Monday, May 23, 2011

Arctic Fox On the Run

Hello hello hello!  So, it has been a little while since I last posted something and this is largely due to the fact that I have been busy busy busy!  The good kind of busy though, not the school or work kind (although I do spend 9 hours a day at work), but instead the kind where you just can't seem to find enough hours in a day to do everything you love doing!  For instance, I have been playing loads and loads of basketball!!  I used to play basketball pretty much every day when I was younger all the way up to grade 8 and then when I went to high school, my school didn't have a basketball team and I kind of moved on to other things... But now that I am playing again, it feels soooooo good!!!  Although it is somewhat painful realizing how rusty I got (I mean, 9 years is a pretty long time).  But anyhow, I am loooooving the fact that I get to play again and best of all I am meeting some incredible people along the way.  I've also been giving boxing classes on a regular basis (nearly five times a week!).  This is also great because I am essentially teaching people what I know in order to have them become good/comfortable enough in the sport to spar with me.  On that note, I went out for pizza with my friend Melissa recently and the bouncer basically knew I did boxing because of the shape my body is in and we made plans to start sparring after I bring back some headgear from Ottawa in June.  I love that I am slowly finding more and more people who are either interested in boxing or have boxed before (the latter is especially awesome because it's not so much teaching as just training together) and hopefully this can turn into a little Iqaluit-style Fight Club!  So yah, basketball, boxing and bootcamp!  Bootcamp is this free program given at the Old Res that is essentially an intense core/leg workout.  It is really awesome and the lady who runs it is great.  So yah, I guess much of my time is taken up by physical activity (whether it's jogging or walking to Old Res, giving boxing lessons, doing bootcamp or playing ball)...  And I like it that way!!  I am so happy to be moving around so much, it is becoming kind of an obsession.  A mighty healthy one at that.  I have also been jogging to Apex lately.  Apex is a little community just outside of Iqaluit, or as Wikipedia puts it: "Apex is a small community about 5km southeast from Iqaluit's centre and is known in Inuktitut as Niqaunngut.  It is located on a small peninsula separating Koojesse Inlet from Tarr Inlet.  Historically Apex was the place where most Inuit lived when Iqaluit was a military site, and as such it was off-limits to anyone working at the base."  I LOVE Apex!  My friends Melissa and Dan just moved there recently and it has given me the chance to go out there more often than I would otherwise (Apex is essentially really out of the way and when you call a cab you have to warn them if you're going to Apex).  The reason I am mentioning all this is because I have been having a blast jogging out there!  It is such a beautiful view going down into the valley where Apex is hidden.  I took pictures a few weeks ago, so here they are!




On the Road to Apex (that is the name of the road).. Fun going down, painful going up!



Skidoo designs on the hill on the way to Apex.



Apex!



More Apex!




I had never been a fan of "winter jogging" before but I really missed jogging and out here spring takes so long to arrive that I decided to bite the bullet.



Million-dollar view.  This was taken on my way back, since as you can see the sun is going down.  The temperature dropped significantly on my way back, making my leggings feel particularly thin and my thighs feel a slight burning from the cold, but I made it home just fine.