Fresh Air

I try to not get too excited.  Not too much anticipation.  No expectations, for sure.  But ...

It is the beginning of March

 and the sun is out

 and it is WARM!  

Ok, not entirely warm.  Mostly in the high 40s and low 50s, but really folks, for us that temperature is now blessedly warm.  I see people out in shorts and sweaters and I think ... spring has got to be here soon!

It has been a difficult winter for me.  I feel like I have been in hibernation through most of it.  Maybe it was a normal reaction ... a time to just be and to heal and to assess.  Maybe it was a kind of grieving time for what I lost.  The loss is larger than just the death of my mother, but that is a topic for another time.  But I can't help wondering ... would I have hibernated like this if her death happened in summer?  Was her death the straw that finally broke the camel's back - so to speak?  Was my reaction timed more to the seasons than by life events?  Questions that I have pondered in my quiet times.  Answers that don't really need to be discovered.

I have always loved winter, but this winter has been so very cold and dark and snowy.  There is a ton of salt all over our environment to combat the ice - glad for the chemical melting, I guess, but the salt that is left behind clouds everything with a gray with film.

Yes, this winter was one to forget.

Official spring is just weeks away.  And I for one cannot wait.  Our whole world needs a good bath of spring rain to wash away winter.  We need the warmth to wake up the plants and melt away the snow FINALLY.  I greatly desire to pack away my shovels and boots.  I need to be able to step outside and take deep breaths of fresh air without risking frozen lungs.

Yes, I am ready ready ready for spring.

This spring holds many promises of fun things.  Two cousins weekends are planned: one in Pennsylvania soon and one at my house in May for The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival - "high holy days" for us fiber obsessed folks.  Time with cousins always pumps up my joy of living.

My house is undergoing a reorganization and decluttering - a sure sign that I am waking out of slumber.  After 2 days of house focused activity, I feel lighter already!! I can't wait to finally open the windows and fill my lighter space with fresh air.

This spring I celebrate 68 years on this earth.  Each birthday is a gratitude-inducing event now-a-days.  Many people don't make it this far in life.  I have seen the road ahead of me through my mother's own aging. It was an up close and personal journey.  Today, however, I am healthy and blessed in so many ways.  My birthdays always remind me of that fact. My new motto is to keep focused on today and let tomorrow take care of itself.  A time to rejoice for sure.

AND I can finally get outside and walk and walk and walk.  My FitBit friends ... look out.  I am going to pass you in the Leaderboard!  No need to fear icy patches, snow filled sidewalks and frost bitten noses.  Time to get these nearly 68 year old bones moving - time to stretch out these muscles and make the focus about me! (Me in the lead on the FitBit Leaderboard, of course.)  :-)

Yes, this spring holds many wonderful promises.

So everyone, now it is time for a deep breath of fresh air!!

So what are your spring plans like?

PS - if you are a FitBit user and want to be Friends at the online website ... just send me an email.  I would love to keep everyone moving along with me.

Let's Talk Healthy Me

January 2014

The Baseline Stats
220,482 steps
90.56 miles (not a long distance when you consider this includes 2:00 am trips to pee!  :-)
7112 average daily steps
5 exercise sessions

To help me stay focused on this basic goal I'll check in at the beginning of the month just to see what is up (and hopefully "up" will be the right word!)  LOL

***

I have a Fitbit Flex pedometer from last Mother's Day thanks to my lovely daughter.  I wear it religiously - even when I have been a total slug.  I know that sometimes people are disinclined to use a pedometer when they are not actively walking.  I believe it is important to have a baseline, to know the actual realities of your activity even if those realities are dismal.

Sometimes "dismal" is the only thing that gets me off the couch.

Fitbit has an outstanding support web site.  It is free and since the Fitbit pedometer automatically syncs to the web site when you are near your computer or phone or iPad, there is no extra effort to log your progress.  No extra effort translates to me as no excuses!  They also have a food tracking segment and it automatically adjusts your allowed calorie intake based on your activity level without losing sight of your weight loss goals - which is an awesome feature!  My focus is activity.  Weight loss is nice but when that is my focus I fail.  But that is just me.

No lie.  Walking last month was a struggle.

First of all it was darn cold - like around 0 to 10 degrees many days.  With the added wind and icy conditions, it was dangerous.  Then I managed to injure a muscle in my groin and leg area.  I lifted a 37 lb French Bull Dog (one of my dear grand dogs) twice in one day, carrying him across overly salty stretches of public streets and up my salty steps to save his little feet (what else would a good grandmother do.)  Little did I know that it was too much for one of my muscles.  That darn 2 week old injury still haunts me, but I am pushing through it gently.

Cold weather conditions aside, for some reason, my body wasn't bouncing positively into walking like it has always done in the past.  My legs felt heavy, I was winded, energy levels were low.  When I did go for a walk it wasn't the positive energizing experience I always had in the past.  Am I just too out of shape?  Has my age made "bouncing into exercise" less do-able?  Is January just a hibernation month?  I decided that whatever the reason, my body would eventually catch up with the demands of my brain.  I did slow the walk down in deference to my injury.  I focused on just taking the steps and movement.

Even with all those limitations, I was totally surprised to find my daily average for January to be as good as 7,000+ steps a day.  Wow, I would have guessed around 5,000.  I guess I had some very good days among the lousy ones.

I can certainly do better on my strength training and stretching routine as well.  Five times in one month is pretty poor.  But the routine has shown that I haven't yet lost any gains in my stretching extensions.

So that is my Healthy Me update for January.