For the past four years or so, I’ve done very little working out outdoors in the winter. Thanks to a love of studio classes and more so, CrossFit, I was getting in plenty of workouts indoors. The cold temps were a turn off and I almost never ventured into them to run.

It’s amazing what a little adaptation will do for ya. Since moving to Indiana, I’ve obviously had to take a step back from everything.

When I first arrived, I still had a membership to LA Fitness nationwide so I went to workout there a few times while pregnant (which was fun, got a look of interesting looks when I was jogging on the treadmill!) — but I also wanted to know the neighborhood so I took some long walks.

After over a month off from working out after baby, I cancelled my LA Fitness membership because I knew it would be hard to get there. I needed working out to be as quick and easy as possible. Of course I can’t run when I’m home with Jacob by myself but when Rick is home, the easiest thing for me to do is head out the door with my music and Mizunos.

It’s been COLD but I forgot how refreshing cold weather running is. You don’t usually have to worry about bringing water (at least for 6 miles or under), and it feels amazing to breathe in the cold air. It’s invigorating and truly clears my head.

I’ve become a master of the perfect layering and enjoy wearing my cute winter workout clothes (which in the past got very little use!)

I’ve even found that when I go out for shorter runs, I want to keep going because I’m feeling so good. Summer running is much harder because it’s easier to get fatigued and you have to pack water for sure.

So, currently, I have no gym membership and am not paying for any fitness classes. Being forced to change my routine brought me back to a former love — and after almost a year of very little running — I couldn’t be happier to be racking up the miles again.

I did 6 miles on Saturday and 3.5 miles on Sunday this weekend. So far, getting back to running has been awesome — and I’ve had very few problems. I’m sure I’m far slower than I used to be but I’ve never been obsessed with speed anyway. I’m really excited to start training for a spring half-marathon.

I’m thinking doing a full marathon this year may not be in the cards. I know I could pull it off with training but I also know that with Jacob, I’m not going to want to have those long runs hanging over my head every weekend or be stressing about getting in my miles for the week. Things could change but for now, I think half-marathons may be the longest distance in the near future.

Do you enjoy running outside in the winter? How do you like to stay in shape when it’s snowing (blizzarding for some!)?