<p>So check out these pictures of the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge. I think it’s the world’s longest pedestrian bridge and it was, basically, the last mile of our marathon (some distance to get on the bridge and then into the park to finish up). iDad will appreciate this- it was ROUGH BOARDS with rises and falls like big speed bumps. My husband warned me ahead of time that I would have to be really careful not to fall because it was really uneven. It had a pretty good downgrade towards the end, which would have been nice if I wasn’t so afraid of falling. It was very beautiful- all the bridges were- but I couldn’t exactly look around!</p>
<p>The Nike quarter-zips are pretty nice. I bought one in White about a month ago though I think that it’s a little lighter than the two that you posted. I think that it was $18.95 and I’ve only seen them in white. They had a few in various sizes (but not mine) this past Sunday. I picked up a Nike Golf Tech shirt for my son (he mainly wears t-shirts to work and I want home to have something with a collar). I picked up a pair of Nike lightweight track pants - just slightly warmer than a windbreaker. I normally like New Balance track pants but I don’t like their thinner stuff.</p>
<p>I’ll have to take a look at those other quarter-zips. It would be nice to have something a little heavier.</p>
<p>ex-20+ year smoker here. My last cigarette was Oct 17th 1993. One of the best things I did for myself. </p>
<p>Talking about shopping, I have to get a lot different clothes after losing about 20% of body weight. Luckily we have several Goodwill stores nearby and they have a 50% off every Sunday for those of us who are over 50.</p>
<p>Went to the old y and all of the weight machines are gone and there is new cyber stuff there now. There is also a trx 360 taking up a big corner of the room. Lots of attached things on it. The stuff in one of the fitness rooms have been upgraded too. On the downside, several of my favorite machines are gone now.</p>
<p>Mine was Feb 11th, 2008. I can still vividly remember my last puff. It was the first puff of the first cigarette of a new pack. In fact, I had just returned from a late night run to the convenience store where I bought two packs (and probably some Doritos and a Snapple or whatever). I opened the pack, lit the cigarette, took one puff, said “yuk”, put it out and never took another puff. The ultimate spur of the moment cold turkey move. Two years later to the day was when I made the decision to lay off the Doritos and start exercising.</p>
<p>I bet every ex-smoker in the world can remember the date. I suppose it’s like the day you get released from prison (death row?).</p>
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<p>The warmer of the two Nike 1/2 zips has hand warmer pockets. A zipper pocket on each side that link a big “pouch” in front, going all the way thru. That’s fantastic for hiking because, even though it would look like hell, the front pouch is big enough for a pair of gloves or a hat or a trail map. I think I may be headed back to TJ’s to get a second one. They also had it in a navy blue.</p>
<p>I REALLY admire you guys (Dad II and iDad) for quitting smoking. I know it is hard to do, but it is the single best thing you can do for your health and longevity. I just cringe every time I see someone smoking. I can’t stand it and it scares me that it has the hold that it does on people.</p>
<p>I quit smoking when they were $.65 a pack! But it was easy. It was before tobacco companies added all the extra nicotine.
Don’t ask me when that was, I could also fill up my car for less than $20!
:D</p>
<p>Not me. I can’t remember the last time I even thought about smoking, let alone wanting one. I worked really hard to hate the things. When I see people smoking outside of a store now, I see them as junkies with syringes. It’s a horrible, horrible way to live, having the need for the next fix control your life, all day, every day.</p>
<p>It’s crazy hard to feel like you have control of your body weight at the bottom of the squat, all on one leg, and can push back up, but it was time to make the transition, I think. Gotta start sometime.</p>
<p>I quit smoking the day that my doctor told me that my “tickle cough” symptom was asthma. It really scared me. Yes, I developed asthma over a decade ago when I turned 30. I don’t miss smoking at all. In fact, I really dislike the smell of smoke. My asthma is well controlled since I take preventive medicine. Good luck to all of you… I know it’s a daily battle.</p>
<p>My challenge now is to find the motivation to keep up with a weekly exercise routine. I’ve got a bit of lower back strain from an exercise class so I’ll be doing some strengthening instead.</p>
<p>I think you have me the cold that’s been going around. I woke up this morning with a runny nose and sniffles. I don’t feel sick, but I’ll lay low and try to nip this in the bud.</p>
<p>Workout today: TRX, KB, and 3.5 mile walk for a total of 2 hours. Been following the primal diet plan (lots of protein and vegetables) and have lost another 2 pounds. </p>
<p>IDad: I did single-leg squats today, only I was using the TRX rather than holding weights. Those are really hard. I did 1 set of 12, another set of 10, and then a set of 8.</p>
<p>I took an adult ballet class on Saturday. It’s been about 25 years. It’s weird how the body remembers the positions and movements. I think I might sign-up for a month of weekly lessons. Nice groups of students, too. Made me pretty stiff, but in a good way.</p>
<p>Fantastic. “Lost another 2 pounds” has to be one of the sweetest expressions on earth! :)</p>
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<p>I wish I had discovered TRX for just plain ol’ squats and split squats. Back when I was too fat to do them, it would have been a great way to “de-load”. Definitely the way to start with these single leg squats.</p>
<p>I find them crazy hard. It’s not just the strength and stability to do them, but you have convince your brain that it’s OK to go down into a squat position on one leg. My brain thnks my knee is going to explode into pieces. It’s one of those things, link chin ups, where I have just set a long term goal of doing them and improving bit by bit even if it takes me years. Now, I’m finding a direct real world application – stepping down on some of these steep hiking trails. I would like to keep all the weight on the upper leg until my foot is actually on the lower rock (and be able to go back up if the lower rock is too far to step. That’s a single leg squat!</p>
<p>2.5 hours of tennis with 4.5 player today. He confirmed that he’s a 4.5 player (league and tournament play). I’ve seen him do quite well against 4.5s and 5.0s which is why I estimated him at 4.5.</p>
<p>I won 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). He let down in the second set (this is common). Then he made a major push in the third. We both held serves to the tie-breaker. The approach was to hold at all costs and then hope for a few careless points and break. We both have strong serves so we wound up in the tie-breaker. The first few points of the tie-breaker were very long and I think that he didn’t recover from those points as he tried to keep the remaining points relatively short by coming into the net on shots that weren’t strong enough.</p>
<p>My main home computer is somewhat like toast at the moment. I have to debug a complex BIOS problem and it’s going to take a few hours. Nice to have a backup system.</p>
<p>I wasn’t able to post today due to the clock bug. I hope that this thread doesn’t get re-ordered. It might take a while to straighten out.</p>
<p>Sounds like a good tennis match, BCEagle91.</p>
<p>I have lost 7 pounds in 3 weeks. </p>
<p>Today is the first day I am going to eat more calories than I burn off in a day, in the last 3 weeks. My daughter’s birthday. And Saturday, another party, so that will be a problem.</p>
<p>I am still hoping to lose at least 1 pound this week. </p>
<p>I lose 2 pounds a week for 8 weeks and then I can relax for a day or two. :)</p>
I woke up this morning with a runny nose and sniffles. I don’t feel sick, but I’ll lay low and try to nip this in the bud.</p>