In Portland, I have come to expect that summers do not officially begin until July 4th or thereafter. We might get some beautiful warm 80 degree days or weeks, but it’s best to not let expectations rise that summer is here until after June. Last year, the whole of Portland felt robbed like the grinch has switched seasons. Our summer never really warmed up to the temps of our 47 stately neighbors and it didn’t arrive until the end of July. This year May was beautiful, as has been a few days this June – but it hasn’t been without those dreary overcast downpour days that makes you want to crawl into a hole made of comforters.
This the point in the year when Portlanders start checking the weather forecast numerous times per day to see if perhaps, just maybe, the weather shows promise of warming up. We also religiously check cities we know of – NY, Vermont and Charleston SC in my case. Every rainy cloud in my forecast usually equals a bright happy sun face for them. Stupid sun face. If you have a Portland friend, you’ll notice on Facebook they’ll probably still be wearing jeans, fleeces and generally look a bit chilled. It’s okay – we’re more used to it than we’d like to be.
Yet as the nights get longer and the temperatures slowly creep into the 60’s on a regular basis (yes, that’s warm), I begin to feel remiss that I haven’t been exercising as much as I would have liked. The time for summer dresses, skirts, shorts, flip flops and tank tops is (fingers crossed) within a month. So, it’s time to get crack-alackin. Running is the best thing I can do to tone my legs, but for all those other miscellaneous body parts, I’ll be turning to three hopefuls: a cross fit class I bought for a month, BodyRockTV and yoga. If I make it passed 1 week, I’ll be proud. If I make it past a rainy day without bailing, I’m a superstar.
A state of yes 