An odd morning light crept through our window like a thief come to steal my dreams. A blanket of snow had fallen through the night and a street lamp set the crystal flakes on the ground below ablaze with a glow of white as bright as the dawn.

In the eerie light I swung my legs out from under the warm covers and planted my feet on the floor. Taking my first step I caught my right toe under a sleeping dog and toppled forward as she scurried out of the way. Before I could get my balance I banged my knee on the corner post of our cedar bed. I could taste blood as I bit my lip to stifle a scream hoping not to wake my wife. She merely sighed, rolled over and started snoring. Whimpering and cursing it was 5 AM when I stumbled to bathroom to dress for my morning run.

Don’t let me fool you. This is by no means a regular occurrence. I’m probably just like you, an overworked overweight modern urbanite who’s desperately trying to cling to the few remaining strands of his youth by carving out a bit of time to get some exercise.  This is my first day.

The Monday after Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect day to start getting back into shape. With a solid layer of fat tucked around my middle after too many fabulous meals over the holiday weekend I was ready to brave the cold. On this Wisconsin morning it was still dark out as I heated up a cup of day-old coffee trying to remind myself why this was such a great idea. Outside it was about 20 degrees and even then by the stove dressed in wool, nylon and Lycra I could feel a bit of the chill.

Taking a deep breath I braced myself as I opened the patio door off the kitchen. Closing it quickly behind me I bounded out on our deck as a thin layer of snow crunched beneath my feet. I jogged across the backyard flipping on the beam of my headlamp, the snow all around me cast back the light in a bluish grey wash.  The beam bounced in rhythm with my bobbing head as I ran through the open gate of our split rail fence and on to the Capital City Trail.

Madison, Wisconsin is one of those progressive communities that offer a variety of amenities that help those who live here and the many who visit lead an active lifestyle. The Capital City Trail is a bike and walking path that winds it’s way around town offering about 17 miles of unobstructed pavement. In the wintertime the city has street crews out before daylight to plow the trail so that bike commuters and runners can make their way to work or to work out without having to worry about deep snow or even ice. So with the proper clothing and good pair of running shoes there’s really no excuse not to run through these winter months. 

I start off slowly making sure to breath deeply and steadily. There’s no point in going out too quickly. I’ve got five miles ahead of me. I try to stay relaxed, letting my muscles slowly warm up against the cold morning air. My heart settles to beat at an even rate keeping pace with my breathing as I run along the trail, head down against a biting wind.

It’s getting warm. Though a light snow continues to fall in the still darkness I can feel a steady stream of moist heat rising up from my collar. My Gore-Tex wind shell is proof against the breeze off Lake Monona and I can feel rivulets of sweat trickle down my spine and under my arms. I keep running. Not very fast, but unfailingly I plant one foot in front of the other, slowly making progress. The objective isn’t to be swift but to be sure running evenly, balanced, relaxed and consistent with every step.

Time passes and the morning light becomes full. The flow of automobile traffic grows heavy with computers on their way to work Downtown. Two cars stop for me at the crosswalk as I make the turn off of Monroe Street and start the short climb up the hill on the final leg of my run. I jog to a halting stop at the gate to our yard and begin to walk cooling down. A steam of vapor rises off my shoulders as I stroll briskly once around the block to finish off this morning workout.

Thirty-one days remain before the New Year. But I figured I’d be better off if I can hit my resolution to drop 15 pounds at running start. Pardon the pun. I going to work toward getting fit again and start being a better practitioner of what I preach.

I’ve also resolved to develop a new stream of programming targeting people, perhaps like who want to become more actively engaged in their lives, eating right, getting plenty of exercises, becoming involved in their communities and making worthwhile contributions towards efforts to protect the environment. If you’re familiar with my pervious work you might think that this is not a great departure from what I’ve been doing over the past three years. I suppose what will be different is that in addition to producing work for magazines, newspapers, podcasts and radio programs I’m going to create a new program under my own brand.

The plan by the first of the year is to introduce a new blog and podcast series. Residing on a web site yet to be created, this new series will feature a weekly audio story or podcast like this one, well actually it will be a whole lot more interesting. The podcast will include original stories about people and places in the world that demonstrate the importance of leading an active lifestyle and helping to maintain the wild places where we love to play. I hope you’ll tune in and get involved in this new project.

The blog will run along side the podcast and offer up opportunities to become engaged in the conversation. Stories will range from features about current events, interviews with experts, authors, filmmakers and activists and profiles of people and initiatives that making solid progress in their efforts to make the world a better place.

During the development process of this new project, I’ll be making regular updates through this podcast and the blog at The Outdoor Professional.com. I’ll hope you’ll drop by with your thoughts, comments and suggestions. But in the meantime, please get outside and enjoy whatever weather the day has to offer. Your active lifestyle requires nothing less than your commitment to becoming engaged in the world around you.

New music by The Clogs and The Conduction Alliance