Winter Outdoor Sports (non-cycling)

[Catrin]

I DID find a great winter/hiking coat on the sales rack in December at a $70 discount...

[Aromig]

I DID find a great winter/hiking coat on the sales rack in December at a $70 discount...

Glad I'm not the only one! You're in Indy right? I work just north of downtown, but live in Columbus so it is a special trip when we drive to Castleton to visit REI. And BGI North. And the Lego Store (already sounding expensive).

[Catrin]

AND there will be an IKEA here in a couple years. I've never been to one so will have to check it out.

I went hiking this weekend with my new trekking poles, they aren't shiny clean now :-) The trail was not the test that I wanted it to be, all of the mtb trails were barricaded off as they are SO muddy that is the only way to get people to leave them alone. So we were, once again, on a flat trail with lots of kids and dogs. Still had fun though, almost 3 miles in <90 minutes so I think that was fine. Hopefully next time I can test myself.

[Catrin]

Hiking again today, 2.8 MUDDY miles in less than 90 minutes. Part of this trail was more aggressive than any since my knee surgery and, with my trekking poles, it was fine Now, this WASN'T the muddy part, that might have been a different story. What made this hike unusual was the presence of a trail half-marathon in the park! I tried to get away from them but that never happened, but it was fun. Their race was, in part, why the flat parts of the trail were SO muddy - a couple racers wanted to buy my poles and one was lusting over my hiking boots. Not that one could run in them but I honestly don't know how they could actually run in the deep mud for so long. Not all, some walked, but a good percentage did so. Started the day out with kettlebell training, then a couple hours later hit the trails.

[Crankin]

Sounds like a good day, Catrin.
I spent 2 hours unpacking stuff at the condo and then I took a break and explored the neighborhood. My new street is just a little cut-de-sac off of Main St., but there is a path to the next street, which is a huge neighborhood of circling streets, very hilly. I know there is a short trail off of one of these streets to my health club, because the one and only 5K I've done went this route, but, starting from the health club. I can walk there, going a more direct route, out my street and onto Main ST., then turn left on the street the club is on, which is exactly a mile. However, I though it might be a fun warm up to do a more hilly version (although the street the club is on is a hill/dead end) with some trail. I found the right road that the trail connects to, but I didn't go far enough. When I got home, I looked on a map, and now I think i can find it. This will be a great neighborhood to walk in, there are actually sidewalks. All of the streets are cut-de-sacs, or big circles, as there are ponds and rivers preventing the connection to other parts of the town. I never knew what was up in this area, so lots of exploring in future. It will be hilly riding, as part of a shorter ride, too. Also good for pushing that granddaughter in the stroller...

[Catrin]

Nice area to ride in Crankin, at least it sounds like it.

Apparently my kettlebell training + hiking yesterday fired me up. Instead of settling down to an afternoon of knitting and reading after grocery shopping, something rather different happened. I always get a bit depressed this time of the year, and rearranging my apartment ALWAYS helps. I think it is a physical reminder that things DO change. Regardless of why, it helps. Normally I just scoot the couch around or something easy. Not this time. I totally rearranged my bedroom, moved my huge leaning bookcases around in my living room (one also multi-tasks as my desk for the 50+ pound all-in-one 27 inch PC), did laundry, and went through lots of paperwork. Didn't stop moving for about 6 hours once I got started and I like the results. Will need to do a bit of paint touch-up. I've been thinking about this layout for a few months now, guess it was finally time to get it done and so I did. I managed to finally sit down and knit at 8 pm.

[Crankin]

That sounds like a lot of work!