Winter Warrior

In spite of being weary of winter, there's always beauty to appreciate. With the exception of my speedwork, which is difficult to do outside in wintery conditions, I've continued to take my runs outside. I've talked a lot about motivation...about cold weather running...and more cold weather running.

Determined not to let Mother Nature get the best of me, and as part of participation in the #TaketheLeap yoga challenge, this week, I decided to do the Warrior Series and take all 5 poses outdoors. I wanted to portray a sense of strength, invincibility, and beauty in these poses. Winter really saps strength and energy from a lot of us, and these poses help us to feel grounded to the earth and strong. The poses all have physical benefits for runners as well. Warrior 3 is the most challenging of the series, involving strength and balance.

With the snow and gray skies as my background, the bright colors I wear for my runs served as contrast. Have you ever seen a cardinal in the snow? The beautiful red colors stand out perfectly in contrast to the whitewash of winter. I really enjoyed this series, and I think doing them in the snow generated so much peace and pleasure for me. And as they say, be a warrior, not a worrier.

Warrior 1

Humble warrior

Warrior 2

Reverse Warrior

Warrior 3