The "Captain Foz" Challenge: 100 laps around the yard.

[SirFozzie]

We all should know the story of Captain Tom Moore, the english man who did 100 lengths of his garden to raise funds in honor of his 100th birthday for COVID relief in the UK.

Well, I'm trying something similar, mostly because well, I haven't been doing great mentally lately and with my hip regressing to a point, it's good exercise and would help me. I'm not going to be raising funds, however, this more is a mental goal, something to keep me going and get out on fair-weather days when I shouldn't be stuck inside on the computer or in bed all day.

I'll upload pictures of the yard I'll be walking around and some goals at some point.

[Kodos]

Go get 'em, Foz!

[SirFozzie]

VID_20210421_114307.mp4 - Google Drive

The battleground.

The reason: I'm hoping to take a trip up to Laconia, NH this summer to visit the American Classic Arcade Museum. As it stands, I am not able to sit comfortably in a car for the length of time it would take to get up there, never mind actually drive that length. So, if the trip is going to happen (which would probably be a couple days, to give the pain time to subside after ride/driving that far), I need to build up hip strength and stamina.

Unofficially, it started early this morning, when I did a walk in my neighborhood. It was pretty painful for a couple reasons (one, hard concrete, and two, I live on a street that has a pretty good incline, which really exacerbates the pain and causes some shakiness going downhill). I thought about Captain Tom and his garden, and realized that the yard would be easier on me, as it is flatter, softer ground, and if I DO need to stop suddenly, I'm close to home.

[rjolley]

Good luck, Foz! You've got this.

[Young Drachma]

Good luck!

[SirFozzie]

Thanks all, may be off to a bit of a slow start, as the weather is putrid and likely will be all of tomorrow, but hopefully there will be a time frame to get a lap or two in.

[PilotMan]

You got time to wait out the weather. Go Captain Foz!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Go 'head Foz, get it.

[SirFozzie]

4/22/21 They say the longest of journeys.. begins with a single step.

Actually, it began with a step down off the deck (stairs.. my mortal nemesis) as I prepared to begin I noticed that little flecks of white were drifiting down. Yes, despite it almost being May in New England, it was in the 30's and that was "snow" drifting down. I managed to get the dogs down into the yard.. They're too independent to walk with me, but at least it would allow them to stretch their legs and explore the tree'd area while I did my walk. Thankfully, the ground wasn't too hard underfoot describe the cold-ish weather. I was originally going to do just one lap today due to the cold, but I decided to do a second one, just to stretch the leg a bit.. was thinking about a third, but coming back on the second lap, I felt a couple warning twinges from the hip so I ended it there.

Day 1 Report: 2 Laps (23 laps to 1/4th goal)
Selected Music: "I gotta feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, "Boys of Summer" by the Ataris.

Humorous notes: As I made my way back up the deck steps to head in, I was hoping the hip wouldn't hurt too much later, and the next song on my Spotify playlist came up. Daniel Powter's "You Had a Bad Day" started. I'm hoping that's not an oracle of what's to come...

[SirFozzie]

Mini early-morning update 4/23/21:

So, there was some twinges, post-walk one thing I find is when I exert with the hip, I will find it hard to rest, as it feels like a nerve entrapment in that area, and it keeps me from resting comfortably..

But I'm doing better this morning. Bailey the Wonder Dog is old and doesn't want to wait for her food anymore, so she pawed at my door for an hour this morning till I got out of bed and fed her. I looked out side at first light and said "Maybe I'll get a lap or too in..."

Then I looked at the temperature. 35. Yuck. Considering it will be 60 or so later this afternoon (and 70+ tommorrow!), I don't want to walk early THAT much

[SirFozzie]

Day 2 Report: A good twenty degrees warmer then it was this morning. As before, the dogs came out while I walked. Bailey was confused, thinking I was looking for something, so she went out and tried to find whatever it was her big human was searching for, before retiring back up to the deck and watching the last three quarters of a lap from the deck... Duke was just glad to get off the chair he'd been napping on and get outside for a few minutes.

Got that third lap in, a little bit because I had wanted to yesterday and wasn't up to it, but more because I decided I needed to get my blood moving, I had been a lazy bum and half-slept the rest of the morning and early afternoon till that point.

Day 2 Report: 3 Laps, 5 Total (20 Laps to 1/4 goal)
Selected Music: "Hey Ya" by Outkast, "Rosanna" by Weezer, "Maria Maria" by Carlos Santana..

[SirFozzie]

Day 3 report:

By all means, this should be a perfect day for doing a few laps. Not even 10 am and it's 60 degrees out, and the day is only getting better. However, the wall is up. The wall is in my head.

"Just go back to bed." "I can't concentrate". "Bleah, I can't even think straight." "I don't feel up to it."

So.. I'm going to acknowledge the wall.

By going around it.

I'm not going to do much right now, but I'm going to go out and do one lap, that way if I do rest during the day, I have something to show for it, and if I feel better later on in the day, it's a bonus.


edit: turned one lap into 2. was hoping that I'd feel better for having done it, but not really.

Day 3 Report: 2 Laps, 7 Total (18 Laps to 1/4 goal)
Selected Music: "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" Jane Child, "Life is a Highway" Tom Cochrane

[SirFozzie]

Day 4: Weather is washing out most of the day (along with causing trouble for the hip), but I managed to get out long enough to get a lap in before the rain started picking up again.

Day 4: 1 Lap, 8 Total
Selected Music: None (didn't want to take wireless headphones into rain)

[BYU 14]

Get it Foz, cheering you on, every step is a victory my friend

[PilotMan]

Have you seen this comic from The Oatmeal Foz?

The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances - The Oatmeal

Great start my friend.

[SirFozzie]

Day 5 Morning Report: Was up fairly early today, and despite it only being in the mid 40's, I got out and walked, and actually was looking forward to it! Weird, I know. Also did more laps then before, just to make sure I wasn't backsliding. I'm very very sure my hip will be upset with me (it's already grumbling at me as I sit down), but hey, no pain, no pain right? ("Isn't it supposed to be no pain, no gain?", sez rational part of brain.. while the hip says "I see no gain in this pain")

Achievement Unlocked: WE'RE GOING STREAKING! (5 day walk streak)

Day 5 Morning Report: 4 laps, 12 total (48% to first goal)
Selected Music: "Ex's and Oh's" by Elle King. Let There Be Rock (AC/DC)
Humorous moment: After the first lap, I noticed Bailey the Wonder Dog staring morosely out the door to the deck. Unfortunately for her, because of My problem with stairs, once I get going, I know if I stop, it'll probably be for good, so she had to watch me do three more laps.

[SirFozzie]

Day 6: Due to a combination of factors (hip/pain from yesterday, Bailey the WOnder Dog being sick, the weather being about ten degrees BELOW what was promised at this time of day), I wasn't sure I was going to get anything in. At first it was one lap just to keep the streak going, but I did a second one just because. No music, no dogs (Bailey barely has the strength to stand), just going out and getting it done.

Achievement Unlocks: THE JOY OF SIX (6-day streak), LIVIN ON A BON JOVI (Make it halfway to a lap goal)

2 laps, 14 total, 56% to first goal.

[SirFozzie]

Day 7:

Hip was a little better, and Bailey is feeling better (she was sick and then spent the next hour staring at her water dish yesterday), so I got out today during a call with one of my health care providers to do my laps.l I will say this, during the part where I was on the phone, compared to listening to music, it was actually harder to do, as my mind found it difficult to process the little bumps and holes when talking as opposed to listening to music. I ended up stopping walking and at on the deck stairs to complete the conversation, then did my laps.

Day 6 Report: 4 Laps, 18 total (72% to Goal 1)
Selected Music: "Poker Face" Lady Gaga, "Tom Sawyer" Rush, "Smooth Criminal" Alien Art Farm.

[SirFozzie]

Looks like today will be a streak breaker, between my hip hurting like crazy and bad weather outside, just going to chill out. But the grind resumes tomorrow.

[SirFozzie]

Day 8 (4/30) report:

(Go back and read the comic that PilotMan provided. Then you'll understand what a Blerch is.. - Foz)

The Blerch had me in his sights this morning, I weas up early (having slept fitfully through the night, one of those semi-lucid, long-running dreams that actually kinda made sense, as I spent two collegiate lecture period (in classes not my own), trying to bag up all my books in various bags. But nothing grabbed me this morning (didn't help today is patch day for MLB the show, which they're FINALLY fixing issues), so I didn't really get out of bed until around 1:30-1:45 PM, and almost the Blerch got me again.

But what do we say to the Blerch? (at least this afternoon?)

Not today, Blerch.

Got outside, and promised at least one lap and one song.

Of course, then when I hit play on the spotify playlist, I knew it would be more than one lap.

Now that I think about it, if the Blerch wanted to rule lawyer me, "Foreplay/Long Time" by Boston technically counts as two songs, doesn't it?

Didn't occur to the Blerch, however, and I got in three laps.

Day 8 Report: 3 Laps, 21 Total, 84% to goal 1
selected music: "Foreplay/Long Time", Boston)

[SirFozzie]

I didn't expect this at all, but I looked at the above post after I posted it earlier and was like. "Damn, so close to the first goal... Maybe I should go out this evening and finish off the last four laps to hit it".

Well, long story short, I'm hurting like the dickens, and so very glad to sit down (I was pretty much dragging my bad leg/hip), but four laps completed this evening! Our first goal has been reached! Now, it's just a matter of finding out how much I'll be hobbled tomorrow.

Day 8 Evening Report: 4 Laps, 25 total, 100% to GOAL 1, 25% to full goal.
Achievements Unlocked: Let's Play Two! (Two walking sessions in the same day), GOLAZO! (Reached a quarter goal)
Selected Music: "I Don't wanna Be in love" Good Charlotte, "Dancing in the Dark" Bruce Springsteen, Freeze-Frame "J Geils Band

[rjolley]

Congrats Foz! Keep it up.

[SirFozzie]

Day 9 Report:

Yeah, I was feeling it last night, even the tramadol was not fully taking care of the pain (I also have a muscle relaxer, but if I take both the pain killer AND the muscle relaxer, good chance I'll be loopy for the rest of the day). Tried to get out and do more today, but I could tell halfway through my first lap that it wasn't going to be much today, like a starting pitcher asked to throw on one day's rest, my right leg felt like it had a ball and chain attached to it. I did manage to get two laps in, but by the end it was more like step-drag rather than a normal walking motion.

Day 9 Report: 2 laps, 27 Total (8% to goal 2)
Selected Music: "American Girl" Tom Petty, "Alive" Da Buzz

[SirFozzie]

Bleah. Between the affects of my leg/hip and a general bug (wonder if they're related), there probably will be no walking today,, one of the things that sucks is when I'm not feeling great, my sleeping pattern goes ALL to shit. slept a couple hours yesterday evening, and then was up until 7 ish this morning.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Bleah. Between the affects of my leg/hip and a general bug (wonder if they're related), there probably will be no walking today,, one of the things that sucks is when I'm not feeling great, my sleeping pattern goes ALL to shit. slept a couple hours yesterday evening, and then was up until 7 ish this morning.

fwiw, wife had a "general bug" for several days this past week, played hell with her on limited mobility

Good news is that it'll pass and you can get back to kicking this thing's ass once it does.

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, feel a LITTLE bit better, but I'm going to give it another day I think.

[Kodos]

There'll always be setbacks on something like this, but keep kicking butt!

[PilotMan]

I agree. Do what you do, and keep on going!

[SirFozzie]

yup, getting back out there today after a couple frustrating health and weather days.

[SirFozzie]

So, after a couple days of pretty much rain just about everytime I looked outside, combined with hip and health issues, I was very glad to get back out there just now. I think some of the pain was just me trying to do too much to hit a goal. The grass was really wet, and at least some of my speed was making sure I didn't slip (and avoiding any of the dogs, ahem, droppings)

So today, was slow and steady, the dogs came out and supervised, and the second my leg started acting up, I shut it down for the morning.

Day 1 Restart: 2 Laps, 29 Total (58% total to goal 2)
Selected Music: "Rebel Yell" Billy Idol, "Everlong" Foo Fighters, "Levels" Avicii
Achievement: "CHUMBAWUMBA'd" (restart after a three or more days off)

[SirFozzie]

Day 2: I half-turned my ankle on my first lap, and while I don't think I did anything structural to it, it hurts enough to put weight on that I called today off after completing the lap. Thankfully, I had the cane, so when I lost my balance, I didn't fall.

Day 2: 1 lap, 30 total

[SirFozzie]

day 3: Luckily while my ankle is not 100%, I don't seem to have damaged it, I was able to get a good amount of walking in. Partial credit goes to Duke the Monster Dog, who decided he wasn't going to let me nap earlier by the expedient of laying on my pillows first. Have you ever tried to dislodge a 40 or so pound dog from a position of comfort? Yeah.

Day 3: 4 laps, 34 total (68% to goal 2)
Selected Music: "Rock You Like a Hurricane" Scorpions, "Take Me Out" Franz Ferdinand, "Main Offender" The Hives, "Kryptonite" 3 doors Down

[SirFozzie]

I did not honestly think I was going to get anything in today. Between an illness/bug related panic attack (including chattering teeth/shivering), and a clicking noise and pain when I walked, I didn't think today was going to happen, but thankfully, a certain someone reminded me that when the panic attack had faded that the Blerch was counting on that tether dragging me back to bed without at least trying.

So I tried.

Or, as yoda would say "Do or do not, there is no try".

I did.

Not much (2 laps), but it's infinite percent better than 0. Now to take a muscle relaxant and NOW that the Blerch has been driven back in his hole, rest. I don't think I'm going to be moving much the rest of the day, was almost weaving when I finished.

Day 4: 2 Laps, 36 total (72% to goal 2)
Selected Music: "Barracuda" Heart, "Land of Confusion" (Disturbed remake), "American Woman" Lenny Kravitz, "Improvise" Jurassic 5

[SirFozzie]

been held a couple days due to health

[SirFozzie]

Place note 1 lap today.. (see below)

EDIT: Brother and I went for an early morning breakfast (there's a really good place for breakfast just down the street from us), and it was a chance to get out, the first time I had been off the premises in about 3 weeks. Restaurant chairs do NOT play well with the hip, and it was throbbing/needles and pins by the time it was over. I knew I was going to sleep at some point, so when I got home, I walked straight outside, because I knew that the second I sat down, I'd really start tiring out. I managed to get a lap in and it was a struggle to get my right foot in front of my left one when walking. Zonked hard for the next few hours, and woke up around 2, and did an inadvertent 2nd lap as Duke the Monster Dog shed his cone outside somewhere and I went into the back yard to find it. Unfortunately, it's a tan cone, so no luck. Jody will have a scavenger hunt today, I guess.

Today: 2 laps (2 different times), 38 Total (76% to goal 2)
Music: None
Acheivements: Let's play two (two sessions), CHumbawumba (restart after 3 days off)

[SirFozzie]

My left leg has picked up a minor infection (there are semi-open wounds that never really quite healed, so it's not unheard of), and is swollen up, but I was able to get a lap in today.

1 lap, 39 (78% to goal 2)

[PilotMan]

Let's go!!!!!!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Keep it up Foz, you're certainly kicking ass far better than I would be

[SirFozzie]

Thanks folks, having issues healthwise, between riding the best part of an hour to the Fall River RMV and standing in line for 15-20 minutes, my hip and leg are pretty much effed up a day later.. (it has to be a pinched/crushed nerve, because when I got back to the car, I had so little strength flexing the leg upwards that my brother had to help me left my leg/foot to get into the car). Today it's mostly buzzing/tingling in the foot, but still.

It's a setback.

[Kodos]

There are always going to be setbacks. Just don't let them short-circuit the bigger plan. You're doing great!

[SirFozzie]

Another two laps down, as I could not sleep this morning (had a counseling appointment at 9 am, and due to pain, spent all of yesterday sleeping, so I couldn't sleep this morning.

2 Laps, 41 (82% to goal 2)

[SirFozzie]

Supposed to be above 90 out there today, and I couldn't sleep (actually used ac for the first time this year, it was muggy as heck), so I got a lap in.

1 lap, 42 total

[SirFozzie]

2 Laps, 44 total.

Slowly but surely, getting there.

[SirFozzie]

The weather was horrible for the entirety of the Memorial Day weekend, (below 50!), but finally cleared up today. Got out for a lap as a bit of payback for going to the local steakhouse for lunch.

1 Lap, 45 Total

[JonInMiddleGA]

Keep plugging away

[SirFozzie]

Yup, got another lap in early this morning, and still dragging.

1 lap, 46 total

[SirFozzie]

It's pretty hot up here (last weekend was sub 50, this one is 90+!), so got two laps in before it got hot. Helped that I got my feet taken care of for the first time since before the pandemic started.

2 Laps, 48 Total.

[SirFozzie]

Definitely felt better post-walking this morning then I had for quite a while (as I said, I hadn't had my feet/nails taken care of in a year, and they were probably making things worse). So had a wild hair idea to finish off phase 2 tonight, and 14 hours after my first walk of the day, went out and did two more laps. Wasn't easy, but officially, we're Bon Jovi (you know, half way there?)

2 Laps, 50 Total (PHASE 2 COMPLETE!)

[SirFozzie]

File under:"Foz, you stupid eejit"

I wasn't feeling right mentally overnight, so I decided that I would walk it out. The good news is, I got five laps in.

The bad news is that I can barely lift my right foot off the ground. I way overdid it.

[SirFozzie]

Now that:

A) my legs are actually useful to get any more than small distances from point A to Point B without risk of visiting Plan C: (flat on the ground)

B) It's no longer unseasonably hot

I was able t get two laps in this afternoon.

2 Laps, 57 total

(14% of Phase 3)