Snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain

We just got back from another long weekend at Mammoth Mountain, skiing (hubby) and snowboarding (me). We took along daughter #2 and one of hubby's business associates. The weather was great, the skiing/riding was great, the company was great.

One of the best things about skiing or snowboarding, besides the good exercise and leg-strength building, is the sheer enjoyment of it all. Just spending the entire day outdoors in the clean, crisp air, surrounded by the fragrant pines and listening to the swoosh of skis over snow is enough to renew your spirits and help get everything else into perspective.

It's too easy to work, work, work, without even looking up at the sky, day after day. That's why it's so important to purposely schedule outdoor activities so we'll take time out to get outside and reconnect with who we are--physical beings and not just minds encased in bodies.

With best wishes for a long and healthy life,

The Jogging Grandma

Obstacles

I admit it.

I am easily thrown off by obstacles. By unexpected circumstances which seem to suddenly consume all my energy.

Perhaps it is because my good habits are not ingrained deeply enough. Just when I think I'm on my way towards reaching a particular goal, BAM! something seems to happen in life that throws me off. All my energy gets redirected towards resolving whatever problem came up and out the window go all those efforts towards reaching my previous goal...

Ever happen to you?

I admire those people who keep on plodding through thick and thin, focused on their primary goals and seemingly unaffected by their circumstances. And perhaps I will be able to become more like that as I learn and grow (metaphorically speaking, of course...)

But for now I have to settle for second best: I'm pretty good at starting again :) When I realize I'm off track, I pick myself up, brush off the dust, set my sight on the goal again and get back on course.

It helps to look forward and not backward, and to be as kind to yourself as you would be to anyone else you care about :)

Here's to overcoming obstacles; to pushing through them or to getting back up on your feet when they knock you for a loop!

With best wishes for a long and healthy life,

The Jogging Grandma

Something New Every Week

Every week I try to do something new in my exercise routine. My fitness run, for example.

About 8 weeks ago, my 26-year-old daughter invited me to join a little running club she belongs to, that meets Saturday mornings at 7 a.m. I was very happy to do so, if for nothing else, to have a chance to hang out with my charming but busy daughter!

I had not done any running at all for a couple of years now, and was pretty much totally out of shape:) That first week, one of the experienced runners and my daughter took me "under their wing". They picked a fairly flat, 6 mile run. I jogged as long as I could, then walked the rest of the way. They were good sports, running ahead and then running back to me, then running ahead again. They got in a lot of good exercise, and I felt encouraged and accompanied as I puffed along.

The second week, I jogged a greater part of the same run, and the third week, it was about half walking and half jogging. The 4th week, I jogged more than I walked, and the 5th week I managed to jog the whole route. My pace was slow, but I managed to jog the whole time.

I was gone skiing for the following weekend, and when I got back, my daughter told me she had been doing a harder run during the midweek: about three miles out, a couple of miles of uphill, and then three plus miles back in. Hmmm... I always love a challenge, so we tried it together that weekend. I made it the three miles out, but I had to walk the uphill stretch, and the last three miles was walk/run/walk/run.

So this last weekend I summoned up all my determination, and kept jogging the entire 8.5 miles, uphill stretch and all. My pace was nothing to brag about, but I am very proud of myself for keeping going the whole way.

I think I'm on my way to getting back in shape!

With best wishes for a long and healthy life,

The Jogging Grandma

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