Yak Trax

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For those of you who don't brave the winter weather for a daily run you may not know what 'Yak Trax' are. They are spiral like spikes that wrap around your running shoes and keep you from falling on your face in the snow and ice. And this weekend I acquired a pair for myself.

Years ago I would hop outside for a wintry run without thinking twice about slipping on my rear. But as I age I have found myself more afraid of broken bones and a bruised ego so instead of running I would shuffle. Now that I have my Yak Trax I no longer have to worry about it. These things are awesome! I can jump and turn and run without worry. I see a long winter of running in my future which is great because without strenuous exercise in my life I really become a crab. I guess years of rigorous swimming has made my body need exercise. Additionally, running has helped me shed some of the CJ baby weight. For the longest time I was stuck at 10 extra pounds but thanks to some additional jogs I am now 3 pounds away from my pre-CJ weight. And as I begin training for my planned half marathon this summer I'm hoping those 3 extra pounds will disappear too.

On a different note, our family is one step closer to living chemical free. I was in the new Cedar Falls Target and found some chemical free cleaning and laundering products made by Seventh Generation. Eliminating chemicals from our house has been a year-long goal for me and I'm proud to say we are a wee bit closer to all chemicals disappearing completely. The girls and I are in the house almost all day, every day and I worried that the cleaning, laundering and bathing products we were using could be causing us harm. I once read that clean doesn't smell like pine or lemon or lavender. Clean smells like nothing.

Well, I'm off to hopefully do something productive like bake Christmas goodies!

Comments

Julie Ulven said…
I just put on my Yak Trax today! I found them last year at the end of the season. I am not running, though. Just trying to walk on the snow and ice. And babying my knees. Congrats to Matt on the new job. Hope all goes well. Merry Christmas! Hope to see you NYE if the weather holds out.
December 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM
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