I started yoga again last Tuesday night as part of my return to normal life. I had taken a hiatus when everything else took over, so it was really wonderful to get back to it. As time passes I recognize more and more the benefits of taking an hour and a half of my week to take deep breaths, stretch my body and focus on just being in the moment. Or, that’s the idea at least. It doesn’t always work but hey, at least I’m trying!

My other hiatus had been from my Saturday morning Zumba classes. I did the class fairly religiously for about a year and then like so many other things, when life became overwhelming the second half of the year – I had no capacity for it in my mind or body. But this Saturday I was ready…Zumba here I come! I was even awake before my alarm went off, up having my coffee and putting on the workout gear. A half hour later I was pulling into the parking lot ready to go. Unfortunately, I was about the only one because the lot was nearly empty. I knew something was up. I saw a woman walking out of the rec center who I knew was a class regular, so I asked her. Apparently they had changed the start date because of a special thing they had going on at the rec center that morning, but weren’t great about informing everyone. Grrr. Is there anything worse than getting yourself psyched up to go exercise only to find out it’s canceled? Super annoying. Since I was out, I went ahead with a couple of early morning errands before heading home.

So that all would not be lost, Jeff and I decided to bundle up the Burplings and take off on a walk around the neighborhood. We actually wanted to walk at a decent pace, so we put Elena in the BOB and told Ian this was his opportunity to get in a little morning run. Of course he was delighted to accept the challenge. It was cold and misting but we ended up taking a great route that wound us around some of the neighborhood streets and into a new area behind us we ever even knew existed. The streets there were quite tucked away with huge lots and some huge homes to match. Given that I’m an admitted gawker, this is my kind of route.

Besides the all-around lovely scenery, our trail also gave us just the right amount of uphill and downhill so we actually felt like we were getting some real exercise in. I’m guessing it was about three miles total, but I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that Ian was exhausted when we got home…though not enough to stop him from bouncing around like a mad man on trampolines later that afternoon with his friend Abby on a little outing to Sky High Sports to help celebrate his 6th birthday on Tuesday.

I’m so inspired by living in this great walking area now that I think I’m going to pick up a Nike Plus soon so I can start tracking myself. I’ve even started having half visions of running again, but I don’t know if my body’s up for it anymore, so I’ll just stick with the walking for now. Meanwhile, next Saturday Zumba starts for real. Wish me luck.