Fitness – My August RunKeeper Stats

Posted on September 4, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I am really enjoying my walks and runs. That said, I was in Guangzhou for 17 days in August and pretty much unable to run due to the fact that there was nowhere safe to run 😦 The streets are full of people from 6 a.m. to midnight, so in order to safely run you have to get up and be out the door by 5 a.m.!

Needless to say I didn’t pound the pavement as much as I’d have liked this past month, although I got plenty of walking in. Here’s my August stats:

And here’s my stats since March:

I’ve nearly walked, run and hiked 700 kilometers/435 miles in 5 months! This is the breakdown:
Walking: 468.2 kms/290 miles
Running: 195.4 kms/122 miles
Hiking: 26 kms/16 miles

Staying active is key to losing weight and keeping it off. Just moving 30 minutes a day, even if it’s just walking, will benefit you in amazing ways!

What was your active movement on Monday?

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 255 – Mountain Hike

Posted on April 30, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PV Day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total Weight Loss: 90.7 lb/41.21 kg

Well thank you to the scales… I was pretty happy to step on them this morning and see a loss!

I was up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning, had an omelet with onions and green peppers for breakfast and slid on the Chaco hiking sandals and headed out the door. It has warmed up here and I wanted to get my hike in before it was too hot. It had rained the night before…

The path leading up to the base of the mountain.

So I wanted to be very careful. I also took my time. I am still having some shortness of breath while climbing, which is frustrating me to no end, given I can run 40+ minutes without stopping… WTH??? Anyway, I kept reminding myself to slow down and took a slow and steady pace up the mountain.

Some of the stones have writings on them.

I like walking on the rough path because I think it helps with balance. You really have to concentrate (or at least *I* do) to stay balanced. A lot of the walkers go on the dirt paths on each side.

After walking/climbing for 1.6 miles, I turned around and headed back. I came upon this group and offered to take a pic of their group… they refused and asked me to become part of their pic 🙂

The guy in the blue shirt helped me out about 25 minutes later 🙂

I’m working on trying to get toner… I actually really don’t like my arms in this shot! I want to thank my friends, Teri and Terri for pointing out that I was wearing SANDALS and not my HIKING BOOTS… Anyhoo, I continued on my hike back… it’s really wonderful walking on the ridge of a mountain. Here’s the route…

It's a nice route up and down the ridge and back.

And as I was walking down the steps to the base, and actually… at THAT MOMENT, thinking about how well my Chaco sandals worked on the slippery, rainy stones, I fell on my ass! HARD! Having had multiple surgeries on my knees, I’m a PRO at falling. I seriously am 😀 A fact I am proud of. Falling on your ass, instead of putting the weight into your wrists, prevents fractures… EXCEPT MY ASS DOESN’T HAVE ANY PADDING ON IT ANYMORE! Or at least it’s greatly reduced! OW! And this is what your butt looks like with a big, deep, ouchy bruise on it…

LOL... you only live once... ViviMokaLaka is the best buddy you can have for documenting your life on film and YES, I have tats... more than a few and my mom has seen all of them.... Oh... and my ass is much smaller than it was 9 months ago... I never would have posted a bruise on THAT ass!

So, going back to the man in the blue shirt sitting next to me in the group shot. He ran up the steps, quick as lightening, to help me get up. I thought that was very sweet. And then he yelled at me, in Mandarin for hiking with sandals on… I showed him the bottom of the sandal in a plea for understanding, but he wasn’t having any of it! He then gave me HIS walking stick and told me (in Mandarin) to follow him the rest of the way down and to walk sideways so I wouldn’t fall again. What a sweetie 🙂 I made it down the rest of the way without any trouble… LOL

Here’s how the hike went:

Nice hike! I know that 909 feet isn't a huge climb up, but it's pretty impressive to me 🙂

So, that was my hike. I then met a couple of friends at 35mm Coffee shop for an iced latte, then went home and showered. I then walked to the hospital to give baby Lyla a bath and some lovin’. Just as I was leaving, Reuben from The Vineyard, was bringing a special request dinner into the room… He’s the guy that made me the special dinner on Saturday night to keep me PP for the day… he’s an awesome chef… reminds me of my son, Nick.

Reuben with Olivia

After seeing that yummy food, I went home and had a pan grilled chicken breast with onion, anoki mushrooms, regular mushrooms and garlic stems. Yummy!

Since I had done the hike, I didn’t run… instead read a little more than half of “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. Awesome book, lots of wisdom.

So that’s it… nice, fully Sunday. Great way to end the week. I’m really enjoying my Sunday hikes!

Ciao!

Travel – Spring Hiking in TongLu, China

Posted on April 21, 2012 by flamidwyfe

So on Thursday my work sponsored a trip to TongLu. We did 3 really amazing and fun activities during the 11 hour trip. Cave hiking, a bamboo raft ride down the river and mountain hiking. There were about 50 of us on the trip and I really had a great time.

We started out at around 740 a.m. from the hospital and headed towards TongLu. First stop the Caves near TongLu.

Where we went... Hangzhou is in the upper right corner.

ViviMokaLaka and I on the bus!

The tour guide and the head of our Marketing department encouraged people to sing. I tried to ignore him, but alas, felt bad because no one else would volunteer. So I got up and sang “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker… lol, thank God for the music on my iPhone!

Next up, my Ayi (Chinese for housekeeper), she works at our hospital and cleans my house once a week, she’s AWESOME! She sang after me, then lots of people sang!

Ayi singing her heart out!

Then we arrived at the caves and got in line with the rest of the tourists… I think I’m starting to blend in 🙂

I need to stop doing that to my forehead!

One of the murals painted on the ceiling just past the entrance to the cave.

The map of the cave we explored.

We hiked in the cave for over 2 hours… it was pretty rugged terrain at some points and wet and slippery. I was the only one in the group with hiking shoes on… some of the women had HIGH HEELS! Maybe they didn’t get the memo we were HIKING… 😀

Me and Vivien... Chinese daughter.

The lighting was pretty amazing.

Magic Herbs... really? 😀

Ayi and her husband.... these two are awesome. I love how Mr. Ayi wore a suit. He did some pretty impressive GQ poses in the caves!

Dressed for cave exploring 🙂

ViviMokaLaka

In front of the Wishing Well Pond...

So, the Wishing Well Pond. In the middle of the pond was a vessel that was maybe 12 inches x 8 inches… it was about 20 feet from the edge. In the pond itself was tons of coins and there were some in the vessel, as well. I pull out a 1 RMB coin to toss in the well and hand one to Vivien… I made my wish and did an underhand softball toss and CLING, smack dab in the middle of the vessel!!!!!!! Woot! I made a very specific wish and that was that… off for more cave exploring 😀

Wishing Well vessel

Vivi and I

On the way out of the caves you go through the booths selling all the wares you could imagine… I found something that I actually wanted, Vivien read the ingredients, all Dukan friendly so I bought two jars of this hotter than Hades chili sauce… hoo boy is it good!

Hot Chili stuff.. Mmmmm

As you can see, I was dipping my eggs in it… while opening the jar, Vivien snapped this lovely picture of me…

Tea Egg alert!

We then headed through town and saw some interesting things like…

I'm used to this by now... sometimes I wonder if it's OK that I am.

Then we arrived at the restaurant where we had lunch. Now, I have to say here that I LOVE eating in China… even though I’m on Dukan. It is such a social event. Everyone taking their chopsticks and getting food from the lazy susan… it’s awesome. I know that some people might think that’s gross, but it’s so social. It was similar in Abu Dhabi, where you would basically get the food with either your fingers or the fork you were eating with. There is something so familial about it… I love it 🙂

I was too busy making sure I got the proteins that I only got one picture 🙂

We then loaded back up in the bus and headed to the river. We took bamboo rafts down the river for about a 45 minute ride. I was happy that I could see the bottom at all times. I have big issues with wood bridges, bamboo rafts and grates… all of which I had to use today! LOL

Our transportation down the river.

So glad I had on my water-proof Chaco hiking boots... I love my boots, btw!

Our bamboo raft pilot

The view from the raft

Those two guys work in our Administration department... they were chasing us down the river bank trying to shoot us with water cannons.... they missed, our pilot kept us safe... the other 3 rafts, got soaked! LOL

Then after a 40 minute ride on the bus, we ended up at the Daqishan National Forest Park. I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

The sign says it all!

Bamboo Forest... you could hear the wind whistling through the trees!

Um, Mom... notice what I'm doing??? Walking on a grate, attached to the side of a mountain in China... this caused my already tachycardic heart rate to increase even more!!!

Map of the hike!

This is the Dean in charge of the inpatient VIP center. One of my biggest supporters to improve the healthcare here at our hospital.

Heart failure... walking over wooden bridges with a big drop below...

The scenery was just gorgeous!

This was walking over the waterfall in the last photo.

We made it to the top... Heavenly Lake

There were 2 ways down... hike back down or take the FLYING SQUIRREL... LOL. Seriously, that was the name. Guess which one I took?

And I made Vivien go with me! Please note the double seat belts... oh, and I was responsible for the entire braking system... we went fast!!!

The man who's arm you can see, stopped us and made me put away my camera... he told Vivien I'd lose it if I didn't... it was a pretty wild ride, thanks mister 🙂

And moments… literally MOMENTS after I stepped off The Flying Squirrel… my phone rang. It was a Blocked Call, but I knew it was the call I was waiting for… and it was! My heart was pounding, I wanted this call so bad… SO BAD I WISHED FOR IT THIS MORNING… just 3 hours earlier… when I threw the coin in the fountain… and here was the call… And my wish came true. It made my day… it made an already amazing day even more amazing. I know, you guys are all wondering what my wish was… I’ll share that in due time, in the future… I promise 🙂 Just know that it was an awesome wish!

And then we were back at the hospital, around 6 p.m…. very long, but very fun day! On my walk home I ~~stalked~~ walked up behind this lady and kid and snapped this shot…

Cutest little mohawk in Hangzhou!

And that, my friends, was the end of an awesome day! I didn’t do my run, as planned, given that I hiked both a cave and a mountain for just under 8 kms…

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Ciao!

Sensational Sunday

Posted on March 11, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Wow what a Sunday I had! And the sun even peeked out for a few hours through the smog!

I started out early with Kitty meeting me downstairs and the driver taking us out of the city to a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor. Something I’ve found funny and ironic is that China is the birthplace of acupuncture, but damned if I could find one! I personally know 4 acupuncture physicians in South Florida, none of whom are Chinese, and it would be far easier to get it there, than here!

Well, it was worth the early wake up call on my day off and the drive there! In the course of 90-minutes he gave me massage, acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic, cranio-sacral AND reflexology treatments all done on a massage table waterbed! The bed was HEATED and had the cut out for your face. I have never been so comfortable face down on a massage table. Worth it and a great way to start my day!

After the treatment, Kitty and I met Vivien at the bus stop and I rode the PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION system here in Hangzhou for the first time. And it wasn’t bad and it’s CHEAP. Vivien and I hopped off the bus to get a cafe latte…

Riding Public Transportation

Yummy Cafe Latte at 35mm Coffee Shop

Then off to the end of Gudun Road to pick up the trail! There is a gate next to a gas station that leads to as set of stairs that go up, up, up, up the mountains and then the trail takes you across the top of the ridge… we decided to walk for an hour and turn around and walk back… it is up and down for most of the walk and the views, while not so great in photos because of the smog, was spectacular. Steps taken going up, prior to leveling off 3754! Total walk that we did was 2.67 miles in just under 2 hours. It was awesome and I can’t wait to do it again!

After our nice hike I had a lovely dinner with one of my favorite families and play time with my buddy Soren… 2-year old wonder child! I then walked the 3.5 miles/5.6 kms home at a pretty brisk pace 46:17.

I took 2 days off from running and miss it. I think mountain hiking made up for it 🙂

Nice Sunday… I hope your weekend was as nice 🙂

Ciao!

Pics of the walk: