Great Strides #1

How many cystics does it take to walk two complete circles around the Philadelphia zoo (and actually LAP a few of their non-CF teammates in the process)?

Give up?

Well, apparently the answer to that all-important question is two, just so long as those two are as unbelievably awesome as Amy and me! (Okay, so maybe we're believably awesome, but still awesome nonetheless.)

In case you haven't already guessed, I took the train into PA this morning -- REALLY f-ing early in the morning, I should add -- to join Amy's "Blue Crew" Great Strides team in walking laps around the animals at what is I guess the nation's first zoo. It was actually my first time in Philadelphia at all, aside from passing through on the train between DC and NY, which I'm fairly certain doesn't qualify as a real visit even by fast-paced NYC standards. Basically I came away from it all with the following observations about the city of brotherly love:

1) It's really, really, REALLY hot

2) If the various team t-shirts for the walk are any indication, the people of Philadelphia have a mild obsession with the color blue.

3) It has hills. Even in the zoo.

4) It is largely if not entirely populated by Amy's friends and co-workers, who came out in pretty much record numbers to support her and to fight CF (but then, we all understand why Amy attracts that sort of admiration, right?).

5) Oh yeah, and it's home to some rather ridiculous but very adorable monkeys.

Very fun day. Amy was sweet enough to chauffeur me around for the day in her stylishly decorated jeep, which I can guarantee is a LOT cooler than the cabs I'm going to use to cart her around NY next week. Six years in NY and I have yet to see a cab with any bumper stickers at all, much less one as great as those in Amy's collection. We also got to compare pulse-ox readings after completing the aforementioned hill climbs. Believe it or not she kicked my butt -- mine was just consistently crappy in the mid to upper 80s, but Amy is apparently a woman of far more exciting extremes, so her's was both higher and lower than mine at various points. Show off.

I'm super excited to host her in return next week and do the Manhattan walk. Last time I checked Battery Park City didn't have any flamingos, zebras, or large organgutanges, but we do have some really pretty views of the harbor. And either way we're raising money to help fight CF, which always makes for a wonderful day.