I woke up this morning and assessed how much new snow had fallen since yesterday. It was about 15 centimeters, and was still coming down. I was almost ready to cocoon myself in for the rest of the day and keep it uneventful, but the craving for movement and fresh clean air was too great. I was easily prompted to walk all the way to Broadway for a friendly rendezvous for coffee. I didn't plan for it, but the rest of the day spun around such that I ended up snagging a ride with my cohort who was doing some sports apparel shopping, and before I knew it, I ended up spontaneously purchasing a brand new set of Nordic skis, poles and boots. I haven't been cross-country skiing in ages, and I'm excited to start doing it again. It's a lower impact exercise than running (I may get a chance to heal right), and it's a fully body workout, which means I don't have to do it as long to get the same results. I'm itching so badly to start cutting some new trails by the river, and through Diefenbacher Park.
There was a lot of deep snow to trudge through coming back home, but I was so happy with the terrific bargain I got on my gear, I felt like I was scurrying along on air. The only setback in the deal is having to wait until my bindings get set and fitted. This dump of snow was transformed from a miserable curse, that it was in the morning, to a beautiful phenomenon I eagerly welcomed. I wish I had the sense to capture a few photos by the river, with the snow being this fresh. It was more scenic there this winter than I ever remember it being. When I came back home after the eight kilometers of tramping through the drifts, banks, and flurries, I jumped into the sauna a while, and relaxed with a couple shots of Aquavit (the only vodka/schnapps-like potable I had in my liquor cabinet) after the shower. It all helped to have me drift into a peaceful nap; dreaming pleasantly, for the first time in ages it seemed. If I had one word to use to summarize how this Saturday afternoon was, I'd have to say that it was very. . . Scandinavian. If indeed a long sauna session, drinking some spirits, and a light nap and reading in peace is the common ritual in Norway, Sweden, or Finland after tramping around (or skiing) outside on a snowy winter's weekend like today, I could get used to adopting such a lifestyle to endure a longer than usual winter like this one is turning out to be.
The ski equipment wasn't a cost I was prepared for, but I thought about how much more refreshing it would be than using the crowded indoor track during the winter. It amounts to free space and fresh air. The lousy situation for training for running through winter is that since my work hours are more skewed than others', the only usual convenient times when the track is available for me mid-week are times when it tends to be over-populated with retirees and seniors groups*. Sure, they have a right to exercise, but many (if not most) of the seniors' groups are usually there for rehabilitation purposes. It's hard to relax and keep a steady even pace there when one has to be on guard for slowly staggering, spatial-awareness challenged hemiplegic stroke victims, half-deaf/half-blind with cataracts old men and women, or others stunned and stricken with dementia or Alzeimer's, who absent-mindedly, suddenly, and dangerously veer and wander into the designated lane that the runners use. I've come close to more than just one or two hazardous collisions due to this. There seems to be a real shortage of fresh air at the track when the old-timers start circuiting around there en masse. A little bit of sweat smell can be expected and is even tolerable, but I seem to have a hard limit when exercising and respiring heavily around the wafting stench from the miasma of medication-infused, old person BO and flatulence**, which they seem to liberally express when they exert themselves a little more than younger folk. Cripes, it's like slamming into a wall of it some days while running over there. Knowing that these extremes of bodily odours are so easily smelled and consequently inhaled, it then only is a reminder of how easy it is to contract the flu virus in an indoor fitness facility, thus the inclination to cruise around the track in winter loses even more appeal. I'm not going to continue ranting too sourly about them. After all, they, especially the stroke victims, serve as examples as to why one should be active to begin with while one has younger years to use to one's advantage. My own back pain, and the slower recovery time from aches, pains, and sickness is a reminder that I'll probably be like them some day. Some of those old folks are veterans, and sacrificed and spent their time as younger people fighting in some way for the oppressed in other nations, and the freedom of this great land. Let's be thankful that they got lucky and had a chance to 'get old'. Rememberance Day is tomorrow. Let us be mindful, and give them due respect.
Treadmills are the other unfavourable option, but I'll devote another entry to complain about using them some other time.
But let's return to the happy place now. Through my course of adventure sports shopping today, I was also giving some thought about saving up for a kayak for summer. My greatest issue around here though would be storage. Trying to stow a three meter long kayak in any room around in this place would be trying to park a Hummer in an elevator. Using the ceiling space on my deck may be an option, but it would be very tight. Getting a kayak might not be such a crazy idea, especially if the snow is going to accumulate this massively over this winter on a more frequent and regular basis. The spring flooding risk has been rising each year. If the snow keeps coming like this, next spring may come to be an all time record high if that is so. The kayak might be my new street transportation. I might have to check out YouTube and learn how to parallel park the thing.
*- Sadly, no fit LuluLemon clad women closer to my age. Given my appetite now, I think I'd prefer them being Nordic.
**- Or at least I hope it's just flatulence. . .one also has to be mindful to check the track to see if something didn't . . . shall we say "slip down the leg".
No comments:
Post a Comment