Long Distance Walking and Running

I have been thinking of   jogging from our place to my father-in-law's place.  That's about 8.2 miles  total  from where we live and back.  So on May 21, I finally conquered my fear of going alone jogging.  My husband told me  not to go alone because the path includes the place where some of the   listed sex offenders live here in the city.  During my first 5-minute jog, my mind is battling whether or not to go ahead with my plan but  despite my fear, I went anyway.

Going down the Cove Road Hill is  a bit scary because there are parts where  there is no side walk.  I  was praying  to God to give me enough strength and  protect me from being hit by  cars.  It's a very busy roads where cars fly by that's why my husband was scared for me to go that way.  Going up Marland Heights Hill was the toughest part because it's a steep hill to walk.  When I arrived at Dad's house, he was still in bed so I made him some breakfast, unfortunately, he chose to drink   whisky instead of eating. Here was our conversation:

Me:  "You should not drink without food in your stomach Dad."

Dad:  "Oh an old buzzard like me doesn't need to eat, I need a drink that's all I want to do."

Me:  "It's not good for you to be drinking because if you fall, you might break your hip or break a bone".

Dad: "You remind me of my daughter-in-law, Rose.  Do you know Rose?"

Me: "It is me  Dad"

Dad: "You are not Rose."

Realizing that he doesn't recognize me anymore, I  just went along with the flow and continue with out conversation.

Dad:  "Rose is such a good girl, I love her"

Me: (Choking this time).  I am so  please to hear that Dad.

I texted my husband after I  came back home and he could not believe I did it.  I did not text him before I went because I know he would not let me go alone.  

The next day, May 22, he was off from work and I encouraged him to join  me  so that he would see that it is not as dangerous as he thought it would be.  He was skeptical because he knows how car fly by on Cove Hill but I convinced him to go.  Photo was taken in downtown Weirton.

He did not want to  go up the Marland Heights Road  so he showed me the  way where he used to  climb when he was growing up.  It was a very neat pathway.  While we were  climbing, he was telling me stories about his childhood which made the journey very special for me and him.

The path led to the golf course area so we have to  walk back to my father's in law's house.  I must admit, it was easier although a  bit longer.  The presence of the trees makes it more enjoyable to  hike plus I got a bonus, my husband's stories about his  childhood memories.

Dad 's memory  is not as sharp  anymore compared to last year so he sometimes forget who we are.  He kept telling my husband that a girl came by the day before and she made herself comfortable around the house.  She was telling us about  my visit but he can't remember that it was me.

After an hour of visiting Dad, we went back home.  We  chose to hike up Greenbrier Road instead of going back to Cove Road.  I think my husband regretted the idea since it was harder to hike the steep road  compared to Cove road, however, it was more relaxing because it  has so many trees to see.

Since we took different paths from my  walk the previous day, our miles went from 8.2 to 9 miles.  I was very surprised that I was able to do that walk again.  I thought for sure I will be so sore  the next day but I think the pain meds I took before going to bed that night helped me.  

I did one more trip alone on May 27th.  My sister-in-law and nephew Lee were there at Dad's when I arrived.  My sister-in-law and I made  Dad and Lee some breakfast.  After staying   a little bit, I head back home.

We did some more long walks and running after this.  I will post about separately since we  took our children with us.  I started them with just  a little over two miles one day and then  when my husband was off again, we  took them to a 9-mile walk.  Tune in and find out  how they did.  

Shadow Shots

Our 9-MIle Journey to Fitness Part 2 - Greenbrier and Cove Road

For the continuation of my post about our 9-mile walk, I posted the first part that shows our journey along the Pennsylvania Avenue.  We chose to come down this wa because  the road is not as busy as the Cove Road Hill and there are parts there that doesn't have a sace for walkers  which scares my husband withour kids with us.  If it's just the two of us, we can run andavoid the cars but with these two kiddos, it would be hard.

 So you see, this 9-mile journey is  not an all-flat  road that e are walking on.  It has  steep road to take  and for little  people like oiur kids (8 and 9 year olds), it is hard for them.  We know that they have the stamina and strength but we were worried about the traffic/cars.  Luckily, the drivers are really respectful and would slow down  for us.

The kids are so   thrilled to see some parts of the roads that we just see  abruptly when we are traveling by car.  Now that we were walking, they can fully see what's in there.  Our son was fascinated wth this car place at the bottom of the Greenier Road.  They were walking ahead of us because both  my daughter and I had to stop for several occasion to take pictures.

When driving, we don't  go to this part of Cove Road because it was on top of the hill so we showed it to them.

I told my husband that if I live on thishill, I would go for a walk on this trail  back and forth many times every day.  It is a very safe place to do your daily walking.

The kids were very happy to see this part of WEirton that they never saw before.  This is also  one reason why we  agreed to  alk with them because we wanted them to discover the  places that we don't normally go to when we are  traveling by car.  The next part of this post will be our fun adventure in downtown Weirton so please tune in.

Our 9-MIle Journey to Fitness Part 1 - Pennsylvania AVenue

Last weekend,  June the 13th, we took  our children for a 9-mile journey of walking.  We did some short distance walks before embarking onto this long but fun journey with the whole family.  The kids were so excited that they even went to bed  very early (that is hard to do  during summer time, lol).  We woke up early,  ate a good breakfast and we got out the door around 9 am because we  were worried that  it might rain.   We should have went earlier because it did not rain anyway.  

I brought the camera with me  because  I wanted to  document  this  moment with our children.  My husband  told me that I shouldn't bring anything since it is a long walk but knowing me, I can't let this happen without photos.

We took the long route because it was safer with the kids.  Instead of going  to Cove Hill which is a shorter route but  dangerous for the kids, we went  along Pennsylvania Avenue.

The beauty about going for a walk like this is you get to enjoy the wildlife beauty.  If you look closely on the photo below, you can see the deer eating by the fence beside the  water tower.

We always see deer when we are driving but it is different when you see it when you are traveling by foot.

We stopped for family shots before going down Greenbrier Road.  We were looking at the  next 4 miles of our walk and the kids are  certainly  prepared for it.

This is just the  1.5 mile of our walk.  I will continue to post the continuation of our  journey on another post because  I will run out here of space if I put it all in one  post lol.  This is the first time that we  did this long walk.  Tune in to see how  they do on the rest of our journey.