Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

I just looked out my office window and saw my snowshoe tracks in the snow. For some reason they surprised me. Seeing them I had concrete evidence that I actually have been getting out on my snowshoes every day. That I've actually been going somewhere. And, for some reason, I find this comforting. I've been fighting my 30 Days of Snowshoeing commitment and am kind of mad at myself for creating the challenge for myself. I haven't wanted to get out every day and snowshoe. It's cold outside. I don't like putting on my snowpants, my hat, scarf, gloves, jacket. Perhaps because I'm doing the challenge alone, unlike the 30 Days of Biking challenges where hundreds of other people biked every day and helped motivate each other, I don't really feel like it matters that I'm doing this. And I've lost momentum and motivation and simply want to sit inside and read a book. Or sleep. Or watch Monk and Cake Boss on Netflix. But I keep snowshoeing. Every day. Ev...

I've been thinking about milage goals for 2011. Last year, I set a goal to ride my bicycle 500 miles and when I surpassed that goal I set out with a personal challenge to complete 1,000 miles of exercise by the end of the year. I managed 914 miles, most of which were bicycling miles. I feel good about this especially since I'm not an exercising person at all. At least I wasn't an exercising person. I guess at this point I can think of myself an exercising person. Because in 2010 I actually made exercise an almost daily part of my life. And I like it. I see the year ahead as an opportunity to continue being active. I have found that doing mini challenges like 30 Days of Biking and my own 30 Days of Snowshoeing  help me stay on track. And, even though I didn't make my 1,000 milage goal in 2010, I found that putting that big number out there kept me exercising. I've also found that tools like Dailymile have greatly helped me keep track of my progress and motiv...

I've lived in Minnesota all my life but have only tolerated winter. Oh, back in junior high I was in the cross-country ski club and spent some time outside having fun. And back when I had horses I would bundle up and ride in the dead of winter. And before that I remember looking forward to winter, to the freshly fallen snow, and spent a lot of time playing outside as a kid. I distinctly remember playing school outside at my Grandpa and Grandma's farm once. My cousin, Sara, and I made desks out of snow and used icicles as pencils. We must have stayed outside for hours. Or maybe not. I do remember having fun, though. And I do remember loving snow. I have many other good memories of winter yet for the last dozen or so years, okay maybe twenty, I've done my best to stay inside once the cold set in. Yet having kids has slowly warmed me up to winter. Rose and Ryan love to play out in the snow and in the past 10 years I've gotten out there with them and gone sledding and tre...

We've had a good start to our New Year. You see, for Christmas we decided to get the family snowshoes. We were so happy bicycling with the family last year that Owen and I wanted to keep going. But in Minnesota it snows - a lot! - and I really didn't want to ride in the winter and don't think the kids would be willing to either. But we wanted to stay active, to enjoy the winter wonderland around us, to keep doing things together as a family. Cross-country skis, we thought, were an option but kind of a costly one once we all got skis, poles, boots and gear. Downhill skiing was another possibility, though more expensive than cross country with lift tickets and all. Add to that having to drive a half hour or more to the nearest ski hill. So we decided to get snowshoes for Christmas. They are relatively inexpensive and we can snowshoe right in our backyard and surrounding fields. The kids had expressed interest in snowshoeing before. I've done it some and enjoyed it. ...