The Fitness Situation

 I tried to make the pictures look fancy in another photoshop document but the damned app kept crashing the computer and after the 5th time I decided to give up.  This photo was taken Tuesday, November 10.  This one was taken less than 24 hours later, the next morning on November 11th. Ah, living in the north! It does make the morning exercise (walking/running, yes, I started running again) a little more difficult, especially when ice piles up on the sidewalks and the streets, but it's kind of exciting. Cold weather running is my favorite kind, although my fifteen and a half minute miles aren't all that much more strenuous than my fast walking, so the calories burned tend to be about the same. One day I might get back down to twelve again, but whatever.  Quite a contrast between Minnehaha Creek on a sunny morning and off of Lake Nokomis on a very eerie and ominous-looking day. 

Despite being a bit on edge last week during the prolonged election drama, we did still manage to keep up on the walking commitment, although I did not remember to take any photos (my mind was on other things).  There were two days so warm in the morning we actually decided to get a couple last bike rides in, during which I tried to chill and send out positive vibes through my Election 2020 Playlist .  Here are the photos from the week leading up to the election, starting with a nice snowy October day. Those mums unfortunately never really recovered from the piles of snow that weighed them down, but the squirrels seemed to enjoy eating all the elements of my fall planters as well as playing hide and seek with the smaller pumpkins.  And photoshop attempt: 

 I spent last week's mornings walking through the slush and doing mostly low-impact aerobics videos (switching between a semi-difficult Denise Austin lower half strength video, which I'll review soon, and a few of her Fit 'N Lite television shows), which all went well, considering the temperature. The little weigh-in on Saturday was slightly disappointing in that I only lost a pound this week, but overall I did take it sort of easy, looking back. I had a couple meals that were pretty high in calories, homemade Mac 'n Cheese and Beef Burgundy, which are special meals that I really enjoy making for the family, but this time no wine and no cheese beforehand. Yay for that. I decided to step up intensity with my walks and workouts next week and to add a yoga video first thing in the morning. It's kind of a lot, enough to have been really overwhelming before quarantines and lockdowns and such, but with the number of COVID cases surging in Minnesota and many surrounding su...

 The weather in Minneapolis has not really cooperated for what you'd call a traditionally satisfying fall experience, but we have kept up with our morning walks. Knowing full well the intensity and extreme difficulties the upcoming months in Minnesota will hold, weather-wise, it may have been a foolish commitment, but we've decided to stick with this routine, whether it's walking, running (let's be real, it'll be more like light jogging), or riding, for an entire year. We began it all October 5, 2020, so I'll log each walk, run, or ride for an entire year. Yes, I realize this will be a challenge, not only because of the weather but because I have a tendency to begin blog projects and then get busy with other things, but I am going to try.  This looked a little to me like the lamppost in Narnia where Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus but with a lot less snow. Minnehaha Creek is actually quite beautiful through all of the seasons; we are so lucky.  Before the snow started, le...

 My route is anywhere from 3.5 to 3.9 miles each morning, with splits ranging from sixteen- to nineteen-minute miles. Today I actually stopped to capture some of the beauty we saw . . . before the snow started.