"The Blog Almost Too Boring To Be The Most Boring Blog in America ... for Over 5 Years!"

until it got too many red cards from Wounded Duck and the Boredom Enforcement Committee ... now the tortoise's goal is to get to 10 red cards so he can get Big Dog to drive down and take a good long walk with the tortoise

P. S. This blog listens to its readers. We have the Benjamin Category Override for 5+ mile walks and now, it humbles Tortoise to say he has been named "Lou", by Doug Jr, in memory of Mr. Consistency himself, Lou Gehrig. Tortoise can hardly type the words to think he is in any way comparable to the noble Iron Horse. Thank you!


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

115

Monday, May 30, 2011

114

Saturday, May 28, 2011

113


Series 2B totals 64.21 km (39.90 miles) in 13 hours 38 minutes, with 968.2 m (3176 feet) climbed.

My weekly Series 3 walk will be another trip up to the La Verkin Overlook, which many of us simply call the "L" because of the block letter nearby. Josh expressed interest, and I think Benjmain might like to go while he is here, so I'm thinking we'll do this on the holiday Monday ...

Friday, May 27, 2011

112


Series 2B totals 62.09 km (38.58 miles) in 13 hours 12 minutes, with 925.8 m (3037 feet) climbed.

I had my first weigh-in since March 7 at 257.6, down from 260.2 then.  You may not think the 2.6 pound change is much in almost three months.  It's still the right direction.  I'm excited!  (It makes the overall total 12.5 pounds lower in five months).

Thursday, May 26, 2011

111


Series 2B totals 59.97 km (37.26 miles) in 12 hours 46 minutes, with 883.4 m (2898 feet) climbed.

I perspired quite a lot this time.  It generally does seem to be more on the treadmill than outdoors, and this was especially true tonight.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

110


Series 2B totals 57.33 km (35.62 miles) in 12 hours 15 minutes, with 830.6 m (2725 feet) climbed.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

109


Series 2B totals 56.18 km (34.91 miles) in 12 hours 2 minutes, with 796.1 m (2612 feet) climbed.

Monday, May 23, 2011

108



Saturday, May 21, 2011

107

Day 23 ... you never know what you'll find on a magical mystery tour ...














Friday, May 20, 2011

106

105

Day 21 - I did a Regular Walk for 2.19 km (1.36 mi) in 00:24:33 with a 18.05 min/mi pace and speed 3.32 mi/h with .  Total climb:  0.9 m (3 feet).  For the record, I began this walk at 25:15 local time after driving 400 miles this evening following a late afternoon dental appointment.  As long as I do a separate walk on Friday, I'm fine with counting this one on Thursday, but if someone wants to challenge me on it, bring on the comments. :)

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

104

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

103

Monday, May 16, 2011

102

Saturday, May 14, 2011

101

For Day 17 I started my Saturday Series 3 walk by heading uphill from the office.  It started with a Regular Walk for 1.08mi in 00:23:04 with a 21.37min/mi pace and speed 2.81mi/h with

If you click on the link, you'll see that I went from my office, past the new elementary school to 600 North.  Then I turned right and went a couple blocks to what I hoped was the trail to cinder cones -- a shorter walk than up to the La Verkin Overlook, but rigorous enough for Series 3.  I think I know where that trail is now, but didn't notice it for the dirt road to a locked gate adjacent to it.

The walk on the link is the uphill stretch to the gate - 1.08 miles with 240 feet of elevation gain, which I did in 23 minutes, including the time fumbling with my phone taking the picture you see here from that vantage point as the phone was running out of battery.  However, it's enough for me to tell you here the rest of what I did.

I checked my progress on the way up.  I was at 0.87 miles and 121 feet of elevation gain when I left 600 North for the final uphill portion of the walk, making it 0.21 miles each way (0.42 round trip) from 600 North to the gate.  I added three repetitions of this portion before returning to the office.  Doing the math, this gives us 3.42 total miles (5.50 km) walked, with 597 feet (181.97m) of elevation gain.  I returned to the office at 9:50, so the walk took 1 hour 22 minutes.

Series 2B totals 33.91 km (21.08 miles) in 7 hours 40 minutes, with 594.97 m (1952 feet) climbed.

Series 3 totals are now 24.47 km (15.21 mi) in 6 hours 31 minutes.

See you Monday!

Friday, May 13, 2011

100

Happy birthday, Benjamin!  I think it's fun I hit the 100 post "milestone" on your big day!  So just for you, I did a little extra tonight ...

Thursday, May 12, 2011

99

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

98

Day 14 - I did a Walk for 1.74 km (1.08 mi) in 00:18:18 with a 16.94 min/mi pace and speed 3.54mi/h with @.  If you would like to see a map of my route including an elevation graph, click here: .  I climbed 7.01 m (23 feet).
This information is provided to you courtesy of Doug Jr., who introduced me to my new HTC Evo (Android) phone a couple weeks ago.  I went looking for an app that would help me track my walking, and (trumpet roll) found this. 

Series 2B totals 23.60 km (14.67 miles) in 5 hours 27 minutes, with 361.19 m (1185 feet) climbed.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

97

Day 13 - I walked 1.74 km (1.08 mi.) today outside with 6.10 m (20 feet) of elevation gain in 20 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 21.86 km (13.59 miles) in 5 hours 9 minutes, with 354.18 m (1162 feet) climbed.

Monday, May 9, 2011

96

Day 12 - I walked 0.80 km (0.50 mi.) today outside with 6.10 m (20 feet) of elevation gain in 12 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 20.12 km (12.51 miles) in 4 hours 49 minutes, with 348.08 m (1142 feet) climbed.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

95

Pictures on the Terreeeblay blog!

My niece Danielle celebrated her graduation from Southern Utah University yesterday by cooking us all a Chinese dinner (with lots of help from her mother Pamela) and inviting us on a walk to the LaVerkin overlook, so here are some pictures ...
A view back towards the house as we're getting started.  Can you see Willyne waving at us?
Catching a breath at the first flat stretch

Pamela and Danielle enjoy the view.  They think the Hurricane Arch Bridge looks pretty nice from this vantage point.  I choose this time to tell them about the airplane flying under the bridge in the James Bond movie "Octopussy" ...
We can see more of LaVerkin as we climb -- and enjoy another chance to catch our breath -- we needed every one of them!
Speedy Tanner, Logan, and Cody are far ahead of us!
Phillip, Marissa, Pamela, and Danielle continue up ...

High enough now to look down at the river.  I'm always amazed to look at the irrigation canal dug by hand over 100 years ago. Those were some hardy pioneers!
I enjoyed the small, delicate orange flowers and the purple blossoms on the cactus.



Can you find any of the 10 horses grazing along the river below?

One of three shots of the happy warriors at the top.  Benjamin, your rock and cement structure supporting the metal information plaque is as sturdy as ever, even if the plaque itself is long gone.

Of course this is the Terreeblay blog, so we will still have stats:

Day 11 - We walked 3.22 km (2.00 mi.) today with 207.87 m (682 feet) of elevation gain in 1 hr 12 minutes.  (I'm basing the elevation gain on a starting elevation of 3202 feet and an ending elevation of 3884 feet as shown on the following free online topographic map: 
http://www.mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm?search_string=84745)
Series 2B totals 19.32 km (12.01 miles) in 4 hours 37 minutes, with 341.98 m (1122 feet) climbed. S

This was the first Series 3 walk since February 26.  (Click here if you'd like to know more: http://terreeeblay.blogspot.com/2011/02/48.html#comments)  Today's walk brings the Series 3 totals to 18.97 km (11.79 mi) in 5 hours 9 minutes.

And since the Series 4 walk in April was cancelled, this impromptu walk began that series -- and what a great start it was!

But, I have to put it in perspective.  I have come a long ways since starting this blog to document my progress in walking to build up stamina and health.  But I have much farther to go.  I was surprised how many stops I needed, how hard I was breathing, and how fast my heart was pumping.

And today was the Ironman in St. George.  The winner did a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride through beautiful and quite hilly terrain, and then finished with a 26.2 mile run with more climbing.  In a little over 8 hours.  Truly amazing. 

By comparison I did a 0 - 0 - 0.015 Ironman.  No swimming.  No cycling.  1.5% of the effort on foot (2.0 miles compared to 26.2, at 19% of the pace, with a similar climb -- multiply those three and you get 1.5%).  And I was seriously out of breath.  I salute what these athletes accomplished today!  (For more on today's St. George Ironman competition, click here:  http://tinyurl.com/3gs3x8w)

I am the passionately smiling tortoise.  I'm happy with my progress today today.  Thanks for helping me stay motivated!

Friday, May 6, 2011

94

Day 10 - I walked 1609 m (1.00 mi.) today with 9.14 m (30 feet) of elevation gain in 21 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 16,107 m (10.01 miles) in 3 hours 25 minutes, with 134.11 m (440 feet) climbed.

93

Day 9 - I walked 805 m (0.50 mi.) today with 12.19 m (40 feet) of elevation gain in 11 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 14,498 m (9.01 miles) in 3 hours 4 minutes, with 124.97 m (410 feet) climbed.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

92

Day 8 - Terreeeblay is lonely no more...We walked 2,590 m (1.61 mi.) today at 2% grade with 51.81 m (170 feet) of elevation gain in 31 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 13,693 m (8.51 miles) in 2 hours 53 minutes, with 112.78 m (370 feet) climbed.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

91

Day 7 - I walked 2,253 m (1.40 mi.) today with 12.19 m (40 feet) of elevation gain in 32 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 11,103 m (6.90 miles) in 2 hours 22 minutes, with 60.97 m (200 feet) climbed.

Monday, May 2, 2011

90

Day 6 - I walked 1,609 m (1.00 mi.) today with 6.10 m (20 feet) of elevation gain in 19 minutes. 

Series 2B totals 8,850 m (5.50 miles) in 1 hour 50 minutes, with 48.78 m (160 feet) climbed.