Posts Tagged ‘winter’
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Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Happy, happy March to you!!! WE MADE IT! March is here!
You know what this means, right? March means SPRING! For reals.
But it is still very much winter here. I am still in my get up, go to work, come home, go running routine. But now I am so very curious to see how March plays out. Will it stay cold? Will the sidewalks soon be cleared from snow enough that I can start running outside? Will the lion-like winds continue all month? Will it suddenly warm up and *poof* the snow will be gone like it did last year? How long will it take the snow to melt? Will I ever see robins back in our yard? When? When? When?
Yeah, I am pretty much reaching my winter limit here in southern New Hampshire.
It snowed an awful mess of a storm on Friday. I volunteered to shovel the driveway and walkways after work. It was a heavy, wet, slushy snow. And then it snowed again on Sunday, leaving another 6″ of lighter, fluffy snow. I shoveled that, too.
Now it is Wednesday, and I am still sore from all that shoveling. Great workout! While the temps have warmed up to the upper 30s (ooooh! ahhhhh!) during the day, it still gets very cold and windy here at night.
What does all this mean?
ICE. Stupid amounts of thick, slippery ice coating our walkway.
Making it from the kitchen side door to the driveway in one piece has become a sport.
And if I go down, it’s not going to be pretty.
Tags: exercise, running, spring, treadmill, winter
Posted in Let's Get Physical, The Daily Balance | 4 Comments »
exploring at dusk in verona, italy
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
I had a lot of fun wandering about Verona, Italy all by myself on an early Friday night in early February. I felt free and alive and adventurous. In a wonderfully gorgeous and romantic and very old city, I was the ultimate explorer. I took in dusk and the sunset to its fullest, surrounded by amazing cobbled streets, centuries old buildings, and simply incredible vistas.
Taking in the architecture…
The Piazza delle Erbe and Tower Lamberti at dusk…
14th century fountain in Piazza delle Erbe…
The Roman Theater and hill of Castle San Pietro…
River Adige at sunset…
Juliet’s balcony…
Tags: alone time, gratitude, travel, winter
Posted in The Daily Balance | 2 Comments »
traveling solo in verona, italy
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
One of the funny things about traveling by yourself (and in a place where English is not the first language spoken) is that you suddenly become so much more aware about how you respond to uncomfortable situations.
You spend more time thinking about how you communicate and interact with other human beings. How you watch them, and how they perceive you. How to ask for help in any language you can convey. And you learn more about your own instincts on how to get by when you have to think on your feet.
My first experience with this was when I was boarding my train in Munich. I felt a sense of panic because I didn’t understand my train ticket enough to know which car I needed to be on. The train was about to leave, and I didn’t want to get left behind.
It’s all German to me.
When in doubt, decorum goes out the window, and suddenly you are relying on the kindness of strangers and the power of pointing to get you where you need to go. Hand signals go a long way.
My second experience with this was when I had failed to secure a map to figure out how to find my B&B in Verona, Italy. I kept wandering the same streets in the same area because I was sure that the map I had consulted earlier was leading me where I needed to go. But I still could not find the right street.
I ended up accosting a street vendor and using Spanish to ask where I needed to go. And graciously, the street vendor was very helpful. Turns out I was only 2 blocks away, but the alleyway where my B&B was located was at a weird diagonal from where I was looking. I was close, but not close enough.
When I got to the right tiny road and found the address, here was what I saw:
Two huge wooden doors. Locked. And to my left I saw this:
Suddenly I was in a panic again! Rereading my reservation print-out, I realized that I was supposed to have specified when I would be checking in, otherwise there would be a fee. I had not done that. And now I needed to call to check in, except I didn’t have a cell phone on me.
Where was I going to find a phone, and how was I going to figure out how to pay to make a call? I started combing the street trying to find someone to help. Three doors down there was some sort of travel agency that was open, so I burst through the doors and used a mixture of English and Spanish to communicate that I needed a phone. I was refused a few times, and after asking where I could find a phone (knowing they had one right there in front of me), the lady at the travel desk consented to make the call on my behalf. I think she thought I didn’t know the number, but once I showed her the telephone number I had scribbled down, she relented.
And it all worked out.
When the check-in lady came to the front doors of the B&B 10 minutes later, I apologized profusely. She took pity on me and said I wouldn’t be charged extra. But she was in a hurry because she wanted to get on with her own time on a lovely Saturday, so she handed me a set of 3 keys and was off.
The first big key unlocked the large wooden doors. Once inside those doors, I was in a courtyard leading to another building. The second key got me inside of the B&B. I went up a long staircase to a landing where there were multiple doors to the rooms. I knew I had the right door because my key had a number on it that matched up to right door number. The third key worked and got me inside my own room.
Phew.
I set down my things and took in my surroundings. Quaint. Clean. And perfect. I opened a side door that had a set of long shutters. It led me out to a balcony.
Ah! So definitely Verona. The balcony overlooked another courtyard. It was quiet and lovely.
I took about 10 minutes to relax. Then I washed up and headed out again to explore. I wasn’t ready to end my day yet. I was learning so much!
Tags: alone time, gratitude, travel, winter
Posted in The Daily Balance | 2 Comments »
winter awakening
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
Hello! I am still very much behind on getting my thoughts together about my latest traveling adventure. This seems to happen to me every time I go away. I tend to have trouble transitioning back into my routine.
So I am still working to catch up. But where did I go? I went to Munich, Germany for 9 days to tag along with Craig on a business trip. I had so much fun. It was amazing to once again get out of town in the middle of winter. To get back to Europe! While I was in there, I took a side trip to Verona, Italy. INCREDIBLE.
I am busy sorting through photos, getting caught up on laundry, and trying to plow through the mountains of work-work that I came home to. All while trying to pick right back up with my running routine. The upside of all of this is that I am pretty darn busy and content.
This is good. Really good.
Normally by about this time in winter I am dragging. Normally I am down in the dumps. Normally I just sort of slog my way home after a long day of work and creep up the stairs to my bedroom and dive under the covers and hibernate. My infamous winter hibernation.
But I am doing so much better this year. No hibernating! In fact, I feel like I am having this truly amazing winter awakening. Granted, this could easily be post-vacation talk, but I do feel very alive and aware. I love that the sky is now the tiniest bit still light out when I leave work. I love waking up to the sounds of chickadees and song birds in the morning and the way the harsh winter sunlight streams through the trees. I love making hearty winter soups on Sundays to last throughout the week (this week’s creation is a southwest black bean).
And I kind of love forcing myself to get on the treadmill when I come home from work. No, seriously, I do. You see, it is all too easy to just resign myself to sleep and collapse on my bed every evening. But the kick and release I get out of going for a run is so worth it. My body feels lighter, less sluggish. My mind feels elevated. I am sleeping so much better at bedtime, too!
This winter awakening is pretty fantastic. I can look at my calendar and see that March will soon be here. And with March comes Spring! It’s not too, too long now. We have endured freezing cold temps and feet upon feet of snow. But there will be an end.
And I will bide my time with work and running and cooking and snuggling and writing until the thaw comes.
Tags: exercise, gratitude, running, travel, treadmill, winter, winter hibernation
Posted in The Daily Balance | No Comments »
making new tracks
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
January is coming to a close, and it has been a wonderful, albeit snowy month. I have made it through with flying colors! 2011 is well under way, and I feel very hopeful about the goals I am setting for myself this year.
I have been back in the swing of full-on exercising for 6 weeks now. Here is a look at my routine which has now become practice:
In the last 42 days I have run 24 times (averaging 5K runs with extensive hill training/uphill walking mostly on the treadmill), cross-country skiied 2 times, and shoveled 4 times. That’s 30 days of exercise out of 42. Not bad… an average of 5 days a week. I am pretty darn happy about all of this.
And not because I suddenly look amazing. Because I don’t. Progress is slow. As it should be. It takes time and continued dedication to achieve real, long-lasting new fitness results. As a runner for several years, I know this. I can go long periods without consistent running and my body doesn’t completely cave. But the same is true if I crank it up again—it takes my body a little while to catch on that I’m stepping up my game. But my body is always ready to respond.
The results will come. But that isn’t the big motivator for why I am running again. The real reason? I just really wanted to feel better mentally. Running makes me content. It is so easy to forget how powerful exercise is for the mind. And as soon as I am back in the routine, I remember how good running makes me feel.
I do feel good. Pretty darn amazing, in fact. And this is running’s biggest reward.
Now I want to keep on running and treating my body well. This is where I want (and need) to be!
Back in September I wrote out this goal list for myself. But I wasn’t in the right place at all mentally to commit to it. It took me about 3 months of wading through the muck in my mind along with trial and error to figure out how to balance work and life demands and prioritize being good to myself.
It wasn’t easy. But it can be done!
I am running and sleeping better (getting there!) and eating well and drinking tons of water and very much enjoying the present moment. Even in the middle of evil winter.
As for the reading part? Well, sheesh, that’s a fun problem… twist my arm, I will just have to start tackling this goal. Winter is the perfect time to curl up with a good book.
We can all make new goals. We can have a bad day, bad week, and even bad months or longer. But we CAN make baby steps toward better, healthier choices. And continually renew these commitments.
What changes have you made? What has been successful for you? What has been hard?
Tags: exercise, goals, gratitude, running, treadmill, winter
Posted in Let's Get Physical, The Daily Balance | 2 Comments »