April 7, 2009
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April 7, 2009
Olivia Rossi, RN, MSN, ACSM
Your Personal Trainer:
As the plane banked over the Columbia River on Saturday morning and rose through the lacy layer of fog, sunlight skimmed the river and its banks. In the space between the ground and where I sat suspended in air, I saw the trees of early spring dotting hints of pink amid Oregon’s greenery. I thought of the Mighty Columbia’s neighbor, the Willamette River, winding its way through my own neighborhood in Lake Oswego where only a day earlier I had run its parallel path, Old River Road, marveling at the beauty of its own spring blossoms. Tomorrow I will be among the blossoms along the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. and will have the chance to experience, coast to coast, the corridors of spring’s welcome arrival.
The only thing I will need is a pair of shoes, a pair of shoes and my love of fitness. I packed them both. For me, fitness is a means to freedom, freedom to do what I like. Today it meant freedom for this almost sixty-year old mom to walk a brisk five miles with my almost thirty-year old son with a smile on my face and a song in my heart at the joy of it all. Blossoms and trees and people surrounded us as we walked, awestruck at the beauty and fullness of nature. Through the branches laden with blossoms we glimpsed the grandeur of the Jefferson Memorial across the tidal basin. People all around were looking up, smiling at the density of pinkness all around.
There is joy in experiencing the beauty of the world no matter where we are. From the Willamette to the Potomac, wherever you go…there you are! Tomorrow, April 8, is National Start! Walking Day. Take your sneakers to work. Go for a walk. Get moving. Start a movement. Take a hike! Keep moving. Walk among the blossoms. Tiptoe through the tulips. Take a walk on the wild side. Walk and talk with your daughter.
Spend a day with your son.
Yours in fitness,
Olivia C. Rossi, RN, MSN
Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist, ACSM
Certified Personal Trainer, ACSM
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You may not have realized it, but your article also hit on Arbor Week, the first full week in April that we Oregonians set aside to honor the important roles trees play in our lives. You article has truly honored them by inspiring us to simply enjoy their sheer beauty.
Lee, thank you so much for letting me know that. I had no idea! Perhaps you can tell I was full of awe, not only at the beauty of the blossoms and the excitement I always experience surrounded by our nation’s history but I was with my son. We later ate outside near Union Station. This morning I got up and looked out the window at the woods bordering his back yard and a deer was resting. I know she was enjoying the trees, too, even though these are still bare.
It’s been 70 degrees here in Oregon, between that and your article…I’m heading out the door to enjoy it all!
What a great way to look at fitness and your surroundings. Puts it in a different perspective, enjoying nature while getting fit. I’m going to pass this article on to my folks. Hopefully it will encourage them to get out more.
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What a beautiful way to inspire us to walk or run. Thanks Olivia.