Updates: Plastic-Free Commuter Workout

Plastic-Free February: I said I was going to try to pack lunch every day this month to avoid the amount of plastic that comes with lunch at my institution's lunch joint.

I've done pretty well. I've met people for lunch on two days, but otherwise I've packed from home -- until today, when the alarm didn't get set and I ran out of time. But I survived on almonds and miso packets that I keep in my desk, plus fruit from a meeting I went to. Got home famished.

As for the commuter chronicles ... I took public transit and the folding bike to work again yesterday, for only the second time this semester. (This is week five.) Last week it was so cold, I was worried about freezing myself, and also worried that the switches would freeze and the trains would run late. So I drove.

But with the weather warming up and the days getting longer, I'm looking forward to spending a lot more time on the bike in the coming weeks.

And I've been doing pretty well at getting off the couch and into the gym, plus I've been getting more walking.

There is an issue: the treadmills all face a bank of four televisions. I don't get sound -- there are headphones for that -- but I have yet to figure out how to change the channel, or have the courage to turn the machines off, and I've unwillingly watched a show with a whole lot of shootings and blood, and then there were the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, who were so mean to each other I just wanted to go home and shower. And it wasn't the sweat I wanted to wash off.

But soon I'll be able to do my running outdoors, and use the gym just for the weights, which don't face the TVs. I'm still looking for an event of some sort to train for, to push myself harder to get in shape. Maybe an early summer 10K or even a late summer half-marathon, if I chicken out of entering the lottery for the Mount Washington Road Race.

I keep running across this idea that we should be kind to ourselves lately. I guess I've reached the point where I'm ready to hear it. So I'm trying to focus on the times I've done what I wanted to, rather than beating myself up for the times I haven't.