Livin North of the 37th Parallel

I know not everyone lives in a northern, arctic climate like us, but if you do, you know how tough it is to enjoy this time of year.  I love winter with the best of 'em; snugly clothes, fireplaces, beautiful snow; it's all great- but this winter I find myself saying 'Enough Already!!' quite a bit.

Having a winter baby has it's pluses and minuses.  T's going to be a blast this summer, hanging out in the pool, going out for runs and rides together - it will be awesome. But when he was born in December?  Not so much. Can't really take him out for a stroll in 20 below weather, or icy conditions. So just after he was born I was relegated to walks - alone - around the block weeks 2-6.  We have a treadmill in the basement where I very well could have walked my 3/4 miles, but at the point it wasn't about the exercise.  It's about that precious fresh air, and Vitamin D ....or so I thought.

You see, when you live above 37 degrees latitude, because of the curvature of the earth, you don't get the precious UVB rays that help our bodies make the Vitamin D that is so good for us physically and emotionally.

"Except during the summer months, the skin makes little if any vitamin D from the sun at latitudes above 37 degrees north (in the United States, the shaded region in the map) or below 37 degrees south of the equator. People who live in these areas are at relatively greater risk for vitamin D deficiency."  [Source Article]

Regardless of where you live, and especially if you live north of the 37th parallel - GET OUTSIDE!

Who cares if you don't get any vitamin D -- Take a supplement.  [I take 10 - 20K IUs, no kidding.  Buy them in the 5 or 10K IU amount so you don't have to take 20 little pills.]

Who cares if it's cold outside -- Dress appropriately.  [If you don't have technical clothing that allows you to exercise outside in the winter months, I highly recommend spending the duckets to get some.  I have one outside 'outfit'.  Thicker running pants that I wear at 20 above and 20 below, 2-3 different weight tops that I sometimes wear all at once if it's cold enough, and a good hat that will let me sweat, iow - not cotton.  They're still a bit tight and hug me in all the wrong places, but they get me outside.  I wash them once a week (usually :) ) and last week I headed to my running group in some very funkified clothing - we ran outside - no one could smell me - and if they could, I promise you they were more happy that I simply showed up then what I smelled like.  By the end of the run we were all sweaty and stinky.]

Who cares if it's icy -- Tread carefully.  If you want to go for a run and have a bit of extra traction, get some Yaktrax.  It's like having little gripdeedoos on your feet.  [Yaktrax] And if it's warm enough for the snow to turn into puddles on your path - run through it - get a soaker - you're feet will warm up if you keep on moving.

I went on a run today in the non-vitamin D providing sun and imagined that I was a ginormous sun sponge and even though I started off the run thinking I would rather be napping, I sucked up energy from the sun and even ran an extra 5 minutes for good measure.

So, suck it Winter - I declare Spring!