Environmentalism, exercise, and living a balanced existence

Bell Isle Park, 2010

I read an article online about environmentally safe products. The author of this article (L. Lee Scott) wrote a passage that stayed with me this is the passage "Environmentalism means living every part of your life with an awareness of how it affects the environment, and doing what you do while causing the least possible damage - or even while improving the environment." This may seem a bit off the beaten path for my blog however, today it's "Right on the money." As you know from my previous blogs, I am on a "self-organized" 365 day Raw Food and Fitness Fun Daze Craze for the year 2011. The majority of blogging I will do is geared toward the diet portion or balanced eating (as I like to call it). The Fitness portion will include all things fun and filled with exercise, yoga, stretching, swimming, hiking, etc. I have ambitious plans to DO IT ALL! So how does Ms. Scott's passage (above) fit into all of this? Well she talks about being labeled an Environmentalist and how she accepts that title. She speaks about awareness and the environment. These things touch deeply my journey toward a better, more balanced existence within our universe. For me, this is Environmentalism and it is the best way to describe my fitness fun during this 2011 journey.

I just uploaded a video to my you tube channel documenting my very first outdoor fitness journey. It takes place during the month of February and it's friggin' cold outside. My Guru suggested that we get out as soon as the weather permitted so that we can get ourselves adjusted to the outdoor workout and I agreed. It has been cold temperatures here and the place where we do most of our running is on an Island that sits between Windsor (in Canada) and Michigan (in the USA). As you know, temperatures drop the closer you are to any large body of water (I wish I could remember the science behind that....hahaha). When we got in the car to leave for the workout, the temps read approx. 50(+) degrees. By the time we arrived at the Island, it could have easily been 40-ish and lower with the wind chill factor (Br-r-r-r-r-r).

We have been told that the entire (outer perimeter) of the Island is approx. 5.5 - 6.2 miles around. That can go up or down if you jog across the bridge both on and off the island vs. driving across both ways. We, of course, drove across to get to the island. There weren't many people out at all. None of the usuals. We did see one bike rider getting a brisk ride around the island. I made it around the course and was sore for three days after (lol). My pace was slower than normal but I am sure I will get my speed up as we go out each day. When the weather is warmer, I will have more posts and videos so please check back with this blog as well as my You Tube channel.

For now, I have a couple of still shots taken from the video footage (the sound was terrible due to high winds as you will hear in the video). Take a look at the pics and leave some comments if you like. Thanks!

"The Guru Feb. 2011"

Fitness Fun Day inside, Jan. 2011

Official FIRST day outdoor fun, Feb 2011

After the workout! Jan. 2011