Give'er

 I know that nobody wanted to go end their holiday season with renewed pandemic restrictions.

Not what anyone needs in the dark of winter

..but as much this could be seen as another roadblock, I hope you can find it in yourself to give'er this year. 

Not an incitement to buy stuff from Give'r, but they do make some great things!

What I mean is, I hope you can find something this year into which you throw yourself passionately, no matter how unprepared or unskilled you may feel. Don't think about it too much - just give'er.

Don't psych yourself out about it - just GO!

I hope you do stuff that scares you.

(This felt about 100 feet high while I was up there)

I hope you give'er in the sun..

However fleeting it may be

I hope you give'er in the dark..

Headlamp optional

I hope you find something that moves you

Wanna get strong? Give'er

Wanna get your first pull-up? Give'er

Want better balance? Give'er

I don't care if it's cross-stitch or calligraphy or rowing or running or learning to speak a new language - I just want you to give'er!

Want to get into photography, or study crystalline structures? Give'er

Stoke comes and goes - you're not always going to be super excited to do whatever it is.

No-one wakes up every morning with their heart on fire

..but even if you're not really feeling it, you can always choose to give'er.

Couple of hours after my booster vaccine - not feeling 100%, but still givin'er

If the last few years have taught me anything, it's that you never know what can happen if you just shrug your shoulders and throw yourself into stuff.

Enough snow for a snow angel? Give'er and find out!

The end result doesn't have to be perfection. You can always try again!

Doing something - even if you feel a bit silly - always beats doing nothing

So don't let the snow and cold deter you, and definitely don't let the new restrictions get you too down.

There's still so much to see and do, even with winter and closures about!

So whatever you do, don't just sit there

Though I grant that you may want to pause now and then..

Just find your thing - whatever it may be - and give'er!

You can bet I'll be out there givin'er, too!

And if it turns out that's not your thing after all, well - find something else, and give'er a go!

Happy new year all!

Stuff I'm Loving - April 2021

 I used to do really in-depth product reviews, but I'd usually only get to them once the products were no longer current.

Which is not especially helpful if you can't actually buy that product anymore

So, I'm just going to throw out a bunch of stuff that has made me happy lately, and is still available for purchase!

Runyon Canyon Apparel

Focusing on "made in the USA" and giving back to conserve American wilderness, they donate $1 for every item sold to the "One Wild Buck" initiative to protect and preserve wildlife and open space. The real reason I ordered from them, though? A friend of mine (who turns out to be a friend of the company's owner) posted a pic of this shirt, and I knew it had to be mine.

RAWR

It's about the softest thing I've ever felt, has no seams at all at the armpits, and inside-out seams almost everywhere else so it should be chafe-free. I also ordered one of their all-mesh trucker hats with reflective (the paracord has reflective flecks, and the tag on the back is reflective), and for purchasing more than $50 of gear they sent me a free hand-screened bandana with their running lupine logo, which they offer in a dizzying array of colour combinations. I'm wearing all of these items in the photos above and below, and I love 'em!

I swear people were extra friendly to me while I was wearing this outfit, too!

Belcorva's Shorts

A friend of mine turned me on to this company, which specializes in activewear at reasonable prices and includes POCKETS of USEFUL SIZE in all of their bottoms! They have full length tights (of which I have a pair), capris, and a few different styles of shorts..

Including THE PERFECT PAIR to go with my RAWR shirt!

I'm not as big a fan of their tights - despite the huge, quite-useful pockets - as they're on the high waisted side and my stumpy little torso does not get on well with that cut. They ride down, leading to the Dreaded Cantaloupe Crotch, aka melonspace. This is an issue I face a lot, so your mileage may vary, but anything that comes down below my knees tends to be prone to it. For that reason, I have declined to try any of their capri-length tights, which pains me as they come in some really awesome colours!

The shorts, however? I have one pair each of two different styles, and I'm a fan! The compression-style shorts seen above have giant pockets on each thigh; my only quibble with them is that perhaps they're a bit too large, as the top of the pocket sits higher than you'd expect (like hip height), and my phone sinks down to the very bottom of the pocket when running with it. 

Not me - this image is from their site

I have a similar sort of issue with the Runner's Dream 5-pocket shorts I got from them back in the winter, in which I've run a few times now: the inner compression shorts have pockets that come up so high that it's pretty much impossible to get anything in or out of them while wearing them, and the pockets of the outer shorts come up past my hip crease, which can make it a bit awkward to have a large object (like my phone in there), particularly as the zip-secured opening is fairly narrow. I will say this, though: I expected to hate them, and to be completely unable to get my phone in or out of the pocket while moving, but I have been pleasantly surprised! It's not the easiest thing, but it works.

Again, photo from their site - the pair I have is plain black.

The fit is a bit strange on first blush; they're quite snug in the thighs, but have a bit of extra room (on me) at the waist. Here's the thing about that, though: the legs stay put, and I say that as someone whose thighs laugh at that very suggestion. I have spent a lot of my life digging shorts that "don't ride up!" according to 8 million reviews out of where - you guessed it - they rode up. These don't. The bagging at the waist is solved by the drawstring, and means if I'm having a bloaty day or have just put on a few extra winter pounds, I can adjust the fit to my own comfort. 

Both pairs of shorts also have a small zip pocket at the lower back with reflective strips for visibility

Gym Rings

Not a brand - just a pair of wooden rings on heavy-duty straps. I bought a pair for under $40 off amazon.ca, tossed them up in my livingroom (I have a couple of eye bolts in the archway that used to be a wall I've been using to attach free-swinging climbing holds for doing pull-ups and stuff), and promptly got my arse kicked.

In the best of ways, that is.

I didn't think they'd be quite so difficult, but that just means it's a great challenge for me to work away at. Heck, I couldn't do a single pull-up before about 3 years ago, so I have no reason to believe I can't make some improvements!

Slackline Industries Play Line

Speaking of challenging..

I mean, at least I'm realistic about it.

This just came in on Monday, and we've had it out a grand total of once so far; on Tanker's birthday on Tuesday evening. It's TOUGH, and so far we've only been able to accomplish anything on it by using the "help line" that our kit came with. However, we were only able to play around with it for about 25mins - over at the local schoolyard, because we haven't had any trees in our backyard for almost 3 years now - before we had to pull it down to run away from an incoming thunderstorm.

Heck, we weren't even using the helpline correctly, since one of the trees bends away massively between the height of the two lines

Tank turns out to be amazingly good at it, though!

We had a hoot, and can't wait to get it back out again - or better yet, for when we're able to get together with friends and toss the line up so we can all have some laughs by giving it a try.

Speaking of which, the last thing I'm loving right now is that my sweetheart has just yesterday got his first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. While he's had some pretty unpleasant side effects today - he was sent home from work at lunchtime after some digestive issues, full-body aches, chills, and even some respiratory issues - it's one step closer to being able to gather with and hug the people we've been missing this past year.

Deep breath and hold tight; just as the trails get a little greener each day right now, a future full of races and parties and freedom draws a little closer with every sunrise.

And I'm RAWR-ing to go!

Cross purposes

 Sometimes it seems like all I do is work and run.

Which is admittedly better than not working and not running.

This past week, though, I've actually been living a little more broadly. After running down to the market on Saturday, we tried going snowboarding again, though that didn't work out particularly well - our wax jobs weren't up to coping with 13c and bright sunshine, resulting in frustration when our boards would stick to the warm, melting snow. After spending an hour or so having to literally scooch myself down the hill at times, and falling hard on my right knee a few times when I'd lose all momentum trying to move from one edge to another (even after taking a break to try applying some paste wax, which somehow made things even worse), we gave up.

It was a beautiful afternoon..

..just not a great day for snowboarding.

Guess that's what we get for trying to do a winter sport on the first day of spring? So, we went for a lovely sunset walk along the river.

I often run here, but Tank seldom gets to see it.

We were lucky enough to watch a mink having his dinner, too

Sunday we focused much more on springlike things. I had some errands to run, and with the warm sunshine I couldn't think of any better way to accomplish them..

BRAAAAAP

Having got one bike out got me thinking...then acting.

Holy smokes - do I remember how this contraption works?

Seems to be going ok!

We only rode around our neighbourhood a couple of times (a hair over 11km), and our lack of cycling fitness was definitely perceptible, but we had fun on a sunny afternoon.

There's something about being on a bike that makes you feel like a kid again

I still got out for a sunset run, but worked it so that I ended up not far from the grocery store so we could finish off the last of our errands for the weekend.

I mean, who wouldn't want this view on their way to the store?

On Monday morning, a fun new toy that I'd ordered arrived!

From a Canadian small business

I've been playing with balance for a few years now - it helped a lot when I was trying to rehab my right ankle after destroying it in February 2018, and it's been a neat challenge that keeps me constantly engaged. I have a wobble board and a balance disc that I use a couple of times per week as part of my warmup for morning strength sessions.

..and sometimes just for kicks up in my office during the day.

Balance really helps with everything, both in sport and life in general. The work for my ankles, legs, and core are good for running - particularly on trails - but also let me do other fun things.

Like this..

..and this..

..and even this.

So, having received a training device that looked even more challenging than the ones I had, I went for it!

Board goes onto roller - K goes onto board
(They advise starting on carpet or a yoga mat to slow the roller down)

They also recommend trying it for the first time in front of a countertop, so you have something to hang on to...but I enjoy living dangerously, so..

Some kind of shaky, but not bad for a first attempt.

I was actually pretty pleased with how I was able to get on with it - I'd only owned it for an hour or so by the time I attempted a (not particularly good) squat on it.

Would someone please turn image stabilization on?

Oh wait - that's ME shaking like crazy.

I only spend a couple of minutes on the board at a time, but I go back to it a few times a day - it stays in my office with me while I work, so if I'm getting up to stretch and take a few steps around the house, I'll often jump on for a moment. Within a couple of days I was feeling a fair bit more confident.

Still pretty shaky, but a little less flailing.

Wednesday afternoon I had an appointment to get to, and with it being a lovely, sunny afternoon (somehow the rain clouds stayed away), I actually hopped on my bike again!

Twice in 4 days - it might disintegrate in shock!

With having to hustle a bit in order to make my appointment, I could definitely feel the lack of cycle fitness and rusty skills and I bumped along down the alternating sections of lumpy, dried out mud and slick, still-wet mud on the Walter Bean Trail. Then again, those two rides in just a handful of days had almost equaled my entire cycling mileage in 2020!

Hopefully I'll be able to do a little better this year.

So don't get me wrong - I'm still running, though I'm having some annoyingly persistent issues with that right ankle, and have complicated things a little further with a bit of contusion to my knee from falling on it while snowboarding.

I really don't do myself any favours, do I?

..but I'm also trying to give a little more time to just general fun and fitness, because as I said above - balance helps with everything!

Do you have a favourite activity outside of your usual sport, or something you do just for a non-competitive challenge? Let me know in the comments, because I'd love to hear all about it!