Another wonderful winter walk today. I got to break out my mukluks for their first trip to Rouge Park. It was snowing gently most of our hike, but it just made for a quiet, winter wonderland. It was a little too cold for bare feet today, but I did take off my toque and gloves for a while when the breeze died down. I think that the photos today say it all. Enjoy!

It's getting colder outside. And my nose is not liking this. Is anyone else having this trouble? Breathing the cold, dry air through my nose sends it running. Not away, although I'm sure it would if it could, but with mucus to try to protect my poor nose. I end up sniffing the whole walk. Breathing though my nose becomes very difficult.

My poor raw nose! In an act of desperation I Googled what to do for a dry nose. Not surprisingly, the best suggestion I found was to apply coconut oil. Put some on a Q-Tip and rub it around the inside of your nostril. It sounds strange, I know, but it feels so good on my sad nose. And, as a side note, for a while, it smells like I'm on a tropical vacation! 

I've tried this for a few days now, and it's making my outdoor walks so much more enjoyable. Coconut oil — good for so many things. Thanks from me, and my nose.

100 days of walking! It means I'm 20/73 of the way there. So we celebrated today with an extra-long hike through Rouge Park. For those who know the park (or who care to look at the map), we started with the Cedar Trail (there and back), and then we walked the Orchard Trail and the Vista Trail. We were gone so long that the kids called to check up on us.

What have I learned about walking so far? Well, I feel better when I'm walking. Not just while I'm actually walking, but it spills out into the rest of my day. I feel more grounded (especially if I've been able to walk barefoot), more calm, more energized for the other parts of my life, my work, my family. I don't feel as cold as I used to. This is a big deal for me. I have always "run cold," but since I've been spending more time outside (and I think being barefoot has something to do with this, too, but I don't know why) I find I'm not as cold as I used to feel. My body seems to be able to regulate my temperature with more efficiency. I haven't gotten sick this fall. I teach yoga classes all the time where someone is sneezing or coughing. Most people stay away when they know they are sick, but we're usually contagious before we get sick. Somehow, I haven't gotten sick. Now, I think I caught something a couple of times — I could feel that my body was fighting something — but I didn't actually get sick. Since the only thing I've really changed this fall is the walking, I'm going to give it this one.

As we walked, we talked about all of this, and more. If we feel better, get sick less often, and have more energy by adding what is usually less than an hour of outdoor movement each day, why doesn't everyone do this? Many people don't seem to have time. I'm not going to judge people's schedules, but we often choose to do things to relax at the end of the day when we're tired. We talked about things that we've chosen to do in the past: video games, Netflix, catching up on social media, watch a movie, read a book, knit. None of these things are bad, and in fact some of them are great, and many of them I do regularly. But if I had to give up an episode (yes, another episode) of my favourite show I'm currently streaming on Netflix, that would be a good trade-off for my body.

I think that if I had to choose between working 4 long days and getting 3 days off, with working 6 shorter days only getting 1 day off, I would choose the latter. Spending less time at work each day, and adding more of what's important every day makes more sense to me than sectioning off work days from rest days. When given full days off, it's easy to fill them up with errands or busyness, I find. But when I have just a few hours, I can choose to do some things that need doing, and a couple of things I want to do. Adding movement and outdoor time might be easier for us all if we had more time daily.

So, 100 down, 265 to go. Thanks for walking with me.