My Life Outdoors

Yesterday I won a contest I entered on Running Buddies. I had heard about the contest through Just Northwest. The idea of the contest was for everyone to submit their best excuse for why they never get out to exercise. My excuse was that I never see anyone smiling while exercising. I said “the first time I see a jogger smiling I’ll try it.” Of course this is just an excuse. If you think about it…it would be weird to see people jogging with big smiles on their faces.

My real excuse for not exercising is that I don’t have an enjoyable environment to do it in. If I had mountains, or rivers, even lakes, or hills within 30 min of where I live…I would enjoy exercising more often. As it is…I ride my bike to work when I can…but the flatness and ugliness of Midland-Odessa Texas really starts to be mundane. We don’t even have great parks. When we used to live in Arlington, TX…the city had created many “linear” parks. These where parks that stretched many miles through town and wooded areas giving cyclist a place to ride with changing scenery. All the parks in Midland are just circles around a play ground and a few trees. They aren’t worth much in my opinion. 

Some people ride hwy 191 between Midland and Odessa…but this is just more flat and ugly…no changing scenery. Sigh…I guess that’s why I drive hundreds of miles to Davis, Guadalupe, and Chisos Mountain ranges. Sometimes you just need some beautiful outdoors.

By the way I won a $20 gift card to Foot Locker. Thank you Kristin and Running Buddies