out of the gate ...

The days are finally starting to get brighter in more ways than one. Daylight is longer and I think all the vitamin D I’ve been taking along with the sun from my vacation has kicked in. And just yesterday someone sent me something that really warmed my heart. I think I’ll share ….

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."

As I write this snow is falling gently and has been for the past half hour or so. We finally may be getting a little bit of accumulation. Odd thing, the sun is shining as the snow is falling. It’s quite beautiful actually. “They” say that January is the most depressing month of the year. Once I would have agreed with that but I’ve found this January to be quite exhilarating (lifting, stimulating, enlivening). Like I said, good old vitamin D. It certainly works.

I’ve now been 3 times to the new kickboxing class and I quite like it. Although I am, once again, the oldest participant I find this class to have the discipline and difficulty that my former class lacked. Unfortunately I grew out of my former class. It had gotten too easy and very loose. Participants were regularly walking off the floor during drills without permission to answer their cell phones or just take a rest. It was quite annoying when we were partnering up and your partner left the floor. One was left standing there unable to complete the drill. We all suffered because of a few and our instructor had lost control of the class. And once control was lost it no longer was a viable workout class for me.

The skating season is closing in and I’m looking forward to it with great anticipation. While I worked hard last year I wasn’t in the shape I wanted to be. Even though my race times were better than the previous year I knew had I worked a little harder my times would have been so much better. So this year I’ve been working my butt off running, rowing, walking, stretching, core exercises and now kickboxing and I’m hoping to be stronger right out of the gate.

And speaking of gates, we’ve still not totally decided on the races/events were doing but there are some that are definitely going to happen. We plan on doing an Eddy Matzgar Skate Farm in June some time, the Canada Day Marathon in Cambridge, Ontario on July 1, Duluth in September, Defi in October and we are also doing a fun skate during the summer. We are kicking around a few cities but haven’t as yet decided definitely which it’ll be. 24 hour is still on the maybe list as are NY100 in September, Montreal Marathon in May and if our usual Labour Day street party is cancelled, then Ottawa Inline Festival in September is a definite possibility. Not an extremely arduous skating season planned, but a fun one and that’s what it’s all about to me. Fun and keeping the joy of skating.

I keep messing around on You Tube looking for music and I happened upon a tune that I liked way back “Just What I Needed” by The Cars. Here’s the linky. I hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufzhEYGLxdM

Thanks for reading.

Perhaps another time.