Running in the Snow

I realized recently that there are several things that I enjoy doing that have a high activation energy, and so I don’t do them very often. I love to run, I love how it makes me feel. The feeling of the wind past my face and the freedom of being outside in nature is great, running is wonderful. Something else that I have enjoyed doing in the past is writing. I’m not a great writer, I much prefer speaking to writing. However, writing is something that I enjoy that I haven’t done for a long time. So here I am writing again about my run today.

Today is my day off and so I felt there were some things that I needed to do. I’m not like other people who run ‘errands’ on their day off. I rarely, if ever, have errands to run except for going to the library (if that counts). I started the day by finishing reading “Ender’s Game” for the 6^th or 7^th time (I don’t really keep track). I then decided I needed to do something active. I’m not the kind of person who exercises for my physical wellbeing, though I certainly see those benefits. I exercise for my emotional health more than anything else. I like how I feel inside when I run, hike, swim or any other physical activity.

So I decided to go running today. It snowed a bit this week here in the valley and I haven’t spent much quality time out in the beautiful snow yet. So I put on my running shoes and started running. I run almost the same route every time, which I realize would get boring if I ran with any frequency. I always run through the trees near my apartment. I love to run through the trails and by the ponds. My route often takes me to duck under branches and dodge around trees. It is great being out there. My favorite pond was frozen over with some amazing ice crystal designs, so I took a couple of pics to share with you.

Here is my favorite pond, I visit it often

I do love the ice crystals on the pond, they're great

While I was on my run I wondered why I don’t run more often. I go on a lot of adventures, some involve hiking and others don’t get my heart rate up as much. I think exercise is one of those things that takes discipline because it never sounds fun when I am thinking about it, but it always turns out great for me in the long run. There are a lot of others things like that in my life. I am working on adopting more of them into my schedule to try and make a regular part of my life.