Pacific Northwest peeps look here!

outersoul

Living in the PNW we face unique challenges such as weather! Weather affects our moods and the ability to exercise outdoors.
So I was thinking we should all post here for motivation. So post up and add each other!

MzBug

I grew up in the Seattle area, I still have the webbing between the toes! :laugh: I remember using stuff with gortex when I was involved with sports and we had to be outside. I am sure they have come up with something better in the last 25 years! I now live in the mid atlantic region that can be pretty dreary during the winter. I have been taking a Vit D and B complex and they have helped the winter blahs a bunch. I miss being able to go up in the Cascades and play in the snow in the winter and hike in the summer.

tdonlin

Hi all, just wanted to check in and introduce myself. I'm Tim and live in Spanaway near Tacoma. I'm a lurker on this site and haven't figured out the friend thing yet. After the Seahawks loss today I did go to the gym and got in some good card playing racquetball.

outersoul

Welcome everybody! I was bummed about the Hawks losing but oh well. As for the goretex, Under Armour is awesome for keeping dry and warm when playing sports!

MzBug

Welcome everybody! I was bummed about the Hawks losing but oh well. As for the goretex, Under Armour is awesome for keeping dry and warm when playing sports!

Like I said, it was 25 years ago! lol

outersoul

They didn't have Under Armour when I played sports either. Lol.

portlandsundevil

I just moved back to Portland after living in Phoenix for 9 years. I've been here for about 6 months now and I'm already tired of the rain. This weekend has been brutal! But all the pluses outweight the minuses...I love my city. Just can't wait for summer

leanmass24

I am a PNW'er at heart... I love it up there... I got stationed up there and stuck around a few years after I got out, loved every minute of it. When the circumstances are right I am gonna move back.. Yeah it rains
Alot, but it rains 100 times harder down here and almost as much. I consider what y'all have, mist, not rain... At least most of it. And besides that the summers are awesome you couldn't ask for better weather.

portlandsundevil

That's true, summers ARE awesome. Total motivation to get hot, too Can't wait to be sunbathing on the boat!

outersoul

Speaking of the rain, we have flooding rivers here.

halobender

Portland has indeed been rather rainy this weekend. Thankfully Leanmass has it right regarding the rain here; it's much lighter by comparison to other areas of the country. It CAN rain retardedly hard here. It's just that it rains for nine months of the year. It's pretty much always really windy, too, as we're right off the gorge.

That's what sucks. Riding your bicycle when it's about 35 degrees outside, raining even lightly and the wind is just cutting through you ... that's awful.

I don't let that keep me from getting out to walk, but I have been missing out on cycling since about mid-November. A couple nice days have popped up where I was able to get out, and a couple days I've done it by necessity, but mostly I've been walking to get my exercise.

When the temperature is regularly in the 50s and not raining so hard, I'll start the cycling again

katyncal

Im in Longiew WA, 40 mins North of Portland and about 2 hrs s of seattle, Hopeing to either move to Vancouver WA in a few months or back up North to the Federal way area. Either way The NW kicks *kitten*!

JDizzIe

Hello! I'm from the Beaverton area here in Oregon... It's definitely been challenging to try to get the motivation to start jogging outside again with this weather!!! After the freezing cold left, it's just been rain rain rain rain rain oh and rain!! It has been a wet year because even the summer was pretty rainy (summer was here for like 2 weeks it seemed)... but I guess that's why I have a gym membership!!! Just with all this gloomy weather has gotten me in a gloomy mood, that and the job market for new nurses sucks so that doesn't help either!! All this rain has been wanting me to move to a more summery area, but I'm afraid I'd miss all the green that is Oregon and the PNW!

numberscolors

Hey everybody! I'm up here in Olympia, WA. I've been loving the heavy rain the last couple nights. It's peaceful to listen to. I guess I've always been sort of an "indoor kid," so the weather isn't too much of an issue. I take a couple of Zumba classes at the community center and do work out videos at home, and that seems to work well for my purposes!

The darkness definitely depresses me, though. And the seasonal depression knda f*cks with my motivation a little bit...

jannknee

Yay! More PNWers! I live in Longview, WA and I can definitely say I hate winters here. Except when it snows, it's just rain, rain, and more rain. I have issues with the seasonal depression too and so I put full-spectrum light bulbs in the bathroom. I'm hoping it'll trick my brain a little into thinking it's sunlight while I do my hair and make-up, lol. They say those are supposed to help, but we'll see!

My motivation was definitely down the toilet and then I talked to my brother (who does P90X) and thought it was just about time to DO IT. I'm not brave enough for the P90X so I just started the P90. Yesterday was day one! I work 12 hour graveyards so I'll have to get up a little earlier to exercise. It'll take away from sleep, but I figure it'll give me more energy and I'll feel better about myself.

I love the calorie tracker so much! I can't say enough how awesome it is because I'm someone who just can't seem to plan meals right or know how much I eat in a day. This helps me think about my choices and because I have to be accountable in public I take more responsibility.

Well, hoping to meet more people on here and just motivate each other while we get where we want to be!

ih8marshmellows

Yay! northwest people are my favorite! I'm from portland, but I live in Arizona now, I miss the northwest so much!

Laceylala

Hey Everyone...I live down in Eugene! It rains here as much as in Portland though the thick grey skies don't suck me up as bad as they did when I lived in PDX in my early 20's! I was born in Klamath Falls, grew up in Medford and have lived here for almost 6 years. Its taken me about 4 years to really begin to like Eugene. A happy medium between the fam in Medford and friends in PDX.

I too get hit with the whole seasonal depression thing..in fact i think I had some of that going on this weekend so I got my butt up and went to the gym Saturday. It helped.


Ironically winter and spring, the rainy nasty cold months is when I like to be in the gym more than summer and early fall. Once the weather starts to get remotely nice I want to stop working out and just sit on my deck...so this year I decided I'd better take up running or some other outdoor activity to keep it going.
Now I have a goal of doing the Warrior Dash in Portland in September to give me some sort of training goal to keep me motivated when the "warm" months hit!

Jinji

The sunshine's streaming from MFP! I'm from Portland, OR, and from where I'm sitting I can see one thin strip of blue sky ... hallelujah! It's great to see y'all here.

outersoul

It's nice to see so many PNW'ers here! Please forgive my quoting everyone in one big post.

Portland has indeed been rather rainy this weekend. Thankfully Leanmass has it right regarding the rain here; it's much lighter by comparison to other areas of the country. It CAN rain retardedly hard here. It's just that it rains for nine months of the year. It's pretty much always really windy, too, as we're right off the gorge.

That's what sucks. Riding your bicycle when it's about 35 degrees outside, raining even lightly and the wind is just cutting through you ... that's awful.

I don't let that keep me from getting out to walk, but I have been missing out on cycling since about mid-November. A couple nice days have popped up where I was able to get out, and a couple days I've done it by necessity, but mostly I've been walking to get my exercise.

When the temperature is regularly in the 50s and not raining so hard, I'll start the cycling again

I feel your pain. It's the same if you ride a motorcycle. I haven't been able to ride my motorcycle much at all in the last year or so.

Im in Longiew WA, 40 mins North of Portland and about 2 hrs s of seattle, Hopeing to either move to Vancouver WA in a few months or back up North to the Federal way area. Either way The NW kicks *kitten*!

Yes it does! I’ve been to Longview a few times, mostly to stop to eat on our way home from Portland.

Hello! I'm from the Beaverton area here in Oregon... It's definitely been challenging to try to get the motivation to start jogging outside again with this weather!!! After the freezing cold left, it's just been rain rain rain rain rain oh and rain!! It has been a wet year because even the summer was pretty rainy (summer was here for like 2 weeks it seemed)... but I guess that's why I have a gym membership!!! Just with all this gloomy weather has gotten me in a gloomy mood, that and the job market for new nurses sucks so that doesn't help either!! All this rain has been wanting me to move to a more summery area, but I'm afraid I'd miss all the green that is Oregon and the PNW!

Try looking up in Washington. I know the Tacoma area can never find enough nurses.

Hey everybody! I'm up here in Olympia, WA. I've been loving the heavy rain the last couple nights. It's peaceful to listen to. I guess I've always been sort of an "indoor kid," so the weather isn't too much of an issue. I take a couple of Zumba classes at the community center and do work out videos at home, and that seems to work well for my purposes!

I know Oly well. I grew up in Lacey and have family there. In fact, I just started a new job in Oly a few weeks back. You’re right, the rain is peaceful to listen to. I actually wrote a little poem/spoken word about it one day. Here it is:

It rained last night. It rained like it hasn't in a long time. It was one of those kinds of rain where you don't really notice how wet it is. The lingering thoughts from this kind of rain are the sounds and the feel.

I remember driving home and turning down my music so that I could listen to the songs playing in the rain. There was an actual cadence to the pitter patter. It sounded like a thousand ants were trekking across my roof top. I could hear the swish of the water as my tires knifed through the lanes of water like skis.

As I got home I could feel the water running down my face on my march to the house. Gravity pulled the droplets to my feet. I placed my stuff on the floor and I headed upstairs to my room.

I made my bed, because you can't sit and listen to the rain in a messy bed. I listened for the drops hitting my window in a staccato beat. I listened for ants trekking.

I slowly faded into oblivion listening to the music of the rain.....

Yay! More PNWers! I live in Longview, WA and I can definitely say I hate winters here. Except when it snows, it's just rain, rain, and more rain. I have issues with the seasonal depression too and so I put full-spectrum light bulbs in the bathroom. I'm hoping it'll trick my brain a little into thinking it's sunlight while I do my hair and make-up, lol. They say those are supposed to help, but we'll see!

My motivation was definitely down the toilet and then I talked to my brother (who does P90X) and thought it was just about time to DO IT. I'm not brave enough for the P90X so I just started the P90. Yesterday was day one! I work 12 hour graveyards so I'll have to get up a little earlier to exercise. It'll take away from sleep, but I figure it'll give me more energy and I'll feel better about myself.

I love the calorie tracker so much! I can't say enough how awesome it is because I'm someone who just can't seem to plan meals right or know how much I eat in a day. This helps me think about my choices and because I have to be accountable in public I take more responsibility.

Well, hoping to meet more people on here and just motivate each other while we get where we want to be!

You are on the right track! Being here and P90 will get you where you want to be.

Yay! northwest people are my favorite! I'm from portland, but I live in Arizona now, I miss the northwest so much!

You’re more than welcome to join our little group…living here or not. I think PNW’ers are some of the most friendly people around.

Hey Everyone...I live down in Eugene! It rains here as much as in Portland though the thick grey skies don't suck me up as bad as they did when I lived in PDX in my early 20's! I was born in Klamath Falls, grew up in Medford and have lived here for almost 6 years. Its taken me about 4 years to really begin to like Eugene. A happy medium between the fam in Medford and friends in PDX.

I too get hit with the whole seasonal depression thing..in fact i think I had some of that going on this weekend so I got my butt up and went to the gym Saturday. It helped.


Ironically winter and spring, the rainy nasty cold months is when I like to be in the gym more than summer and early fall. Once the weather starts to get remotely nice I want to stop working out and just sit on my deck...so this year I decided I'd better take up running or some other outdoor activity to keep it going.
Now I have a goal of doing the Warrior Dash in Portland in September to give me some sort of training goal to keep me motivated when the "warm" months hit!

I love Eugene. My brother went to the U of O and I would visit him there all the time. If the Warrior Dash is what I think it is…WOW. You can do it!

The sunshine's streaming from MFP! I'm from Portland, OR, and from where I'm sitting I can see one thin strip of blue sky ... hallelujah! It's great to see y'all here.

I went outside my building and I thought I saw some sunlight trying to peek out too!

tn2010

I'm up in Bellingham and I have to admit, I love the rain! Admittedly, I don't do a lot of my workouts outside this time of year, but between my elliptical, Wii, and Jillian Michaels dvd's, I have enough variety to get me through the gray. The minute the sun comes out, though, we hit the trails (which are plentiful and beautiful up here). :happy:

lacroyx

live west of seattle. moved from CA when I was 5 been here since. rain, shine, snow, wind, dont care. I walk/jog in it all. as long as I have my Zune or someone to talk to I am happy.