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Ok, so it's not really spring, but Pittsburgh set a new record for the warmest temperature here on January 7th today: 66°F. Yesterday, I went for a walk on the Eliza Trail (photos coming!) and today I went to Piney Fork (left the camera).

Spring thaw has a smell, that smell was absent during the walk. But I'm still spoiled by today. When snow comes once again, I think it will be harder to take.

Three Rivers Heritage Trail end of Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge (South Side).
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Eliza Furnace Trail end of Hot Metal
Pedestrian Bridge (South Oakland).
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Closeup of South Oakland end of bridge.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

View from Hot Metal Bridge.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Eliza Trail preparation for
Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge.
Click on the photograph for a larger version.

Today, while driving home along Second Avenue in South Oakland¹, I spotted construction at the Hot Metal Bridge. The Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge construction has started, as you can see in these photographs. The bridge will provide a pedestrian route to cross the Monongahela at that point (the Hot Metal Bridge is vehicular only because it is so narrow) as well as linking the Eliza Trail² and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail³ for walkers, runners, and cyclists.

In addition to the trail, there will be two small belvederes — platforms for sightseers. While I was taking the second photograph, I got a chance to talk with one of the supervisors working on the project. He was taking photographs as well, to provide a record of what they were doing. He explained that the two men on our end of the bridge were installing safety wires as a part of worker safety for the project. He explained that he himself had been out on the bridge earlier today. "The view of the Mon [the Monongahela river — Rob] and downtown was spectacular from up there!" he said. He believes the bridge will be completed "…in 14 months…sometime in the fall of 2007."

As you can see in the first picture, the bridge is not level when it reaches the South Side. The supervisor explained that there would be "…a switchback ramp, about the same size as the one by Heinz…" that crosses the channel from Washington's Landing.

On the South Oakland side, activity seems to be in full swing. In the second photo, you can see the construction equipment, vehicles, and the fresh-laid gravel at the construction entrance. The fourth photograph was taken while I was stuck in traffic on the Hot Metal Bridge. The second, third, and last photos were taken from the Eliza Trail. Because of the position of the fence, I had to "point and hope" on photos 2 and 3. This was the construction I spoke about in the post Walk on Through the Eliza Trail and why the graffiti was being painted over. As you can see in the last photograph, there is some construction equipment. The trail has been modified so that it will remain open during construction. The second orange sign (not readable) says "Trail Narrows."

While on the Eliza Trail, heading back to my car from taking photographs, I chanced to talk with a 64 year-old African-American gentleman who was out for his exercise. In 1997, he had a mutiple bypass operation on his heart and "I decided to listen to my doctor." He spoke of how the Eliza and Three Rivers Heritage Trails provided him a place to exercise. He told me that, when he was really ambitious and had a free Saturday, he would walk the complete length and back of the Three Rivers heritage Trail. "I'll go home, have a sandwich, and then fall right to sleep." Excitedly, he explained to me that the eventual plan was to link up these trails to a trail that would go all the way to Washington D.C., and there, it would link up to a trail that went to Atlanta, Georgia.

"You could get a bike and go all the way to Georgia" he said.

"I think my butt would be sore if I did that!" I replied.

He cracked up and then said "More than your butt would be sore!" I agreed with him, thinking of my last 50 mile bike ride and how my legs (more used to running and walking) screamed the next day. A cycling trip like that might be a vacation for Lance Armstrong, but not me! Still, knowing that the trails will wind there way across all that distance reminded us both that all along, they would give encouragement to people to exercise.

He was enthusicastic about the benefits of exercise, especially for heart disease. When I happened to mention I was a diabetic, he became even more pointed in making sure I would walk. Usually, I'm the one making that speech, but I relaxed and heard his version of it.

I'm getting slapped upside the head today, aren't I?

He explained all the things he'd seen walking the trails: the wildlife, the plants, and the young ladies. Clearly, he enjoyed these trails. He explained that he walked every day for a year, but only lost a pound. His doctor told him that it still did him good. The exercise helped his heart and based on his waist size, while he hadn't lost much weight, the weight he had was more muscle and less fat.

As we parted, I wished him the best and said I hope he was out on the trails walking for another twenty to thirty years — and then I hoped he got serious about his exercise! He roared with laughter, and with a handshake, we parted. He honked as we both drove out of the parking lot at the trail head.

How much you want to bet he crosses the pedestrian bridge the first day it's open? God willing, I'll be there, too!

1. The Hot Metal Bridge is part of the dividing line between South Oakland and Hazelwood, and from this map, it appears clear that the Hot Metal Pedestrian Bridge is technically in South Oakland. By the way, whatever happened to Soho? It looks like part of it became the Bluff and part West Oakland. [back]
2. The Eliza Trail goes from Downtown to Panther Hollow [back]
3. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail goes from 3rd Street on the South Side to West Homestead.. [back]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an article about one of my fantasy spots, the New River Gorge Bridge. I've always wanted to attend New River Gorge Bridge Day (the third Saturday of October, this year October 21st) and rappel off the bridge.

The bridge is almost 270 meters high; my longest hunk of rope is about 60 meters. In other words, I'd have had a long drive for a big disappointment. See, I love rappeling, but I've never been good at ascending. I'd like to think I'd have looked up the distance before I left, but 20 years ago, when the dream first came to mind, there wasn't a Wikipedia and I tended to work more on impulse. With age comes planning, learned through too many long drives ending in a "D'oh!" moment.

Given my current weight, I doubt I'd fit comfortably into my climbing harness, and it's been a decade since I rappelled. Some dreams, like running marathons, can be fulfilled, while others need to be labelled as "Never a good idea in the first place." But who knows. Maybe I'll go to watch the BASE ¹ and bungie jumpers, as well as the rappellers. Bridge day is supposed to be a blast!

1. Parachuters who jump off of Bridges, Antennas, Structures (buildings) and Earth (cliffs, etc.). [back]

I've been back to doing some exercise.

The four mile workouts at South Park have been pretty good. I walk for two miles and then run for about a mile and a half and then walk the last half mile or so. My heart rate pops up pretty fast to about 80% maximal, and I can keep it there for the run. For some reason, I can't seem to run any slower. Exercising at 80% repeatedly will result in over-training.

Since I'm doing 4 miles with no trouble, I thought the 3.5 mile walk on the Eliza Trail to see Floyd and go to Eides' Comic Book store on Friday would be fine. I'd have to take it easier, of course.

Walking at an easier pace is actually harder for me than walking at a brisk pace or running. Those PVCs are caused by something in my ventricle that gets impatient waiting for a heartbeat. If my heart rate is too slow, there's more of a chance that that something getting annoyed and firing off a beat early. Since it's not designed to fire off beats on it's own, the beat's not nearly as good as one that comes from the normal place.

So there I go on that walk, and I get hit by a "light grey out." My brain feels like it's not working at 100%, and there's this feeling of impending doom. I get a wash of anxiety all over me.

"I know what that is!" I think. "It's nothing to worry about: I can relax."

"My heart just isn't beating right."

Now, the phrase "It's nothing to worry about: I can relax" doesn't go too well in my brain with "My heart just isn't beating right."

There's an old paramedic joke about how to deal with emergencies. In an emergency, check to see if you have a pulse. If you do, then there's nothing for you to worry about. It sucks to be the person stretched out on the floor doing an "O" or "Q" (think of an open mouth, with or without tongue protruding), but you've got nothing to worry about.

Checking my pulse yields:

Beat…beat…beat…nothing…beat…beat…beat…nothing…beat…nothing…beat…beat…beat.

This is, quite literally, a new definition of "nothing to worry about." The doctors know what they're talking about. I've checked up on it, and the odds of me dropping over dead from this aren't much different than if I had a perfectly normal heartbeat. This is new information that has to compete with years of "We need to get lidocaine onboard before the patient makes us do the old "Pump and Blow." Make sure the defibrillator is handy, just in case."

I work hard to not think of Jim Fixx, the running guru who died of heart disease while running. I avoid remembering my friend who, just after seeing the cardiologist, went into cardiac arrest for 20 minutes and is still fighting to recover from the resulting brain damage. The stories of others who went to an E.R. for "rule out heart problem" and died after being released are not the best things to ponder right now.

The biological subroutines are beyond my control. When I go into the irregular heartbeat, the malfunction produces error messages designed to elicit fear. I don't think I can unlearn that reaction, and I'm not even sure I want to. The sudden surge of adrenaline from those glands over my kidneys picks my heart rate up a bit — making those irregular heartbeats go away.

So I started off on my walk, trying not to think about what my EKG must look like.

One mile into the walk, I feel like I've been punched in the solar plexus. Something's upset my stomach again. The cell phone's in my hand, just in case. Walk. Breathe. Walk. Breathe.

I notice I'm getting more of those irregular heartbeats. The absolute best I can hope for is that my stomach is irritating the heart and causing those PVCs. How I'm feeling right now would seem to confirm that.

Walking will help the stomach, help me lose weight, and help the heart.

So I do what the doctors tell me. I exercise as much as I can. I'm watching my diet and taking all those funky acid blockers. I can do this.

All I have to do is ignore the emotions that go along with it. All those hours of training for the marathons, where I did not want to put in my exercise time but made myself do it anyhow, where I felt like blowing off a day but didn't…now I'm seeing the real reason I did it.

Have I ever mentioned how much training for a marathon sucks? We're talking big time suckitude.

Y'know, it just hit me. I should sign up for a marathon. I mean, come on, if I have to put myself though this crap, at least I can get a T-shirt out of it. So, what should I aim for? Chicago? Florida? Rhode Island?¹ Washington D.C.?

1. Supposedly, they do laps just inside the border. [back]

There appear to be many stories in the news today that leave me amazed and befuddled. The most extreme is this one from 2 Political Junkies, who got it from Dare Generation Diary who got it from Boing Boing who got it from Anderson Independent Mail who got it from the Associated Press who got it from Seanna Adcox. I don't know where Seanna Adcox got it from.

Anyway, it appears that South Carolina is planning on banning beds.

Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys. But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some Southern states.

Now, some might argue that beds are also used for sleeping, but for most people, that's what the chair in front of the computer, the couch in front of the computer, those too-comfortable seats in the planetarium, and the seat in front of the steering wheel are for. The bed is, believe it or not, used mainly for sex.

Now, most people prefer to have sex in the normal places: the floor, the bathtub, various places in or on the car, swingsets, gazebos, the vegetable garden, that retaining wall that's just the right height, the stretcher in the back of an out-of-service ambulance, the driveway at 3 a.m. when everyone else in the neighborhood is either asleep or similarly involved, that isolated cliff at the Grand Canyon (with caution — it's a long drop), on the steps, at the top of the stairwells at certain CMU concrete monstrosities, on the washer with an unbalanced load of towels on the spin cycle, in front of the fireplace, in front of the TV, and of course the kitchen table (please remember to wash the table afterward, folks!), and of course, the beach.

But some people choose an alterantive lifestyle and have sex on the bed. For women who have difficulty achieving satisfaction, the softness of the mattress and the availability of pillows can be quite helpful. Psychiatrists who prescribe antidepressants often suggest using a bed as a way to help with the common side-effects of these drugs. For heart patients or people with other medical conditions, the bed provides a soft place to land should the patient go into cardiac arrest.¹

Studies in human sexuality have shown that the bed is almost universally preferred as a sexual aid by arthritis patients, and that by the time most couples reach their ninetieth birthday, the bed has become their only place for lovemaking.

The Presbyterian Church, being a liberal organization, does not take a stand on its members having sex in bed, although it's not something one should bring up during prayer requests. I'm not sure about the Roman Catholic church's position on this parphilia.

Some people will object because the use of the bed in sex comes from the gay and lesbian community and is often seen in pornography. Some people need to get a life.

I would hope the legislators in South Carolina realize that many Americans use the bed as a "marital aid" and it enhances their marriage. The bed has been known to keep marriages together. I hesitate to mention this, but in one case, a wife insisted on having sex on the dining room table or in the outfield seats at Pirates games (perhaps the most private place in all of Pittsburgh) and other locations. Her husband, seeking novelty, wound up having an affair with a woman who was willing to have sex in a bed. The marriage broke up, which proved to be devastating to the children.

If we are going to hold the family together, initiatives like this ill-conceived (no pun intended) law must be stopped now.

1. Remember, folks, always perform CPR on the floor. The flexibility of the bed reduces the effectiveness of compressions. [back]

Today's five mile walk completed my walking for January at 120 miles — 10% of my goal for 2006. Yes, there are 12 months in a year, but having a cushion is nice. If something goes wrong, I can still get my 1200 miles in, and if nothing goes wrong, who would object to 1440 miles?

The walk started off miserable. I planned on complaining about not having done 6 miles yesterday when it was nice instead of 5. I had a fine whine ready and even a squished squirrel to comment on. The last mile and a half (always the worst) was set to be complete misery. I'd passed the entrance to the middle school I went to growing up. A little further down the road, I looked down and saw a translucent blue case behind a telephone pole.

I started to walk on but turned back. I picked the case up gingerly so as to limit my fingerprints; I really do watch too many crime shows. There was a name on the back of this calculator, written in a middle school style printing. A quick call to 411, and the home phone of a family by that name was ringing. The mother answered the phone, and I asked if she had a son named **********. She said yes in the tone one reserves for probable serial killers. I explained I found his calculator and could bring it by. She gave me the street and the address — only a quarter mile out of my way.

I dropped it off, and she thanked me in that peculiar combination of voice that indicates she wasn't sure if I was the nicest guy on the planet or a psychopath. I finished my walk feeling a lot better about the whole deal.

Yesterday's twelve mile walk along the Mon Yough Rails to Trails (MYRT) got started a little late. It was great for photography, but there was a real danger that I'd be walking an hour after sunset. So I cut the walk short by 2 miles, and picked up the pace. Here are the photos.

Picking up the pace while carrying my Nikon D50 with a huge lens was…interesting. I think that in the future, I shall stick to carrying my small Sony Cyber-Shot on long walks. Still, the walk was nice. It was warm enough that I tied my yellow windbreaker around my waist for most of the walk.

The above photo is at the "bend" about halfwy between the 23 and 24 mile markers. The predominant colors throughout the walk were browns and greens, with the blue of the sky above. Black shadows and white of patches of unmelted snow filled out the pallet.

I wasn't alone on the trail; many others were out to enjoy the unseasonable weather. The runner on the left passed by toward the beginning of my walk. I wondered where he went to. That question was answered as he passed me as I neared the end of my walk. He'd done a 20 mile workout at under 10 minutes/mile.

Click below to see the rest of the photographs!

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Today, while walking home on my 4 mile walk, I was headed down a hill. To my left was a cliff, with some houses below. Circling and soaring below me was a red-tailed hawk.

Now, I'm not the best at recognizing wild birds. Cardinals, blue-jays, robins, and goldfinches are about it. Nancy can tell the difference between a sharp-shinned hawk and a turkey vulture, but I can't. Identifying this raptor, though, was easy. From above, the red tail was stunning.

I stood and watched it for a while. I could actually see the subtle moves of the wings and tail that permitted the bird to guide it's flight. Finally, it headed away and landed in a tree.

Todays 6 mile walk takes me up to 63 miles for 2006. If I'm to have 120 miles in January, I'd need to have 62 miles in by today, so I'm more or less caught up. 63 miles is over 5% of my goal!

120 miles a month would obviously let me finish the 1200 miles at the end of September. Last year, though, I ran into some trouble, so I'm trying to build in some padding!

Some folks are amazed at how much I walk. Don't be. I've always loved walking or running, but I didn't know how to train. In 1996 that I was too old to run. I was getting hurt too often. By December, 1999, I was a diabetic from the weight gain and lack of exercise. I started up again, but this time took it slowly and built up the distance.

That's one of the big secrets to exercise. You don't go out on day 1 and run a marathon. You start out one day and you cover a mile. Repeat until you can increase the mileage a bit, and continue. Eventually, you can do a marathon!

The walk was enjoyable. I did a lot of thinking, writing the next blog article. On the way back home, I came across trees filled with little birds. This January, there haven't been many small birds: crows are the ones I see most. But these trees were full! I'd guess there were two hundred birds chirping loudly. The flock was impressive!

I've signed up for "Just a Short Run" and I'm going to see if I can manage to get to the "15th Annual 'Running with Angels' The Becky Bell Family Fun Run" near Chicago.

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Just to be the man who walked a thousand point one miles to fall down at your door!

I finished today's walk — 3 miles in South Park — and drove right over to Fleet Feet by South Hills Village. I've now got a long-sleeved Hind technical shirt in blue! I'll get a picture up soon of it.

The folks at Fleet Feet have been really encouraging me, as have all the readers who have posted here. Thanks.

2006 has two goals: weight loss and 1200 miles. God willing, I'll pull it off. 2005 was a near thing, I have to admit. Fleet Feet now has a policy that runners and walkers get a new shirt after completing 1000 miles. I'm going to try to get the next shirt by next August, but we'll see.

At the end of 2004, I decided to try to walk or run 1,000 miles in 2005. Training for the Cleveland Marathon helped an awful lot. I was well on my way to reaching my goal, and then October hit.

Disaster!

I had to get ready to go to New Orleans, which involved renting a trencher. You don't want to know how that makes sense. Then I went to New Orleans. Just after I came back, I went on the church retreat, and then got the respiratory infection from heck. Just when my lungs felt like they could take the walking again, I got the GI infection from heck.

December 20th, I'm still suffering from the GI infection and I realize I'm 31 miles short. I was going to miss the 1,000 miles.

No. I. Wasn't.

I walked 2 miles that day. My gut couldn't take any more, but I got in two. 29 to go.

Over the next days, I managed to get walks in where I could. The day I finished all my "Christmas shopping that can't be done after Christmas," I didn't get any mileage in. It's a shame I couldn't count the walking in the stores. Christmas was too busy for walking. Friends came in from out of state, and I chose to visit with them rather than get a walk in.

So today meant a 7 mile walk, which conveniently happened on a day when I visit Floyd for lunch. Including the trip to Eides, it's over 7 miles. The GPS unit won't work reliably downtown, so I can only claim 7.

This means tomorrow, God willing, I'll get three miles in and have 1000.1 miles. I may go for one extra mile just to say I did it. I'd hoped for over 1200, but I'll take a thou.

I'm feeling better, too. Perhaps part of the reason I've been feeling so miserable is that I've been unable to walk. Exercise is known to ameliorate depression.