The Art of Cross Country Skiing

I've been trying to exercise more lately.  Of course . .. ONLY WHEN I WANT TO.  Whew. I  nearly blew one of my new year's resolutions of "only exercising when I want to."

Boyd has been encouraging me to go cross country skiing after I get home from work.   I'm not a great skier (a big understatement) but since its nice and slow and I can go at my own pace and its a SAFE activity, I have obliged in this form of exercise/outdoor activity.

So, I hustle home from work, throw on snow gear, grab the skis and start marching down to the railroad tracks near our house.  Boyd immediately harnesses Lou to his belt and Mel gets to run free. **Mel and Lou are our dogs.  Mel is a yellow lab and is extremely loyal and listens to commands.  Lou is a beagle and tends to be more of a free spirit.  We love our children . . I mean our dogs.**

I manage to fall down walking to the trail.  How you ask?  Easily and not gracefully. We get to the trail.  I cannot for the life of me get my stupid boots to "click" into the skis. **Minor note.  At this point in time, I am in my "hormonal week" which means I frustrate easily.  It also means that even though I may get more uptight than usual, I always have a legitimate reason for being irritated.  You can ask Boyd.  He wouldn't dare to disagree . . . I mean he would agree with this insight.**

I get the boots clicked into the skis - - actually Boyd gets them clicked in for me.  And we take off.  I fall again within 2 minutes.  Boyd is ahead of me yelling "mush" to Lou, our little Beagle - **Yes, I know this is weird** - Consequently he doesn't hear me yell at him.  I decide to stay calm.  After all, I'm not hurt, just irritated.  I try and get up but the snow is so deep I keep getting buried into the drift.  I manage to almost get up and fall about 3-4 more times.  We haven't even started and I'm wet and cold.  I'm also taking DEEP BREATHS to calm the inner demons at this point. I finally get up, start skiing and last 10 minutes before I start complaining about being too cold and wet and that its too dark.  We get back to the house and Boyd is giving me a pat on the back telling me how proud he is of me.

And then I realize . . . . .Its official.  I have issues.