IT'S SEPTEMBER 1: THE BLOG IS BACK!!!

Late summer changes in flowers. Taken by PKSenagore August 20, 2020.

SEPTEMBER 1 MARKS THE START OF METEOROLOGICAL FALL in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Wherever in the world you might live, it’s the beginning of a new season. 
 
For those interested in fitness, this day can be used to kick-off a new healthy living regimen, start training for a race or to take on a new physical challenge. Why wait for the first day of January, the middle winter month in the North, to get serious about exercising and diet? 
 
While weather conditions won’t remain relatively gentle much beyond October in many locations, these early days of autumn hold the promise of warmth during sunlit hours as dawn and dusk are still many hours apart. Natural outdoor settings display a range of color as trees and other elements of the landscape hold on to leaves and flowers that can be expected to brighten or deepen before finally falling.  
 
The doors, yards, stoops, and porches of homes and windows and storefronts of businesses may soon become displays for orange, amber, khaki, and aubergine-colored autumn décor. It can be a lovely time of year to be walking, running, and cycling within and around parks, neighborhoods, and town centers.
 
Charming picture-book autumn scenes may not greet everyone attempting to exercise outside, however. Protests and other demonstrations over the summer have raised consciousness that a sense of security and well-being is a luxury that many cannot hope to enjoy. Shortened post-summer days may introduce a threat to personal safety in high-risk neighborhoods. Seasonal weather patterns increase dangers of excess heat, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and derechos.  
 
Might a resolve to do better, when it comes to individual fitness, provide the boost some of us need and are fortunately able to act on, to make it past the disappointments of Summer 2020?
 
It’s worth a try.
 
Although September 1st is not officially the start of the New Year 2021, consider using it as if it were the end of the 8 calendar months of 2020 that forced fear and inactivity on most of the world’s populations. Let’s begin 2020.67 knowing that human ingenuity and technology might help us circumvent discouragements brought on by widespread cancellations, closures, quarantines, and weather dangers.  
 
We now have a somewhat bigger picture of what must be endured because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps we can begin planning, with care and hope, to reconfigure daily routines into those which allow moments of joy and normalcy. The first step, in the area of exercise and fitness is to decide that, with dedicated effort, it is possible to make a new start toward improving our bodies’ physical functioning this month whether it involve recovery, rehabilitation, strengthening, mobility, or aerobic capacity.
 
RUN AND MOVE HAPPY!
PS: What did you do on your summer vacation? Earned Runs will report on an upcoming post.