Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

One of the biggest attractions for our move (and subsequent upending of our lives) was this trail map of Daybreak. We moved to this community so that we could live right next to a huge number of trails that go around lakes and through green areas.

Our last home was located near downtown Salt Lake City. There were lots of parks to enjoy. In fact, you can see the videos of all three of them here:

• Starling Fitness DVDS » Liberty Park
• Starling Fitness DVDS » Fairmont Park
• Starling Fitness DVDS » Sugarhouse Park

When we first moved downtown, I was so happy that I lived within walking distance of three parks. After six years of taking walks to them, I can still honestly say that they are just as wonderful now as they were when I first moved there. If Daybreak hadn’t had such accommodating trails all so close to my home (including a lake), I may have never been tempted away from the Sugarhouse area.

The truth of the matter is, no matter where you live, there is SOMETHING interesting to walk past. If you live in the heart of a big city, there are interesting restaurants, galleries and shops to peruse. If you live in the boondocks, there is wildlife, tall grasses and open skies to keep you company. The suburbs have parks and plenty of homes to walk past and compare with your own.

Stop reading my blog RIGHT NOW and go online to Google Maps to see what is near your home. Look for parks, shops, trails and back roads.

• Google Maps

Wherever you live, there is something interesting to walk and run past, I guarantee it. Explore your neighborhood right now because for all you know, your life may be packed up in boxes and you’ll be sleeping halfway across town within a month.

Mike and I are in the process of moving. Our entire life is packed up in cardboard boxes. Even my beloved computer has been broken down to it’s component parts: keyboard, mouse and monitor are all packed neatly into labeled boxes.

The bad part of this is that I’m barely able to work. I am tapping this entry out on my iPhone using an app I downloaded on a lark over a year ago. Even worse, I can’t send out any journal or DVD orders. If you want to buy anything, be forewarned that it will take an extra week to show up at your door.

The good part of all of this is that my real life is providing me with more than enough exercise. My muscles are stinging with the work of the last few days and there are many more to come. I’m ashamed at the pain I’m feeling in my legs and arms. Just when I think I’m a tough and strong bird, I find that my quads aren’t up for the challenge. I guess I need to increase my weight training when all of this is over.

My posting maybe sporatic over the next few weeks, but don’t be worried. I haven’t fallen off the wagon. I just don’t know where I packed it.

My friend, Jere, had a strange incident the other day. It was wonderful reading it:

• Blind Prophecy » Hey, good looking!

You know how sometimes you’re walking down the street casually glancing in the windows of the various shops on a sunny day.

And then you pass a shop where you see a cute guy inside the store, so you slow your pace just a bit.

And in the space of time it takes to walk one more step, you think, “He’s cute…

“But he’s probably in a relationship or out of my league…

Read the rest here: Blind Prophecy » Hey, good looking!

I don’t want to ruin the end of the story, because it’s a great one. I want to be that kind of person, too, Jere!

In Utah, the home builders periodically have The Parade of Homes, where they showcase their building skills. It allows normal people like me to tour huge mansions.

Most of the time, I don’t care at all for the homes. They are so large that I can’t even imagine keeping them clean, much less living in them. This year, however, I did fall in love with one aspect of one of the homes: The Canterbury Gym.

The house was on Canterbury Lane and their personal exercise room was gorgeous. On the wall was the following quote:

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

There were treadmills and elliptical trainers, but the most interesting feature of the gym were the light fixtures. They were a combination of light and rotating fans. Here is a little video of what they looked like.

Do you need a home gym like that to keep fit? No. All you need is enough room to move around or maybe a corner of a room for a treadmill. The fanciest home gym on the planet isn’t enough to get you fit if you don’t USE it. Those rotating fans were sure nice, though. What they provide more than a normal ceiling fan or even just a cheap fan clipped to your treadmill, I don’t know, but they looked pretty.