2018 06 27 Bellevue Around the Track

This past week I had a birthday and became 77. Since then I have begun my 78th year walking this earth and I have been a hiker since a child so I have walked a lot of earth. I am expecting to continue doing so for the next couple decades, Lord willing.

Now it may prove difficult; that is, the walking part. I have to use a cane these days; although I don't really use a cane, but a walking stick instead. You see at the beginning of June two years ago, which was 2016, while doing my daily morning walk, my arms and legs felt oddly weak and my gait turned wobbly. I was then diagnosis with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig Disease. It is an incurable, untreatable, progressive disorder with a general life expectancy of 2 years. Well, I've passed that mark and am still hiking. It says half the sufferers live 3 years, and I plan to beat that. There are those who survive 5 years or more and that is my goal, that or more part. Stephen Hawking made it something like 54 years with it before he died this year. I don't expect to make that. After all, not many people live to be 132, unless you go back to Genesis in the Bible.

I say all that to say this. There are a great number of things I can't do anymore. Not that I don't want to, but this Motor neutron disease won't let me; after all, amyotrophic is Greek for no muscle nourishment. You see I used to be pretty active with exercise. I was up and out at dawn every morning for a hit of 5 miles or more. Back when I could go such distance, three times a week I went to Bellevue State Park and started by walking around their mile and an eighth track. The track had 20 exercise stations alongside it where I would stop to do. Then I would walk my five miles. Can't do that stuff these days.

I still am out at dawn for a walk, but no 5 miles. I think I am doing 2 miles now, which seemed impossible a few months ago when I could only do a mile. My doctors even wanted me to cut back on that. I didn't. I expanded it.  But I decided to go walk the track again and take pictures of the exercise stations. This video is a record of what I use to do, can't do and miss doing.