Here we go...

It is officially cold season in Colorado. Not cold season as in "I hab a cold, but I'mb find," but rather the "Where did all my sweaters go? I need at least 7 to 10 sweaters on my body right now, wait no, nevermind, I'm feverishly hot, someone turn on the air please," cold season. The time in which the three seasons meld into one conglomerate season with multiple personalities. This is the time between October and May when any forecast could say it will be 70 degrees and sunny, or -2 degrees and snowy, and no one would be very surprised at either. This is when even young twenty somethings repeat senior citizen adages such as "If you don't like the weather in Colorado, wait five minutes," or "You need to learn how to layer if you're gonna make it in Colorado."  Yes, we get it, and yes, it's hilarious. I'm just laughing on the inside.

Actually, cold season is fun here because in the grand scheme of things, we have a very livable winter. The drawbacks of snowy and icy roads are often quickly dealt with by mass quantities of sunshine. The hills look like someone took a flour sifter to them, and the air is crisp and refreshing with not even a hint of muggy nastiness.

However, this season really cramps my style when it comes to working out outside. I have had far to many morning runs ("far too many" reads as "a total of maybe two") cut short because my fingers have frozen solid and the wind has sand blasted my legs with tiny frozen pieces of dirt through my cotton sweats. Don't get me started on the fact that my toes were numb before I even put my shoes on.

This winter I'm determined to find an exercise plan that will be sustainable through the cold days. My goals are as follows:

• Try out at least three new types of exercise for at least one to two weeks.
• Dedicate at least 30 days to indoor exercise that does not have the words "machine" or "cardio theater" anywhere in the names
• Dedicate at least 30 days to some form, or a few forms, of outdoor (I feel my nose hair freezing already) exercise.

I am notoriously cynical by nature (or nurture, discuss amongst yourselves), and certainly my woes will likely find their way onto this blog.  However, I am most interested in finding things that work, that I enjoy, that are delightfully good and share my experience of them here.  I think it's going to be a long winter, and so this is my project to distract me from the gray days and the Chinook madness.

Your thoughts?