As the month winds to a close, I thought I’d check back in and let you know how successful (or  not)  I’ve been at being more conscious. If this post is new to you, check out my earlier blog “Moving from Consciously Unconscious”  below.  My challenge was to put my things away and not let my stuff pile up.  Well, as it happens I have successfully put my clothes way each night and didn’t let them pile up at the end of the bed.  Whew.  BIG accomplishment.  This has been a life-long Continue reading →

Looking for a new exercise to try?  Join me in my attempt to choose a new exercise to try for a week – each week – for 52 weeks!

I managed to string the last three together in a single workout this week.  How’d you do?

This week’s new exercise will be: Bird Dog (please feel free to add a piece of surgical tubing suspended between the right hand and left leg – repeat to the opposite side).  Keep your hips level and don’t let the suspended side do anything weird. Hold the position for 3-5 seconds, Continue reading →

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” ~Ernest Hemingway

I had the pleasure of riding (albeit indoors) with a lovely group of cycling friends recently.  One couple will be heading to Cuba on a bike tour in February – their Continue reading →

Looking for a new exercise to try?  Join me in my attempt to choose a new exercise to try for a week – each week – for 52 weeks!

This week’s new exercise will be: Single Leg Glute Bridge

Stage 1 – Lift and hold with shoulder blades still touching ground.

Stage 2 – Lift and hold one leg, keeping hips level.  Squeeze supporting glute.  When hamstrings “grab” – the exercise is over.  Rest and repeat.  Two to three sets of 10 sounds about right.  Each leg that is!

Join me?

LiveSplendidly!

With the New Year – we’re all looking for a fresh start to things, no?  If you regularly exercise and are getting back into the swing of things after the “silly season” – then maybe that’s enough.  If you have a standard routine like I seem to – then a little something new might be in order.

My regular routine at this time of year includes a combination of running, biking, swimming and weights, a once a week downhill ski and the odd (but ever increasing) xc ski.  Eventhough I manage to pull together interesting (I Continue reading →

With the New Year – we’re all looking for a fresh start to things, no?  If you regularly exercise and are getting back into the swing of things after the “silly season” – then maybe that’s enough.  If you have a standard routine like I seem to – then a little something new might be in order.

My regular routine at this time of year includes a combination of running, biking, swimming and weights, a once a week downhill ski and the odd (but ever increasing) xc ski.  Eventhough I manage to pull together interesting (I Continue reading →

With the arrival of a New Year – even if we’re not a “resolutionist” – we do decide to clean things up a bit, don’t you think?  I know I do.  I don’t always wait until January 1st to promise to keep my desk and office in better order or to not throw my clothes down at the end of the bed each night – but to hang them or toss them in the laundry bag.

January 1st is just another day – but what if we could work towards being more conscious – or in current Continue reading →

I believe I’ve seen what “sweat equity” looks like.  The field of marathoners wasn’t as large as I have seen – or experienced, but the effort was no less for sure.  The temperature started at about 25C at 4:15am and finished closer to 30+C with high humidity by 9am for the runners.  The UofC half marathoners Karen, Karin and Joanna, were off the course before the temperature peaked and thankfully, did most of their effort in the dark and early light of day.  I think that our half marathoners were very glad to have made Continue reading →

Well, I met ‘Tough” this morning and it was pretty colorful.

• Three degrees celsius and raining.
• 20+ marathon and half marathon athletes.
• More colorful rain gear than I’ve ever seen on a run… usually one stays home on a day like today.
• 35 or 21km – the last long run for most before heading to their respective marathons.
• Stiff, sore and wet…100% finished what they set out to do even though (I’m sure) they wanted to quit at any  moment along the way.

That’s Tough.  Marathon tough.

LiveSplendidly!

It’s an interesting thing, bicycle etiquette.  I read weekly in the local newspaper about how vehicle operators are fed up with cyclists.  Alternatively, I hear about how cyclists are fed up with drivers.  Ok, so here’s my attempt at finding a happy medium.  Cycling and driving etiquette BEGINS with the rules of the road.

Stop at stop signs.

Yield to the right of way of anyone at said stop sign.

Signal your intention. Slow, stop, right or left.  It’s pretty simple.

Make eye contact on the road, at intersections, whenever you are concerned someone doesn’t Continue reading →