Sunday, November 14, 2004

Training Walk Report #6

Still recovering slowly from my cold, but I got in a nice walk with Eric today. We did the other half of the Town-Gown Loop, and I took a picture of a third boulder. The pedometer says I got 5076 steps in, which is about 2 1/2 miles and just isn't that bad. I might have been able to go farther, but my right sock developed a hole at the toe, and it was a bit painful just to get home. I need new socks for this thing, clearly.

At the Orientation, the coach suggested WrightSocks. One reason to get these socks in particular is because they sell pink ribbon socks in which a portion of the proceeds go to Breast Cancer research. I went off and ordered some after a quick check of prices. I'll mention when they arrive. In the meantime, I expect to go through my old pairs of socks fairly quickly. I don't have any socks that aren't already nearly worn through. Will my old socks last long enough for the new ones to arrive? Or will I wallow in despair as I stumble around town with holes in my socks... tune in next time for the answers...

Sorry, went into cheesy TV mode there. As I mentioned, we walked the other half of the Loop today, and I got a couple more pictures of boulders. We actually have visited every boulder now, all nineteen that are installed. I've only covered three of them here... because I want a reason to do the loop repeatedly. Once that fun is over, though, I wonder what I'll do for entertainment on long walks?

This is the boulder near City Hall, at 183rd and 101st. I think this is actually the first boulder I stopped to look at, and the first one I ever paid any attention to.

The plaque reads: Bothell Ordinance 1, dated August 4, 1889, prohibits apes from using the streets of Bothell during July and August. No, I don't know why apes are prohibited in July and August, but it sounds like you could get an interesting story out of it without even knowing the facts. The "ape" on the plaque is the owl that represents the school, acting very ape-like.

I also took a picture of the sidewalk in front of the police station, which has a painted on notice of the loop:

There are several places around Bothell where you can see the words and arrows. They don't quite tell you where to look for the boulders, though, and without the map I don't think I could find most of them even with the help from the sidewalks.

Nothing new on the donation front. It would be nice to get more, but I don't expect anything more until I start pleading again, and I don't feel much like pleading yet. I will tell you how much I've spent on this so far, though. The registration fee was $90, and I paid that when I signed up. I just bought six pairs of special socks for $45. So my total out for this so far is $135. I still need to get new shoes, which won't be cheap. I plan on using my current two pairs as long as I can stand them before buying new. I may end up having to get as many as four more pairs before The Walk, depending on a lot of factors. In any case, I'll have to have two pairs of shoes with me during The Walk itself.

If you want to donate, it will help a lot. It's easier for me to justify buying shoes and socks... and eventually other clothing like shorts... if I've got the donations backing me up on the walk itself.

That's all for now. Tomorrow is crosstraining Monday, and if I go, it'll be swimming.