A journey of 1609.344 kilometres begins with a single step

So I’m running into a problem with my goal of running 1609.344 kilometers and that problem is the winter that’s settled on the fair city of Edmonton.

First, I need to say that I absolutely love winter. The below 0 temperatures, the gigantic mounds of snow (on a slight tangent, I drove by the field that all of the cities snow gets dumped after being cleared off of the roads, and it is a small mountain that I could easily enjoy an afternoon of tobogganing on) and all of the activities that go along with it. But, despite my love of it, I just can’t keep the km count up in this season, what with the hazardous ice patches and burning throat from the -20 air I’m forcing into my lungs.

Also, I know that I could go to the gym, but the excuse that I have there is that I don’t have the time to go all the way to the university gym (where I have a membership included with tuition) just to run and then come all the way back. The semester is busy and just getting busier, and money for nearby gyms is scarce.

I also thought of buying or stealing a treadmill but, alas, the money issue surfaced again. As for theft, that’s illegal and would be frowned upon if my resume applying for teaching positions showed my temporary career as a sporting goods cat-burglar. Also, treadmills are really really loud, and my neighbors in my apartment would definitely be knocking on my door as I stomp around on this thing early in the morning and late at night (just to be stubborn, I absolutely refuse to run at a reasonable time of day).

Don’t worry though, I’m not just complaining without a viable solution. I found an exercise bike. Probably. I just need to pick it up, for free (fingers crossed) from Craig(also in the UBBT)’s girlfriend’s mom’s place where it is being used to hang laundry, and I’ll be able to rack up the clicks conveniently, frugally, silently and all of this while reading a book or doing homework since I plan on attaching a little reading stand to the thing.

Jonathan Robinson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com