fitness · yoga

Why not make March the new January? Looking for March momentum

For me, January and February of this year have been busy and productive work and social months. I’ve hosted people at my house, gone out to social events, and done fun extra-curricular things at school with students. I’ve also written some conference abstracts, made progress on a newish research project and had meetings with my friend and research partner Norah.

But movement? Not so much. Yes, I’ve done a little walking, a little yoga, and went swimming with a friend and her toddler. But I haven’t established, much less adhered to, any sort of schedule or regular plan. And, I fell off the radar of my 226 in 2026 Facebook group.

Well, it’s March 1. What better time to start afresh with a plan for movement momentum?

And I have a plan. Well, rather my local yoga studio Artemis has a plan. It’s March momentum time!

What does this mean for them and me? Well, it’s simple: you just take classes, and with each class you take, you get an entry ticket into a raffle for yoga swag. Check it out below.

An announcement for Artemis Yoga's March Momentum 2026 program, detailing a 31-day yoga challenge with information on sign-up, tracking progress, and prizes.

Yes, I would love a new yoga mat or other prizes, but the main thing here is it’s getting my attention with a fun challenge to restart my yoga practice. And I’m starting TODAY with a sound journey yoga thing for members only. My goal is to do two classes a week for the month of March– one in person and one synchronous online.

Like any good challenge program, there are also extra little incentives. Some classes are designated bonus classes, for which you get TWO raffle entries. I’m going to try to do at least two of those this month.

The last time Artemis ran this challenge, Norah threw herself into it, and she ended up winning a sweatshirt. Imma see if I can score something for myself this time.

What I really want to score, though, is an easier yoga habit. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll report back in April.

Readers, are you feeling winter sluggishness or in a rut? Are you humming along with your activity schedule? How are your plans going? I’d love to hear from you.

fitness · top ten

Top Ten Blog Posts in February ❤️❤️❤️

US Men’s Hockey needs a(nother) remedial course on respect for their female colleagues (Catherine)

Turning 3D (Cate)

I Am NOT Sick … Except I Am (Mina)

Nordic Combined: Why Women are Excluded from This Winter Sport (Sam)

Nat remembers her gran (Nat)

I love coffee, I love tea; when it comes to dementia risk, they love me (Catherine)

lgbtq symbols on black surface
Photo by Katie Rainbow 🏳️‍🌈 on Pexels.com

Catherine hates before/after pictures (with one exception) (Catherine)

What more dangerous animal do you want to be? (Catherine)

Nat’s winter biking is not happening (Nat)

Fit is a Feminist bloggers: our favourite non-alcoholic drinks (Nat)

Sat with Nat · sleep

Nat’s desperately seeking slumber.

My beloved and I have both been struggling to get a minimum viable amount of sleep. Our brains betray us. Our backs hurt. Our dog Lucy is hyper vigilant and wants those 4 a.m. snow removal folks to know SHE SEES THEM.

We’ve limited caffeine to the morning. We are abstaining from alcohol. We stick to our wind down routine.

In bed, I pop my bite guard in my mouth and snap my CPAP on. Michel dons his eye mask with earbuds to listen to a bedtime meditation.

We have smart lights that go to warmer hues at night.

We have separate duvets, his is heavy and mine gossamer thin. I still sweat.

And our mattress needs replacing. She’s lumpy. Turns out foam mattresses don’t last longer than 5 years and she’s around 7?

So off we went shopping to find a queen size mattress. Our house is nearly 100 years old and the narrow staircase couldn’t accommodate our queen platform so we have a last minute rickety frame that came in a slim box.

We went in with a plan but somewhere along the line Michel started eyeing split king beds with mechanical frames.

I spoke in French to him cautioning that it would be easily triple the price of just getting a queen mattress.

We had done our research and knew we needed a hybrid mattress with coils and foam so that it would last.

We shared with the sales person that we had an older house.

He showed us some regular mattresses and I knew my budget was gone when we tried a half split king bed. It’s split at the top to allow each person to adjust the upper angle and the bottom moves as one.

I’m promised that the mattress is cooling. I forgot to mention the thrice nightly lather of sweat thanks to hot flashes.

The salesperson promised the mattress arrives in a box no bigger than a twin. The mechanical frame folds up, again into a twin sized package.

We switched to French for honest budget conversations then back to English with the salesperson.

I hope a non-lumpy, bigger bed with better temperature regulation will help me get more than my current average of 6 hours a night.

I go to bed between 9:30 and 10 pm. I get up between 6 and 7 am. I am awake several hours each night.

I will give it a month and let you know how the new bed works out!

A bed with lots of pillows promises a sweet, sweet night of sleep.
fitness

My Turn For Surgery

My surgery story is much shorter than Sam’s saga of two knee surgeries that were supposed to happen through the COVID years. In fact, not much more than a year after I was diagnosed with a heart murmur, I’m expecting heart valve replacement surgery March 13.

In the past few weeks I have had an angiogram and a CT scan. I have been working on my pre-hab, which mostly means making sure I can get up and down without using my hands. I can do chairs, stairs, and – on a good day – even get down and back up off the floor.

I’m not entirely certain what will happen next. Much will depend on the kind of surgery I get. From what I have read, I could be home in a day or two with a fairly easy recovery. Or I could be looking at 5 days in hospital with at least 4-6 weeks of doing nothing strenuous.

Either way, it’s pretty clear I won’t be lifeguarding again until I get retested and demonstrate I meet the physical requirements. Even though it means I’ll have to give up work for a while, I’m excited!

A happy red heart jumping for joy, from Freepik
fitness

DAREBEE’s Inclusive Girl Power Week: Fitness for All

Silhouette of a person practicing yoga on the beach at sunset, with a calm sea and cloudy sky in the background.
Laura on the beach

In March 2018 DAREBEE first launched Girl Power Week. This year I am privileged to be part of the team that is bringing this popular event back to DAREBEE, now with new and expanded content.

“What is Girl Power Week?” you may ask. “What is this ‘DAREBEE’ you write of, Laura?”

DAREBEE is a huge, independent, web-based fitness resource that is 100% ad-free, 100% free of product placement and other forms of corporate sponsorship, and 100% free to use. As of this writing, the DAREBEE resource includes 2670 stand-alone workouts, 92 programs (structured plans of daily workouts that typically run for 30 days each, with a few longer and shorter programs), and 177 challenges (short exercise “snacks” that follow a specific focus for, again, typically 30 days, although some of these are different lengths too). The resource also includes 154 short and easily-digestible written guides on a range of fitness-related topics, all backed up by the latest scientific research, and DAREBEE’s sister site: DAREBEETS, a rapidly-growing nutrition resource which currently features 360 plant-based recipes. All of this content is 100% crowd-funded through DAREBEE’s users. And yet none of it is behind a paywall. Everything is 100% free for anyone to access.

Also free is DAREBEE’s community forum, known as “The Hive”. The Hive is a truly amazing place I have been privileged to be a part of since May 2017.

When I first joined the DAREBEE Hive I was primarily involved in other fitness spaces. But the Hive quickly became my primary fitness community. When another online fitness community I had been actively involved in shut down (so that site’s owners could focus on a new initiative that was 100% behind a paywall), a second community I’d been active in and happy to support financially when it was run by a small, independent company that was responsive to its membership sold out to a large corporation (that immediately switched the site’s access model to a subscription service and then offered me a “lifetime discount” for said subscription if I signed up within 3 weeks and began paying a monthly fee to access content I had already paid for lifetime access to), and the expenses of commuting to participate in a sports league became too much for me to bear, the Hive remained: free, welcoming, and supportive.

During the long years when I lived in a small town (which was a very bad fit for me socio-politically) in which the only fitness-related activities for adults were either uninteresting to me or too expensive for me (or both), and revolved more around drinking beer (which I don’t do) than athleticism, the Hive was both a fitness and a community lifeline for me. The Hive is the reason I was able to remain physically active and fit during years when multiple forces in my life conspired to drive me away from fitness. I have forged real friendships there.

These days I am privileged to live, once again, in a physical community in which I am happy. I have face-to-face conversations almost daily with neighbours who don’t make me want to tear my hair out over how appalling I find their political views. I belong to a fitness club (Aikido) full of wonderful people who I genuinely enjoy being around and training with every week. And yet I am more active in DAREBEE and the Hive now than ever. Which brings us to Girl Power Week.

In addition to the regular workouts, programs, and challenges which one can choose to complete at any time, DAREBEE regularly runs special community events through the Hive in which participants come together to all take on the same challenge at the same time and cheer one another on in these efforts. During the years 2016-18, these events included eight special themed weeks, each of which included one specific workout each day for a week. Community members who completed all seven workouts were able to claim a special digital badge for their Hive profile page.

DAREBEE’s themed weeks were popular events which many DAREBEEs (myself included) loved. Alas, these challenges—along with their associated badges—were lost during a technologically necessary platform migration in 2022. Even so, many DAREBEEs still remember them fondly, and they continue to come up as topics of conversation within the Hive. When I saw one of my DAREBEE friends, Syrius, post recently that she wished the theme week challenges were still available as she would like to do them, I realized there was no reason why she couldn’t. The individual workouts involved in the challenges are still available in DAREBEE’s substantial database.

One of the great things about DAREBEE’s Hive community and the forum that supports it is that community events do not need to be run by the core team that maintains the DAREBEE resource. Any member of the community can organize a community event via the Hive forum. So I messaged Syrius to ask her if she would be interested in doing exactly that. I suggested we could re-run Girl Power Week, as the timing was right to organize our event for the week leading up to and including International Women’s Day on March 8. Syrius immediately jumped on board with the idea.

The impetus behind DAREBEE’s original Girl Power Week was to create a week-long challenge designed to “inspire women of all ages to take a ninja-like approach to fitness and rediscover the warrior within.” It included seven brand new, challenging workouts themed around brave and powerful women. Syrius and I wanted to bring back those original seven workouts but also expand the challenge to make it accessible to more people.

DAREBEE has always advocated for inclusivity within fitness spaces. Indeed, DAREBEE’s insistence on maintaining all aspects of the resource as freely accessible and free from commercial agendas is because DAREBEE believes fitness belongs to everyone, and everyone should have access to quality fitness resources, regardless of their financial means. DAREBEE is also a place where everyone belongs, regardless of their age, their size, their gender, or their current level of physical fitness and ability.

The original Girl Power Week workouts include challenging calisthenics activities such as single-leg squats, full push-ups, and jumping lunges, because DAREBEE knows these exercises are just as accessible to girls and women as to anyone else. Additionally, because DAREBEE workouts are designed for people at all different stages in their individual fitness journeys, it is perfectly acceptable for an individual exerciser to modify any exercises in a DAREBEE workout to make them accessible to their own current level of physical ability on any given day. (Indeed, I often did difficulty level 3 workouts—with modifications—with my octogenarian mother when I was serving as her personal trainer during pandemic lockdowns.) However, it’s not always obvious to a new exerciser how they can modify exercises not currently within their reach to make them accessible. Additionally, current physical ability is not the only constraint on would-be exercisers. With these thoughts in mind, we decided to expand Girl Power Week to include four different tracks:

  1. The original Girl Power Week workouts, suitable for anyone currently able to safely execute high-impact calisthenics exercises and/or folks who know how to modify these exercises to make them safely accessible.
  2. A low-impact, standing exercises only track, suitable for newer exercisers and anyone else not currently practising high impact exercises for any reason.
  3. A track featuring all workouts which can be completed in 10 minutes or less. Because sometimes the biggest constraint on one’s ability to complete a workout is finding the time to fit it into one’s busy day.
  4. A yoga-based track. Because sometimes the best way we can nurture our bodies is to slow down.

With these initial ideas in mind, Syrius and I shared our plan with the team who runs the DAREBEE resource, to ensure planning an event for the March 2-8 week would not conflict with any larger community events they had planned.

The response from the DAREBEE Team was both swift and wonderful: not only was there no conflict with what we wanted to do, but the team offered to help us with the project, including through creating original content, including a challenge badge and, potentially, new workouts!

Saying, “Yes, please!” to the profile badge was a no-brainer. DAREBEEs love our badges! But the offer to help with the creation of new workouts really set my head spinning. I am a long-time yoga practitioner and a certified instructor. The opportunity to create a series of yoga workouts for DAREBEE, all tied to our Girl Power Week theme, was a dream come true! I immediately set to work on the task. Meanwhile, Syrius got to work combing through DAREBEE’s extensive database of existing workouts to curate the perfect collections for our low-impact and 10-minutes-or-less tracks.

Syrius writes:

“Darebee was there when I was in college and struggled to go to the gym. Darebee was there when I was unemployed and looking for my first job, giving me a modicum of control over my life. Darebee was there for me through the pandemic, giving me an outlet for all my worry and stress. Through my ups and downs, the community has been amazingly supportive, and there is always an exercise to fit how I am feeling each day.

“When Laura approached me about Girl Power Week, I loved the idea from the start! Darebee has been such a big part of my life, and this felt like a great way to give back. Low-impact work is near and dear to me as it is sometimes all I can do, and I feel the pressure of time so keenly some days, so I was thrilled to be able to take the time and curate these collections that will fit the needs of all our participants.”

Now the work is complete, and Girl Power Week 2026 is ready to launch. In addition to the four workout tracks detailed above, our event will include one more special treat—which will be revealed on the final day of the event—created with the help of seven additional DAREBEEs and friends. All in all, Girl Power Week 2026 is a joint effort created by a team of 10+ people (the + equals members of the core DAREBEE Team who prefer to work behind the scenes) who currently reside in seven different countries. Fully half of us are immigrants to our current homes from someplace else. Given the state of the world we all live in these days, I think this is a wonderful testament to the power of cooperation and inclusivity!

Girl Power Week begins on March 2 and runs for seven consecutive days. The first day’s workouts will drop by 4:00 PM UTC on March 1. If you’d like to join us for this special event—we’d love to have you!—you can find all of the details on participating at http://darebee.com .

Important note: while this special themed week highlights the power of girls and women, as with all things on DAREBEE, people of all genders are most welcome to join us. Fitness is for everyone!

A dancer gracefully performs with colorful ribbons on a beach during sunset, with the ocean visible in the background.
Laura with rainbow ribbons

Laura Rainbow Dragon is the author of the “Get Fit for the Zombie Apocalypse” choose-your-own-workout stories as well as the novelettes “Chimera Junction” and “Anne & Mary on the Hyperspace Seas”. She lives joyfully in Wortley Village, London, Ontario with her canine master, Shelby, who takes her on hiking adventures every day to visit all of their neighbours who stock dog treats.

cycling · fitness · food · holiday fitness · holidays · vacation

Carnitas and Cobblestones on Ebikes in Mexico

FIFI readers may recall I’ve written before about ebike tourism – in PEI, Canada and in New Zealand. This time, I had a new ebike experience: my first ever ebike food tour.

My partner and I went during our recent holiday at my sister’s condo in Bucerias, where we also visited family who winter in nearby Puerto Vallarta. Our morning tour group of eleven buzzed slowly through town on pedal-assist bikes, stopping at locally owned spots for cafe de olla, birria, carnitas tacos, and crema dessert. Vegetarian accommodations were made for me without fuss. Our bilingual guide, Pepe, kept stories flowing, including tales of his own cycling tours throughout Mexico. When the annual chalk drawing festival took over the main strip, he adjusted our route without missing a beat.

We wait patiently behind our 11 bikes for enough seats to open up at this local taco cafe.
We wait patiently behind our 11 bikes for enough seats to open up at this local taco cafe.

Bici Bucerias is owned by Canadian expats rather than Mexican nationals. At the same time, tours like the one we took still funnel money and visibility toward the Mexican‑owned cafés, taco stands, and dessert places that make the experience worthwhile. Some of the places we visited were quite small, or out of walking distance from where tourists stay, which meant we likely would never have chosen them otherwise.

One of my delicious meals: soup, tortilla, cheese, beans​, and bread.
One of my delicious meals: soup, tortilla, cheese, beans, and bread.

It was also my first time on a bike on cobblestone, and slow-rolling over the uneven ground with pedal assist felt surprisingly unsettling. I ended up turning off the assist on those stretches, feeling I had more control that way. I also spotted a few road cyclists out along the busy highway and marvelled at their nerve. It’s a good reminder of how much I take for granted the space and infrastructure that cyclists get in many parts of Canada.

Pepe, our guide, reviews ebike technology and safety before the ride.​
Pepe reviews ebike technology and safety before the ride.

This week, I’m thinking about those who ride and own businesses that are shut down due to shelter-in-place ordinances following cartel-related property damage throughout Jalisco, Mexico. I hope Bici Bucieras can resume their tours soon to continue supporting authentic food culture and locally owned businesses in the area. As my sister who lived full time in Puerto Vallarta for 10 years says, Mexicans are resilient and good at recovering from challenges.

fitness · Olympics · sexism

Alternative party ideas for the US women’s Olympic hockey team (since they’re not going to the White House)

Even if you didn’t read my blog post yesterday about the disrespect of the 7-time medal-winning (since 2000) US women’s Olympic hockey team, you no doubt heard about it somewhere on the internet. To recap:

  • After the US men’s Olympic hockey team won gold, US president T***p spoke to them on the phone, inviting them to the White House, adding he thought he would also have to invite the women, lest he be impeached (for a third time).
  • The hockey players laughed along with T***p, joining in the mocking of their Olympic hockey teammates.
  • The US women’s hockey team politely declined an invitation to the White House, issued after the invitation to the men’s team.
  • Flavor Flav— who, among other things, is the “dedicated hype man” for US Women’s Water Polo, and now apparently, US Women’s Hockey– invited the women’s team to come to Las Vegas for a big party. He has since expanded the invitation to include all female Olympic and Paralympic medalists. You can see for yourself below:

Mr. Flav hasn’t filled out the details of the upcoming festivities, but I can imagine it will be quite the party.

However, I can’t help but think that it would be nice to come up with other ways to express our appreciation for them (and their friends and fellow athletes who also haven’t been sufficiently noticed and feted). Herewith, a few party ideas:

  1. Special axe-throwing events for them to attend, either in person or via Zoom, where the bullseyes have been replaced by, say, images of the faces of politicians who need to learn lessons of respect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavor_Flav
Whose face would look perfect in the middle there? You be the judge.

2. A complimentary tour of the Hoover Dam, since they’re going to be in Las Vegas already and it’s really close. Also, my sister, niece, nephews and I really enjoyed it when we went.

The Hoover Dam is very grand and also an educational experience.
The Hoover Dam is very grand and also a cool educational experience.

3. My friend James, who lives in Las Vegas and knows the local music scene very well, could show them his favorite bars and hot spots. He also has a nice dog named Baxter and I bet he would let them pet him.

This is Baxter, who is an oldie and a goodie.
This is Baxter, who is an oldie and a goodie.

4. There could be a virtual book swap where we Zoom in to present five of our favorite books from the past year for the women’s hockey team members to choose from, then mail the books to them. No doubt these players have all been busy training and haven’t had much time to catch up on their reading. Doesn’t that sound like fun? I think so.

Olde books, newe books-- all books are good books...
Olde books, newe books– all books are good books…

5. Maybe we can ask those nice guys from Heated Rivalry to come to a special dinner just for them– oh, wait a minute– that one is just for me. Never mind…

Dearest readers, feel free to share your party ideas in the comments below.

fitness · Olympics

A Salute to Older Olympic Athletes

Now that the Olympics have ended, I’m looking back and reflecting on the women in their 40s and 50s who competed. There may be more. Every one of them did amazing things over their careers, not just at the Olympics.

Clockwise from top left: Claudia Pechstein (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) Deanna Stelatto-Dudek (Skate Canada); Lindsey Vonn (Getty Images); Elana Meyers Taylor (Aijaz Rahi – AP); Kailee Humphries (https://www.self.com/story/kaillie-humphries); Sarah Schleper (The Aspen Times)

Claudia Pechstein 53, German speed skater in her 8th Olympics. She has previously won nine Olympic medals, the first in 1994. Her first medals are older than many of the athletes at this games.

Deanna Stellato-Dudek 42, Canadian pairs figure skater in her 1st Olympics. She originally competed as an individual skater but retired in 2001. She returned to competition in 2016 as a pairs skater for the USA. In 2019, she began skating with her Canadian partner and began the process of seeking Canadian citizenship so that she could compete at Milano-Cortina. Just days before the Olympics began, she was injured in training and was only cleared to compete a few days before their event. Despite that, the pair placed 11th overall.

Lindsey Vonn, 41, American alpine skier in her 5th Olympics. The three-time Olympic medalist crashed and broke her leg in Milano-Cortina.

Elana Meyers Taylor 41, American bobsledder in her 5th Olympics. She has previously won 5 Olympic medals and just won her first gold. She has now taken over the title as the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympic history. She also extended her streak as the most-decorated Black athlete in the winter games.

Kaillie Humphries 40, Canadian-American bobsledder in her 6th Olympics. Humphries competed for Canada 2010-2014 before switching to the US team. She has won 6 Olympic medals, including two Bronze in Milano-Cortina.

Sarah Schleper 46, Mexican-American alpine skier in her 7th Olympics and part of the first mother-son Olympic duo with her 18 year old son. Schleper competed for the USA team 1998-2010, and for Mexico since 2018.

Just for fun, I’m adding Midori Ito, 56, Japanese singles figure skater. Ito won silver at the 1992 Olympics, landing the first triple Axel in competition, and was the first woman to land seven triples (at the Calgary Olympics in 1988). Although her Wikipedia page says she retired in 1992, she is still skating and won at the Master’s Elite level in 2024 – and clearly is still enjoying herself.

fitness · functional fitness · nature · winter

Christine does NOT recommend the snow shoveling workout.

Sooooo, we’ve been having a bit of snow here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Well, I can’t speak for the whole province, just for the Easterly island bit where I live but there is A LOT of here.

a photo of the railing from my front steps peeking out of deep snow.
This was the view from my front steps near the end of the storm that plagued us from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday evening. Image description: a nighttime photo of the rails of my front step with snow drifted so high that it covers most of the uprights. there is a piece of a tree sticking sideways of the the snowbank at the based of the steps and in the background the handle of my snow scoop is sticking out of the snow lump that hides my husband’s car. Even more snow, my snow covered truck, and my snowy street can be seen a bit further out.

According to official measurements at St. John’s International Airport, 166.1cm of snow has fallen since February 1, 2026 but different areas in the metro region have probably had more.

Over the course of the month I have had to incorporate snow shoveling into my workout routine pretty regularly – turns out that an hour of snow shoveling is the equivalent of 8kms in my 2026 walking challenge!

Then, last week, things went up a notch when the snowbanks on the side of my driveway got so high that I could no longer shovel snow up there.

NOTE: We only have one ‘side’ of our driveway because our driveway and our neighbour-on-the-left’s driveway is connected and I’m not going to just start dumping snow on their part of our joint driveway.

Then, on the weekend, the day after my husband left on a trip to visit his brother, we had a storm that lasted from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night and dropped a ridiculous amount of snow on us – over 60 cms.

Here’s what my driveway looked like (from my upstairs window) when the storm stopped:

a photo of a snowy driveway taken from above
This was a scary sight on Sunday night. Image description: a top-down photo of my driveway taken from my bedroom window. You can see that in our half of the driveway there are two vehicles. One is mostly covered with a lot of snow on it, next to it and between it and the road. The other is completely covered and the space next to the car and the snowbank is filled almost to the level of the car’s roof. The photo was taken at night and, in the light from the streetlight, you can see all the snow in the middle of my cul-de-sac and in other people’s driveways.

Normally, I am ok with shoveling and I sometimes even like it.

However, I do not enjoy shoveling when there is nowhere to put the snow.

I really tried to throw some up on the bank but half of it would tumble down.

I threw some of it closer to the house.

And I used my scoop to add to the pile of snow in the middle of my cul-de-sac.

After he finished his own driveway, a neighbour used his snowblower to clear along one side of my truck and to clear some of my neighbour-on-the-left’s driveway.

It took over three hours, even with my oldest son’s help (and my neighbour’s help), and every part of it was an exercise in frustration.

There was no satisfying rhythm of shoveling.

There was no sense of accomplishment – I mean, we obviously accomplished something…

A photo of two vehicles in a snowy driveway, one partially excavated and one cleared.
This is my driveway cleared enough for me to get out. You can see that a lot more work is needed though. Image description: a top down view of two vehicles in a driveway. One is cleared off and the other is mostly snow covered. There is a narrow path on the bottom right that goes between the snowbank and the car and there is a shovel and a snow scoop visible in the narrow path. The street beyond is snow covered and there are high snowbanks everywhere including a mound of snow in the middle of the cul-de-sac.

But it wasn’t possible to clear a wide path to the house (see the lower part of the photo, it’s like a roofless tunnel) and, in fact, the path has packed snow at the bottom from us walking on it while trying to shovel so it feels even more annoying.

It wasn’t possible to completely clear or widen the end of the driveway and it is really challenging to back my truck in.

But, clearing all that snow has been a good workout – if you define good as ‘Uses muscles I wasn’t even aware of and leaves me really, really, really tired’ but I do NOT recommend it.

In fact, if you can get away with just doing fun stuff in the snow (skiing, snowshoeing, building forts), I think that would be the best workout plan.

The cursing while you try to shovel snow higher than your head routine is like something an evil fitness influencer would devise to sell to unsuspecting followers.

The only difference between this workout and the one an evil influencer would be trying to sell me on is the fact that I didn’t have to dress up or smile while doing it.

a selfie of me looking grumpy out in the snow
This morning, I went to my Mom’s place (see below) to dig a path to the street for her. Another day, another annoying workout. Image description: a selfie of me in a beige sweater and green toque and glasses, looking disgruntled. In the background there’s a mountain of snow that plows dumped on Mom’s lawn -it’s almost as high as the streetlights.
a photo of a bungalow with a lot of snow in front of it
There was so much snow at Mom’s that it was hard to see her house. Image description: a photo of my Mom’s house taken from across the street. She lives in a blue bungalow and there is a huge mountain of snow on her lawn (put there by a plow) that is higher than her roof. And on the other side you can only see the tops of her windows and door and the peak of her porch roof.
fitness · Olympics · sexism

US Men’s Hockey needs a(nother) remedial course on respect for their female colleagues

This year at the Milan Olympics, the US women’s and US men’s teams both won gold medals against Canada. Yes, the men’s result was controversial, but I’m not here to talk about that. Although feel free to advocate for your team in the comments.

In this post, I come to bury the 2026 US Olympic men’s hockey team, not to praise them. Well, bury them via outing them for misogynist yucking it up with the US misogynist-in-chief, Donald Trump, who called them to:

  • congratulate them on their victory;
  • discuss travel arrangements, supposedly courtesy of the American military;
  • dangle the prospect of White house swag for them;
  • mock the US Olympic women’s hockey team, which also won their gold medal match against Canada (uncontroversially), prompting what sounded like near-universal approving laughter from the players.

Here’s what CNN reported about the locker room phone call:

[After inviting the men’s team to the White House for Tuesday night] Trump added: “I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team — you do know that.” If they weren’t invited, the president said, “I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?”

Members of the team laughed.

Uh, hold on a minute here.

Nadine from Unsplash wants us to just stop now, for a minute. Let's do that. image of a woman's hand indicating stop.
Nadine from Unsplash wants us to just stop now, for a minute. Let’s do that.

For the record, the US Women’s Olympic hockey teams have the following medal count since 2000:

  • 2026 Milano-Cortina: Gold Medal (def. Canada 2-1, OT)
  • 2022 Beijing: Silver Medal (lost to Canada 3-2)
  • 2018 Pyeongchang: Gold Medal (def. Canada 3-2, SO)
  • 2014 Sochi: Silver Medal (lost to Canada 3-2, OT)
  • 2010 Vancouver: Silver Medal (lost to Canada 2-0)
  • 2006 Torino: Bronze Medal (def. Finland 4-0)
  • 2002 Salt Lake City: Silver Medal (lost to Canada 3-2)

That’s a total of 7 medals: 2 gold, 4 silver, one bronze since 2000 for the US women’s teams.

What about the US Men’s Olympic hockey teams? Here is their post-2000 medal count:

  • 2026 (Milan-Cortina): Gold (6-0-0).
  • 2010 (Vancouver): Silver (5-1-0)
  • 2002 (Salt Lake City) Silver Medal

Adding it up, the men’s teams have won a total of 3 medals: one gold, two silver since 2000.

The 7-medals-vs-3-medals fact is one reason among many for the US men’s hockey team, instead of laughing along with and joining in on the sexist bashing of their fellow athletes, should instead:

This bears repeating.

  • Sit down and shut up.
  • Listen for a change.
  • Then do the right thing.

Words to live by for all of us. But especially for these US male hockey players right now.

Hope you enjoyed the first half of the 2026 Olympic Games. The 2026 Paralympic Winter Games run March 6–15. I’m looking forward to them.