Hi all,
I’m exhausted after a busy day. Ann recognized a number of years ago that sitting at a desk for 10 or more hours a day is not good for her overall health so she’s been taking steps to remedy that by going for walks, biking, and trying having more physical activity in general; but that’s all hard to do when you have responsibilities at work and other life obligations that need to be attended to. So she’s been working out with a personal trainer two sessions a week to force the discipline of routine exercise. It’s been helpful (You should see her throw a haybale!).
I stay pretty active on the farm and even try to go on short runs several mornings each week during much of the year.
But I’ve joined Ann in her personal training sessions the past few weeks as her regular training partner wasn’t available. It’s been fun!
The gym closed temporarily to minimize coronavirus exposure so we have now cleaned out part of the mudroom and made it into an exercise room. Ann’s trainer, Lori, let us borrow some weights and led us via Skype in a 55 minute workout this morning. So between the workouts and with Ann and I being on our annual Lenten season diets of no desserts or sweets (Yes, not a very big sacrifice considering…), depending on how long this social distancing thing lasts Ann and I may emerge from it being rather buff! I guess you could say we’re trying to flatten the curves on multiple levels….
Today I followed the workout up with a 4 1/2 mile solo run (Well, Cooper accompanied me for the first 3 miles) as part of a virtual group activity put on by the popular free community fitness program called November Project.
I then spent much of the day cleaning out the bedding and manure pack in what we call the outbarn where our geriatric horses Gypsy and Bloopie live. Just trust me that removing a winter’s worth of packed manure and hay is a physically demanding job. You dig it out with a pitch fork, load it on the gator ATV, dump it in the compost pile, and return for another load. Again and again. But I got it clean just before it was time to start chores and there is a lot of satisfaction in seeing a freshly cleaned and bedded pen.
I was starving this evening and ate about 70% of the large pizza we had for dinner so I probably shouldn’t be communicating about diet; but even if you don’t have a barn to clean or a woodpile to stack do try get out out and do something; jump rope in the basement, rake the yard, or find a quiet place to walk. It’ll reduce some of the stress of this unsettling time. So eat nutritiously (is that really a word?), drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep, and do something outside today (before tomorrow’s rain). And don’t forget about nuturing your spiritual self as body, mind, and spirit are all connected. And keep social distancing while supporting others so we can all emerge from this as better versions of ourselves.
My shoulders and arms are feeling it, and I’ll probably still be achy tomorrow, but I will sleep well tonight!
Our mudroom/gym. Note the photo-bombing guinea fowl peaking in the window.
For those of you that really only want to know how the horses are doing; DaVinci and Sadie; just hanging out by the fence.
