POST 1046; JANUARY 19, 2013; BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON

LAKE PADDEN - Bellingham, Washington

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Third day in a row, have walked for 1.5 to 2.5 hours...totaling about 20 miles.  Injured knee and foot tendons have behaved themselves...i.e., no excruciating pain...although the right foot heel tendon lets me know it is still there and in continual caution to avoid re-injury.

Tomorrow at 10 am, will join a run / walk around Lake Padden's 2.8 mile trail system...a trail I have, over the years, circled many times.  Will be nice to return to that superb trail.

http://www.cob.org/services/recreation/parks-trails/lake-padden-park.aspx

Bellingham has countless trails traversing every neighborhood - including downtown -.  It is entirely possible to walk - or ride a bicycle - to anyplace in this city of about 60,000 souls without using a roadway.  Even though we are in the rainy season, all trails seem to be totally dry - accredit great trail design, development, maintenance, and "user consideration". 

Along Bellingham waterfront, first class over-water walkways allow one to walk from downtown Bellingham to the FAIRHAVEN (old town) district some three miles to the South...providing for fishing along the way for world-famous  DUNGENESS CRABS (in season)...same CRAB savored at San Francisco;s FISHERMAN WHARF.



http://bellingham.net/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=77

Have often been asked about my diet.  Never really give it much thought, but it goes something like this (when taking time out to stop long enough to cook something up):

BREAKFAST:  (Around 5:00 am)


HOT CEREAL - Prefer rolled Oats, but recently Cream of RICE.
PANCAKES -  cook 2 - 3 day supply, stored in zip-lock bags.
BACON AND EGGS -  albeit rarely !
COFFEE OR TEA - No acidic fruit juices. NO grapefruit juice w/medication.

LUNCH:  (Around 10 - 11 am)

SANDWICH - Tuna Salad, Chicken Salad, or Ham and Cheese
SOUP -


LATER:  (Around 4 - 5 pm)

SALAD - Cole Slaw, enhanced with:  Blue Cheese Dressing, Mustard, Sweet Pickle Relish, diced apple, raisins.


LATER:  (Around 8 pm)

CORN CHIP and DIP - make my own dip from Chunky Tomato Sauce, enhanced with Mustard and  Sweet Pickle Relish

GLASS OF WINE or BEER...RUM and COKE when available.

ALWAYS AVAILABLE:  Bottled Water, Beef Jerky, Crackers, cough drops

Water consumption is CRITICAL..keep hydrated, but NOT TOO MUCH...crossing the Great Plains (Colorado), nearly kicked the bucket by drinking TOO MUCH water resulting in washing out critical elements.  When this happened, ER tests revealed my body level of HEMOGLOBIN (Red Blood Cells) was only 1/2 required to sustain life...ER gave me 36 hours to live if I didn't STOP walking immediately...I stopped walking for one month, during which time I placed myself under Doctor care, restoring proper body balances...then I continued walking across America.

Walking with SAM, I have a small Butane Stove, but no refrigeration...in which case, some ingredients are reduced or not available.

Find the most critical apparel for walking are SHOES.  Normally, I wear 11-1/2 shoes.  For walking, I have moved up to Size 13 Shoe.  This gives me a much larger toe box to avoid compressing the toes - which distorts the bone structure - and keeps the tips of the toes from contacting the front of the shoe.  Toes contacting the front of the shoe - especially when going DOWN HILL, causes extreme pain in a short time.

The past three days have been below freezing, so I switched to BOOTS. 

Big Mistake.  My Boots do not give enough toe-box room.  This evening, my toes are extremely sore, especially the Big Toe, and have gone partially numb.  Will go back to my over sized Brooks ADDICTION WALKER shoes.  Walked three years - over 16,000 miles - with my Brooks, without any pain or injury.  They are pricey - $125.00 -, but worth every penny.  Each of my three pair of Brooks have over 3,000 miles on them, and have many more miles yet to go.
I did have five pair of Brooks, but two pair separated sole-from-upper at the "bend" point just behind the toes...then again these two discarded pair had well over 4,000 miles on them.

Is now 7:00 pm, Saturday, January 19, 2013.  Time to start the Basketball Game of the WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY - 2012 National College II Champions - have won 20 in a row (15 - 0 this year), ranked #3 in the nation ... WWU Women are also ranked in the top 10.