The Exercise Fairy or Lack Thereof

This past year, I had been really good about exercising regularly. I went hiking, to the gym, swimming, to aikido, was pretty darned active. But once winter and too much life hit, somehow the exercise part of my life seemed to have dwindled down to a lot less than it should be.

 

No problem, I was sure if I sat on my butt long enough, someone would pay attention and send over the exercise fairy. I was by no means unactive but I also wasn't really doing regular exercise anymore. It is amazing how easy it is to find excuses 'Too busy, too snowy, too cold, too hard, too blue, too orange, too beady, too bumpy, too much, too little'. The list is endless. So I sat and made excuses for myself, got another cup of tea, and waited for that darned exercise fairy to show up.

 

Yesterday, when I was working through some stuff, a realization hit me. There IS no exercise fairy! Duh! If I want exercise, there is only one person who can do it. And that person is not the exercise fairy.

 

I turned off my computer, grabbed Giant and took him out on a mile long hike. Wow. That felt GOOD! Um... why was it too snowy before? This was just fine. And why was it too cold before? There is such a thing as warm clothes, you know.

 

In the afternoon, I went geocaching, with some hiking involved too. I felt all warm and glowy and wonderful and life was good.

 

Shared my important discovery with my friend Elia and proudly exclaimed 'And I walked A WHOLE MILE! Uphill! Both ways! Through the snow!' He looked at me and said 'Um... That is not very impressive, is it? It should at least have been RUNNING.' Yeah, Elia is one of my favorite friends. Gah. Well..., no problem, I can make excuses why not. I am soooooooooo not a runner. No idea where to start to become a runner. But a small part of me is saying 'Wouldn't it be nice?'

 

Today, I found myself running part of the way on my two kilometers hike and discovering that I am still not a runner, but hey, maybe I can become one!