle.

Have a great day

Catching up

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in almost 3 weeks!  Shame on me!

I was up 2.2 lbs this past weigh in and I have no idea why.  I had a pack of pop tarts at one point and we had dinner at Texas Roadhouse (rolls & peanuts!) but the entree I chose was decent - my usual 8 oz sirloin & grilled shrimp with veggies.

I've been good about getting to the gym 3 times a week.  I had no intention of getting up to go to Zumba Saturday after Valentine's Day (not that we did anything anyway), so I dropped in on the class at Miss Angela's dance studio Wednesday night.  I confess that I really like Kelli at the gym better, since her class is 100% cardio the whole hour you're in there - sweat pours!  Rosita at the studio does 2 really fast songs to begin, then slows down to do some salsa and never gets you back up to those first 2 songs.  Then does toning.  Which I guess is all good in its own way, but I like to keep moving!  I confess I had a hard time walking Friday morning after that class, since the muscles in the fronts of my thighs were tight!!

This week, the class at the gym was cancelled.  I was bummed, until I got the text from the studio that even tho the schedule only called for competition classes during winter break, they were still having Zumba.  So I went.  I hope they're not expecting to see me there every week!  This one was a bit tougher, since my knee has been acting up again.  It's weird.  The pain moves around.  Recently it's been mainly in the tendons up the back of it, making it hurt to walk when they stretch.

And I probably wouldn't be offended hearing Kelli cheering me on about getting buns of steel & "no cellulite by summer after doing this move"  since she's a tiny, fit little thing (she doesn't do stuff like that anyway).  But Rosita is not.  In fact, that woman needs to invest in a good sports bra.  She would lean forward to shimmy and it looked like her boobs were doing their own form of dance under her tank top. It was like a train wreck - I couldn't pull my eyes away! UGH!!

Friend Makin' Monday - Random Q's

Happy 1st Monday in February! We are that much closer to springtime!

The hubby managed to hurt his back while shoveling snow yesterday - yay!  Nothing like a whiny man!  Seriously, tho - we're running out of room for the snow heaps - we've been pushing it between the garage & the fence and the pile there is easily 12 feet long / 8 feet wide / 5 feet high.  Instead of allowing the pile to grow forward, he kept trying to throw more on top and wrenched himself.  I was mad at him anyway, so he didn't get any sympathy from me!  But I had to finish the driveway for him & clear off the cars and then damn if the neighbor didn't go by and plow the street and left that lovely icy ridge at the end of the driveway.  {{expletives}}



If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Random Questions

1. Did you watch the Super Bowl? If so, what was your favorite part? We did. We turned it on just in time to see the coin toss, so we missed all the pre-game goodies. (What the hell was Joe Namath wearing???)  We don't really care about football, but we'd chosen the Seahawks to win, since I used to live in Seattle & that's where Miss Angela was born.  And she liked the colors of their uniforms.  We are such hard-core betters!  Commercials were mostly "meh" but we enjoyed the halftime show.  Bruno did great!

2. What is the weather like where you live?  I'm in SE Michigan.  Well, there is a mysterious bright, glowing orb in the sky right now....I believe it is called "sun" !!  It gives the illusion of warmth, but it's only supposed to get up to like 20 all week, with another 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow night.  Woohoo.

3. When is your birthday? August 29, the same as my oldest sister!

4. Do you prefer sparkling water or flat water? I haven't had sparkling water before, so I'd go with flat.  I used Cystal Lite & Mio a lot for flavor.

5. How many hours did you sleep last night? 6.5 or so.

6. What is your favorite day of the week? I don't have a favorite.

7. If you had to choose between riding a bike or swimming, which would you choose? Swimming.  Besides a good workout, I like the feel of water on my body!  The only issue I have the chlorine dries my hair out and it probably doesn't do my color any good. 

8. How often do you eat red meat? MmMmMmMm probably 3-4 days a week.  Love me some cow!

9. What time did you wake up this morning? 5:30 - my usual weekday time. I have to have the girl to her bus by 6:45 and be at work at 7:30.

10. Do you have any goals for the week? I have to do some shuffling due to an appointment tonight, but 3 days at the gym and my WW meeting on Thursday.  I like to do 2 days in the gym for cardio & weights and Zumba on Saturday, with some treadmill after.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to go over and link up in the comments. Happy Monday!