Hi all...long time no see....

So, I've been really lame and signed on here way back when it started, but never followed through. Since then, I've moved to a new city and no longer have free access to a fitness center. While I live in a good neighborhood for walking, it also gets cold and snowy here, and recently I've wimped out. I was done with teaching before Thanksgiving this year, and I spent break pretty much sitting on my butt. It was relaxing, I did a lot of reading and movie-watching, but there were days when I never left the apartment. By New Year's, I felt awful - just stiff and flabby and immobile, completely out of shape and out of breath if I did anything more than walk from the couch to the bedroom. So I've decided this has to change. I'm not even thinking about losing weight at this point - sure, I'd love to lose weight, but I just don't want to feel so crappy anymore. I want to be more active and feel better and feel strong and have energy.

Anyway, today I completed my obligation for the week - I walked around the neighborhood (vigorously!) for about 35 minutes. It was fun - I like my neighborhood, there are a lot of cool houses to look at, and today I made the acquaintance of a huge black dog with bushy gray-tipped fur. (Well, from a distance - he was doing his best watchdog impression so I just greeted him from afar!) It helped, of course, that it's about 50+ degrees F here today. But I do have cold weather gear, and so there's nothing to stop me from doing this regardless of the weather.

So again, thanks for organizing this, Ragey and Seeking Solace!