Wimpy Arms Part Two

Beginning of August I had some wimpy arms and my goal was to not have such wimpy arms. 

I'm keeping my arm goal for yet another month doing the 30/30, 20/20, 10/10 push-ups/tricep dips on the counter top here at work. 

Here it is after a month:

August Goals

1- Run 10 miles every weekend

Generally met this one. I ended up doing closer to 8-10 miles and this past weekend only four miles but another few with Grandpa Muddy walking. Hip pain got the best of me but we'll keep it up for this month too. 

2- Pictures and posting three trails

I made this :). Sunset, Thousand Islands Upper Woods, and a random third which was the trestle trail all made it into my blog in August. As well as yet again the East River trail. 

3-Pull ups and Amazing Arms

Check! My pull up bar will likely be returning upstairs soon but it was well used this month in the hallway downstairs. Kind of an eyesore though right off the kitchen like that. 

4-nutritional goal was a complete loss. 

5- Carpet

My hallway carpet is down. I need to get the transition strips in but otherwise, it's all set and I can finally stop getting irritated every time I walk through my hallway. It was more of a pain than I expected but it's so much nicer to have it out of the way. 

6- Family Time

I didn't get to spend as much time as I'd like with my daughter since she spent  a lot of time camping and out and about this month. And Mr Muddy and I didn't even get a night out :(. But we did some running and biking together which is just as good to me :). 

So for September:

1- Tough Mudder the first weekend and continue to run as close to 10 miles per weekend as I can. Adding in a 2 mile run every Wednesday or Thursday after my call night.

2- Three more trails. Heesacker Park and Doty Park in Menasha/Neenah on the same day since apparently they are quite close to each other. Memorial Park in Appleton. And a third to be determined close to home. I'm thinking Pamprin Park might be a good one or possibly Humbolt.

3- Continuing the Arm plan from last month while I'm at work as well as the 30 Day Ab Challenge I'm doing with some friends on facebook. 

4- Really got to get a bit better on the whole nutrition aspect and damn it... I'll do it. This month, writing down everything I eat and drinking at least 3 glasses of water a day. 

5- A full top to bottom house cleaning is in order.

6- More family time driving with my teen and a night out watching the sunset with Mr Muddy would be very nice. 

Sunset Park

Sunset is a park in Kimberly with a boat dock and also a swimming beach. I used to do a lot of swimming there as a kid. The beach was closed and water drained when I was there this past weekend, so no pics of that. 

I walked with Baby Muddy and Grandpa Muddy. We ran into an old friend as well! 

Trails, very stroller friendly. It's a nice scenic area, maybe 2 or 3 miles of trail altogether, but not certain on that.  

There are a few smaller trails that go into the wooded area more that are not stroller friendly but still appear to be generally baby carrier friendly. There are a couple hills that can be a little hard to push a stroller up, but Grandpa gave a helping hand there. 

There are two play areas, the one in the photo is the smaller one. The other is at the top of the other hill and near a pavilion and bathrooms. This smaller one is a bit away from bathrooms, but near enough to see the pavilion from this spot. 

The day was a little hotter than anticipated but it was absolutely beautiful out. This is also a good park for professional family photos. Lots of bridges and a nice build up stone area. 

Overall, very stroller friendly for walking, also dog friendly on the pathways, and great for the bigger kids too so they can get a break to play as well. 

Most Scenic Trail in GB

Okay, technically it's Allouez, and if ya'll know me by now, you know I mean the East River Trail.

I have followed this path now till it's almost end (I could see the end, but my feet could not walk another step). The path does get better after going under Hoffman Ave to wider and less bumpy. And even has "traffic lanes" for those of us who wander from one side of the path to the other.

The trail has a loop at it's end in Ledgeview Park. Ledgeview has multiple play areas (think I saw three but not sure if one of those was a separate small adjacent park). It also has a nice pavilion near the larger play area as well as a gazebo down the way a bit. Going backwards from the end, you'll go through Wiese Park which I think is mostly for playing soccer. I see soccer nets and two gazebos and nothing else here. No play area, but just a short way from there is Kiwanis Park with a play area, pavilion, and a baseball diamond and soccer/football areas. The next park after that is Parkway Riverview Park. From the trail you don't really see this park well, but I believe it's mostly baseball diamonds. No play area here, but just a few short tenths of a mile down is Green Isle Park with a play area, pavilion, baseball diamonds, and tennis courts.

I like to start at Green Isle because the area surrounding this park is so pretty and as it turns out, this is about the midway point. From Green Isle to Ledgeview it's about 4 miles. The total length of the path is about 8 miles according to mapmywalk.com.

Crossing this bridge brings you to the main play area and pavilion of Ledgeview Park as well as following to the end of the East River Trail. 

If you look closely, you can see the ripples on the water from the rain droplets. Didn't quite make it back in time! Beautiful scenery along this path. 

 I still have not taken the path to it's end going north from Green Isle, that will be my goal for next month. I think you have all heard enough of this trail for the time being this month.

Here are the two earlier posts about this trail, each post containing a couple pictures!
East River Trail and Another Trail!

Friendship Trestle Trail

There is a nice little park in Menasha WI that had an old train trestle going over the water. The trestle was badly out of shape and frankly dangerous. A few years ago, the trestle was redone to make a beautiful walking path.

Along the trestle there are a few areas for fishing as well as just kicking back and relaxing. It's a beautiful bridge that connects the Town and City of Menasha. The Town side is the side with the park and the Friendship trail continues with a map on either side of the bridge. The bridge is about 3/4 of a mile across if I remember correctly. If not, I'll update when I visit this park again. 

The bridge itself is just fine for strollers and bikes. You often see people walking their dogs here too. Very friendly place to visit and chat with other people using the bridge. 

Once I crossed over to the City side, I tried to follow the "path". You have to go through a few blocks of city before connecting back up to a trail. The city sidewalks are uneven and not well kept. As you get away from the map at the end of the bridge, unless you've written down where to go, you might not find where you're supposed to be. I didn't, but then I didn't have too much time or I might have. I'm not very familiar with Menasha so kept wondering had I gone to far or not far enough. The city on the other side of the bridge appears to be a low middle to low income area with homes that are not kept up very well also. It's not a scenic walk through the city but it is a safe area. Overall though, I'd give a try to going through the town on the path rather than on the uneven bumpy sidewalks of the city. 

A Little Piece of Randomness

 A random survey is in order.

What would you do if:

Stranded in a forest alone:  They say STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!! And I'd wait for riscue (if you're a Stephen King reader, then you know why I spelled it that way).

Sensed someone stalking you: I’d stalk them instead. Stalk the stalker ;).

You suddenly developed superhuman strength: Go on with life

You saw a dead human: I’d call the police. 

Someone anonymously sent a love note: if it’s anon, I’d delete it and move on. No time in my life for games like that.

You became blind: I’d have to change careers. I’d not be able to do my job blind.

Your car breaks down beside a graveyard: Depends, if in a rush, call the tow truck and get my car fixed. Otherwise, wander the graveyard a while. Kid and I used to do this when we lived closer to one. Very quiet place to go and relax and the old graves don’t get many visitors so we’d visit the older graves where their families are probably long gone as well.

Your bestfriend calls you at 4am: Answer the phone! Obviously. I'd be up for chatting at 4 am but most my friends would only call in an emergency at that hour. It's not infrequent for my family to call me between 11 pm and 1 am so a little later would be fine with me too. 

You could bring anyone back from the dead: Tempting as it’d be, I’d leave people where they lie.

Someone kept staring at you: Stare back and start up a conversation

Someone ate your lunch: if they needed my lunch that badly, they can have it. I’d eat later.

You got 100 free spray cans: Since I’m not sure what the spray cans are- hair spray or paint, I’d be hoping they’d be filled with paint or something fun. Overall I don’t much like spray cans as they’re bad for the environment.

A horse came chasing after you: Since I can’t outrun the horse, I’d run to something I could climb. Far as I know, horses can’t climb trees or a trellis.

I can't remember where I got these random questions from, so if you're the originator of them, feel free to let me know and I'll give you credit :). 

East River Trail

I just did a short walk before work on one of my favorite trails. More pictures in the linked post. 

 

There is a part of this trail that goes more through the city but looks like it goes back to some nice scenery. This is one area, where the trail goes under Allouez Ave between the more industrial and residential area versus the scenic area. 

 

From this point near Allouez Ave going south, the trail passes numerous parks, my favorite so far being Green Isle. South of Green Isle is a little narrower and not as well kept up, better for biking than for jogging with strollers. North of Green Isle is also better for walking since part of the pathway is wooden. I have not explored more than a couple blocks north of Allouez Ave (pic above) but the path from what I did see appears to be wide enough and kept up well for jogging with strollers. I'll be exploring north of Allouez Ave on my next long run this coming Sunday and will post more photo's of this amazing trail!

Starting from Baird St, just south of Main St, the trail goes south about 9 miles. There are many little feeder trails leading to it from parks and nearby roads for lots of parking and easy access to the trail. On the map, there appears to be a short break in the trail from Elkay to Westminster but these look to be well traveled areas to use sidewalks to connect back up to the trail. 

Fox River State Recreational Trail

The Fox River State Recreational Trail stretches about 25 miles from the City Deck in Green Bay to Greenleaf. I have so far only explored the Green Bay and DePere portions of this trail.

This trail is wide enough for two strollers side by side going either direction once you get about a mile from the City Deck. The City Deck area has a brick pathway that is wide enough for one stroller and another person next to the stroller but a little tight for two.

After Voyager Park in DePere the trail does get slightly narrower but still ample room for two strollers side by side. It is kept up very well. No potholes to twist an ankle in (that's a different trail). Following this trail there is also a Fitness Mile that has stations for certain exercises. I plan to head back to do that very soon and make it part of my weekly routine. The past few times I've ran this route, I've skipped the fitness  mile and focused more on my running time. At some point the trail switches to crushed stone rather than asphalt but I have yet to explore that area.

This run I did Monday and ran it alone! It was very nice to not have to push the jogging stroller but there was also no where to put a bottle of water :(. There are, thankfully, two spots along the way with water. One is near the fitness mile about two miles past the start point and another is the boat launch about a mile before Voyager Park.

This, by far, is the most stroller friendly trail I have come across and this is where I typically do my runs that are longer than 4 miles. Extra above and beyond bonus, this trail has markers every tenth of a mile from the 1.2 mile mark to Voyager Park (and possibly beyond the park, but as I said, haven't gotten that far yet :) ).

The landscaping of the houses along this path is also quite amazing. Another house along the way the garage lines up with the path and often the older gentleman who lives there is out in his garage with his band practicing. Gives a nice lift to my run for a little bit anyway. This trail is also dog friendly so MudPuppy gets to join me often on this one :). Some of the others are too narrow to really do well with him and the stroller when passing others.