A Rainy Sunday . . .
It's Daylight Savings Time. I don't care for it so early in the year . . . but so it goes.
It's raining. It was raining yesterday, too. Spring is on the way :-)
Speaking of yesterday, I did something that I've been threatening to do for years. I finally Volksmarched again. I haven't done a march since 2001. Volksmarching is non-competitive walking. It started in the late 60's in Germany as a way to get everyone involved in sport activity. When I lived in Germany, I was introduced to it, and here in the U.S., if there's a military base anywhere around, you will likely find volksmarchers :-)
Here in Chicagoland, there are not very many sanctioned events (ones that happen once - usually a weekend event), but there are a good number of what they call "year-round" events. this means you can go anytime, register, pay a small fee if you want credit for the walk, get the map to the route, and strike out on your own. There are three or four that start at the Cultural Center downtown, one in Evanston, one in Oak Park, and one in Frankfort.
Volksmarching is explained in depth on the American Volkssport Association (AVA) website. Here's the international website: Internationaler Volkssportverband (IVV). It's in German and in English :-)
The short story about volksmarching is that walks are usually 10K, and they generally go through areas of natural beauty, or historic significance. You can pay a small fee for IVV credit for both distance and events, or you can walk for free. Yesterday, rain and all, was the day I got back out on the walking trail. The Old Plank Road Trail, to be exact. The year-round march in Frankfort, Illinois uses a portion of the OPT.
I have books to track my events and distance - these are not necessary, but I like to get stuff for walking that far :-D For year-round marches, you can walk it once for event credit, but you can walk it as many times as you want for distance credit. It was only $3 to walk it for IVV credit. The trail was easy, and I was prepared with my rain gear. The temps were in the high 40's, so even though the skies were cloudy, it was a good day to walk. About 40 minutes in, the rain, which had only been spitting anyway, stopped. Yay!
I regularly do 5 miles on the treadmill, and have done plenty of 7-mile treadmill walks. A 10K is 6.2 miles. I figured it was going to be a piece of cake. It kicked my butt. By the last mile, I was walking like an 80-year old woman. Clearly the bed of my treadmill has some substantial cush - and clearly, I'm not 20 anymore. Rude awakening, that. ;-) Walking on the asphalt was much harder on my knees and feet than I expected, and I didn't use my trekking poles for this first time - I wanted to be free to hold the map.
Still, I made it, and know that with some more "outside" walking, I'm going to do better the next time. So, I guess there's something to be thankful for with Daylight time after all - I'll get some after work walks in.
Three Advil and a long hot bath in detox salts, and I was starting to feel a little more human. :-D
I'll leave you with a few photos from my vacation in Connecticut last weekend! These were all taken at Old Sturbridge Village - a working colonial village (so kewl!!)
This is me and my Iona sister, Tori.
Me, carding wool at Old Sturbridge Village!
A giant drum carder in the fiber mill.
A woman spinning on a great (or walking) wheel.
A sweet baby lamb - only a day or two old
And from our trip to the shore at Hammonasset, on the Long Island sound, here are some stones and the salt water :-)
All the photos will biggify if you click on them - and now, I'm off to visit Chicken Linda and check out the redecorating she's been doing :-)
It's raining. It was raining yesterday, too. Spring is on the way :-)
Speaking of yesterday, I did something that I've been threatening to do for years. I finally Volksmarched again. I haven't done a march since 2001. Volksmarching is non-competitive walking. It started in the late 60's in Germany as a way to get everyone involved in sport activity. When I lived in Germany, I was introduced to it, and here in the U.S., if there's a military base anywhere around, you will likely find volksmarchers :-)
Here in Chicagoland, there are not very many sanctioned events (ones that happen once - usually a weekend event), but there are a good number of what they call "year-round" events. this means you can go anytime, register, pay a small fee if you want credit for the walk, get the map to the route, and strike out on your own. There are three or four that start at the Cultural Center downtown, one in Evanston, one in Oak Park, and one in Frankfort.
Volksmarching is explained in depth on the American Volkssport Association (AVA) website. Here's the international website: Internationaler Volkssportverband (IVV). It's in German and in English :-)
The short story about volksmarching is that walks are usually 10K, and they generally go through areas of natural beauty, or historic significance. You can pay a small fee for IVV credit for both distance and events, or you can walk for free. Yesterday, rain and all, was the day I got back out on the walking trail. The Old Plank Road Trail, to be exact. The year-round march in Frankfort, Illinois uses a portion of the OPT.
I have books to track my events and distance - these are not necessary, but I like to get stuff for walking that far :-D For year-round marches, you can walk it once for event credit, but you can walk it as many times as you want for distance credit. It was only $3 to walk it for IVV credit. The trail was easy, and I was prepared with my rain gear. The temps were in the high 40's, so even though the skies were cloudy, it was a good day to walk. About 40 minutes in, the rain, which had only been spitting anyway, stopped. Yay!
I regularly do 5 miles on the treadmill, and have done plenty of 7-mile treadmill walks. A 10K is 6.2 miles. I figured it was going to be a piece of cake. It kicked my butt. By the last mile, I was walking like an 80-year old woman. Clearly the bed of my treadmill has some substantial cush - and clearly, I'm not 20 anymore. Rude awakening, that. ;-) Walking on the asphalt was much harder on my knees and feet than I expected, and I didn't use my trekking poles for this first time - I wanted to be free to hold the map.
Still, I made it, and know that with some more "outside" walking, I'm going to do better the next time. So, I guess there's something to be thankful for with Daylight time after all - I'll get some after work walks in.
Three Advil and a long hot bath in detox salts, and I was starting to feel a little more human. :-D
I'll leave you with a few photos from my vacation in Connecticut last weekend! These were all taken at Old Sturbridge Village - a working colonial village (so kewl!!)
This is me and my Iona sister, Tori.
Me, carding wool at Old Sturbridge Village!
A giant drum carder in the fiber mill.
A woman spinning on a great (or walking) wheel.
A sweet baby lamb - only a day or two old
And from our trip to the shore at Hammonasset, on the Long Island sound, here are some stones and the salt water :-)All the photos will biggify if you click on them - and now, I'm off to visit Chicken Linda and check out the redecorating she's been doing :-)
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