Prior to my upcoming G.I. visit, I got lab work done and just got the results.  Across the board, all indicators were in the green (normal range).  Numerous key indicators were out of the range a year ago.

Reflecting on a year ago, I started with a trainer (Donovan) at my club to do strength/flexibility workouts.   I was well into the Walk With Bo program, which started in a walker, and got up to 108 different guest-stars (including a deaf-dog, CT Speaker of the House, the Mayor of Cagliari, and representation from This Nation).

I've been able to swim all along, even right away after the Big Surgery (after the first 1/2 lap I was so happy I cried) .

I started hockey-skating and running in November, ran a 5K (Mitten Run) on 12/3, two 10Ks (Hartford HMF 3/17, Collinsville 5/5), finished running all Hartford Streets 5/26, Reykjavik Half Marathon 8/24, and Von Trapp Trail 5K 9/23.  And 54% complete running Windsor streets as of this morning.

So I'm back in the saddle again, planning my next Half (probably Nordic/Baltic).  Feels good.

So Nation, how/what are you doing for your health?

One of my friends recently completed running all of the streets of West Hartford - took her from Jan-Nov last year.  She used a map+spreadsheet to track her work and plotted it out on a map of the city.  Cool project.

Yesterday, during my run, I decided to run all of the streets of H’istan.  So I found a good street map of the city, went to FedEx, and had them print it out poster size: https://themdc.org/app/uploads/2022/09/HartfordStreetMap2022.pdf

This morning, I began my challenge in SoWendHa (South West-End Hartford), and did 3.2 miles covering 5 complete streets and parts of 8 others.  This neighborhood is predominantly Puerto Rican, Portuguese, and Brazilian.  My finds included some historical curiosities, awesome road bling, and a Portuguese bakery with almond-crusted croissants.

In thinking about the overall task, I’m looking for completeness (every street, entire street) as well as efficiency (not covering the same stretch more than necessary), but I need to take into account that I can only do 3-5 miles each time out.

If the city streets were perfect squares, and tiled the plane perfectly, I could take inspiration from something like the Dragon Curve (which doesn’t cross it’s own path).  Four of these, each rotated 90 degrees, completely tiles the plane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_curve

But a city is not a perfect plane - has dead ends, boulevards, greens, cul-de-sacs, islands, curves, roundabouts, etc.  And I need to return to my car after each segment.

When I go to a museum, in order to see each piece of art, I follow a simple pattern of go to the left, until a room is completed, then take the next left turn, etc.  This gives me completeness, but would not take into account segment lengths.

Any thot’s on how to approach this?

After I got out of the hospital last summer (Duodenal Ulcer with Complications), and was relearning how to walk, I started this deal where I would get different people to go for walks with me.   Most of the walks were from my house up and around the paths in Elizabeth Park (just down the street) or down 199th St. in Scandia.

After more than a year since I started WWB, I've walked with 64 different partners (including 4 dogs) - of course I spreadsheet this.  Many of them have walked with me multiple times, usually 2.2-3.2 miles - I try to vary the route each time, and we go out rain or shine.

Let me know if you are around and would like to join me (Hartford or Scandia).

So Nation, what are you up to for exercise lately?

Since my hospitalization last year, I've been trying things to build back stomach and other muscles.

The first exercise was 20 Coins.  I have a dish of miscellaneous foreign coins that I pour on the floor, and have to pick up one at a time, alternating hands.

The most recent one I'm doing now is picking golf balls out of a bowl at the base of the stairs, the "cup" being exactly 4 inches deep.  So I have to bend down further than I'm used to.  I found that on a recent trip to Vail that I didn't have the range of motion to get the ball out of the cup after putting.  So after 3 days now I'm up to 6 golf balls!  My goal is 18 balls.