A Search for Activity
My husband and I have been talking. We would really like to be more active this year than we have been. We are introverts and have a lot of solitary, indoor hobbies. We like to read comic books and watch cartoons and play video games, together and individually, and those are all things we can do inside, sitting down. But, as the weather warms up, (and cools down and warms up again, and cools down again, as you do) and the days get longer we’ve started talking about getting out and doing more outdoorsy things. The problem is, finding things to do and time to do them.
We have a list now, actually, of things we want to do, the time and place is the biggest issue. We want to go running more. This is probably the easiest activity on our list. He has a treadmill at work to run on, I can run on the road near our house as it has sidewalks and is pretty flat for a long stretch. It’s just getting out and doing it. We also can’t run together because he has a faster pace than I do and cannot slow down to match me and I can’t keep up with him. So our running together is him running ahead and me jogging behind. We used to run in a park in Monroeville, but it’s farther away now and not super convenient for running. It’s nice, though, as it has a mile track around the park with a .8 mile extension, if you’re into that. Circuits are nice as they allow us to meet up at the end. The hardest part is, of course, getting out there and actually doing it. I found it much easier when we had to go to the graveyard to run because I could drop Logan and off and stop on my way back easily to run a mile before getting home. I always feel more motivated once I’m actually out of the house, it’s the leaving the house that’s the really hard part.
We would also like to start hiking and biking and rock climbing. These are things that we’d love to get into, but present unique challenges for each. Hiking is probably the easiest. We have feet and stuff, not proper footwear, but we could make do. We have a beautiful, huge park near by that we can explore, all we need is the time and energy and good weather. I’m pretty optimistic about that one as it just requires us to have a free day and actually use it for outdoor activity. Unlike running, it’s an activity that we can do together, which is the challenge for hiking. We have to find enough time together to do it that we don’t need to spend doing something else.
Rock climbing has a few more challenges. We don’t have the proper shoes, or mats or any of the other equipment to go out and climb rocks in the wild, which is Logan’s preferred method. We do have a rock gym near us, though, that looks like it would be a lot of fun, if we could find the time to go and plan it in the budget as it’s a little pricey. I really enjoy rock climbing, though, so I’d love to get out there at least once this summer. I think we only went once last year and it’s been a whole year since then. We also have several friends who are also into rock climbing, so it’s a much more social opportunity than the other forms of outdoorsy exercise we’re looking at.
Biking is the hardest option at this point. Logan inherited a really nice bike last year, but it requires air in the tires and a way to transport it to a place for riding. This means we’d have to get a bike rack for the car, a way to put air in the tires, and, last but not least, another bike for me. We only have the one right now. We think Logan’s old bike would be good for me, actually. It’s fourteen-year-old boy sized, so it should be okay, I would think. We pulled it out while cleaning the church last spring, I think, and I tried it out. I want to think the seat needs raised, but other than that it should be okay. Biking is an activity Logan did with his grandfather a lot, so it would be really nice if we could pick it up together. There were a bunch of trails they used to ride and I’d love to revisit them with him if possible. If we can overcome the current obstacles it would be a great form of exercise.
The weather has turned cold again here, but I’m sure it’ll warm up again in the next few days. I hope so for the poor flowers sake. There are flowers popping up by our mailbox and they are very confused right now. If nothing else, I’m hoping we can get back to running so we can do some more 5Ks this year without dying. I’d like to start some other healthy life habits as well, but we’ll see how that goes. Vegetables are not my friends. Wish us luck on our exercising adventures, dear friends, we’re going to need it, and have a lovely day.
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