By 11 am I had already logged 12,000 steps! I also had a pain in my left shin, a blister on my right little toe, and a radish red face. Aside from that, I was feeling great, and very smug – until I started thinking about the people who ran the Firecracker 5 mile race in Fairport. I saw a couple of men who had to be at least 20 years older than I am, crossing the finish line in less than an hour.
Today’s walk was along the Erie Canal Towpath again, and like I’ve mentioned before on this blog, you can walk the same path every day, but always see something different. Today there were people everywhere. The racers were finishing in Perinton Park, the 4th of July parade was winding through the town and passing over the bridges, and boats were being launched in the water one right after the other.
But one of my favorite sights today was a man sleeping in a hammock and sleeping bag only a foot off the path. His backpack and bike were leaned up against the tree, and it looked like he had spent the night there. I’m wondering if the parade cannon finally woke him up. Where is my camera when I need it?
The other thing I saw that really surprised me was a man walking along the towpath while reading a paperback book. Now, I love to read, and I do read on the treadmill, but I’d never attempt reading and walking outside. You might think this was a heat-induced hallucination, but I passed him twice, once in each direction. I couldn’t tell how many pages he read between sighting one and sighting two, but he seemed engrossed. If I hear that someone accidentally fell into the canal today, he would be my first suspect.
Got in some pool time in the afternoon, and then up to Frontier Field for the game and fireworks. Frontier Field is my favorite place to go for fireworks because it’s a twofer. You can stay right in your seat in the stadium and watch the city fireworks as well as the ballpark fireworks. Depending on how long the game lasts, the shows sometimes follow each other. But on other nights, like tonight, the flares go off simultaneously. The perfect end to a perfect day. And, to top it off, I logged the second highest number of steps for the whole year.
Happy Birthday, America!
Day 185: 18,005 Steps YTD: 1,659,278 Steps Goal: 1,738,000 Steps