Activate is an A word.....

When the days draw in and the temperature drops, I "die." I am not a winter person, but, by some accident of birth, I was born in a country with long cold winters, Canada. OK, it could have been worse, it could have been, Russia.

Over the years, I have had to devise ways of coping with winter. I did learn to ski and spent many winter Sundays, in good weather, skiing first with friends and later with family. However, my kids didn't really "take" to skiing or snowboarding and since my husband doesn't ski, there has been no real impetus to continue and I don't like skiing alone :(

What next? Yes I knit, cook, clean and run a business during the week, however, I need to keep active, partly because it passes the time and partly because it is, well, healthier than just "sitting around moaning."

I flipped through a few October blog posts from other years, to remind myself of how I had coped then. What's this? A series on "channeling." Who would have thought!! I had actually written a month's worth of entries on thinking, using an A-Z approach. That is, I would focus for a day on a word - actually in some cases 3 words - to keep my mind off the icy grey outside.

My first word back then was "activate." What can I say? This meditation actually worked, because after a few false starts - failed gym membership, abandoned work outs at home and office, I finally, started just walking. It was sporadic at first. I didn't walk in temperatures below -12ºC and I couldn't walk in the ice and snow. However, when Spring finally came, I committed to walking everyday for a month. Eureka!! I can now walk 5kms (just over 3 miles) in less than an hour. I have now started to trim down that time. Can I go from 60 minutes to 50 minutes or less? I also started to look up record holders in my age group. What was the fastest time?

Ironically, I found a marathon here in Toronto - The Toronto Women's Half Marathon/5K that has a 5K walking component. They posted last year's time for the 70+ walkers. The winner had done it in just over 45 minutes. Last week I did my 5K walk in 45 minutes. I think that I may register for the marathon in May 2015.

I'll keep you posted.

The picture? I saw this beauty on one of my walks. It feeds my gypsy soul :)

Have a great day!!