Transcript for the Piece Audio version of How to Endure Winter

(TV Winter Weather Forecast Montage)

Kind of makes you want to hibernate, doesn’t it? … Me, too. Every year about this time, I start to dream about warmer climates … you know, places where “wind chill” is not in the vocabulary…

But I’m in here, in Minnesota and I’m determined to find a way to enjoy winter. Because it can last a very long time.

So I decided track down some of those chipper folks who actually enjoy being outside on some of the coldest days of the year.

Christopher Wright: My name is Christopher Wright. I’m from Minneapolis. Right now we’re walking around Lake of the Isles.

It’s about eight degrees when I join Chris on his daily walk… and every so often the wind whips around to bring frozen tears that make my cheeks numb . Chris doesn’t seem to notice. He’s 70 and strong. He’s not wearing any hi-tech sports gear, but he’s dressed warmly in ordinary trousers and several layers of wool. Chris spends a lot of time outdoors, and he has a good reason to.

CW: I started exercising seriously after a cardiac arrest. I collapsed, Dr. Zhivago-style getting off a bus. And the first thing I remember was waking up with a strange cardiologist asking me if I knew where I was.

Chris’s doctors told him he had a choice between regular exercise… and death. He chose exercise, working out sometimes seven days a week, whether it’s walking… or… cross-country skiing in the winter, or biking around the lakes in the summer. He also practices tai chi. But don’t try to drag him to a gym.

CW: The treadmill is devastatingly boring. So outdoors is my choice. I love being outdoors.

Even on days like today. It starts to sleet as we finish our walk but I’m dressed in so many layers that I decide to take another lap around the lake—running. It’s not very fun, now that I’m by myself. So a couple nights later, I join up with a group from the Running Room in Uptown, Minneapolis. It’s even colder tonight but these folks are smiling as they run.

SP (SOT): How cold would you say it is?
Marin: Um cold enough that the snot is freezing in my nose. (Laughs)
Kiern: I think it was like 8 when we left… (more chatter)

Are these people serious? Negative 5? They say it so nonchalantly. Talk about runner’s high. But I learned it’s not limited to runners. The people I met while being active in the cold seemed genuinely more cheerful than people who tend to stay inside all winter. Take Cynthia McArthur from Saint Paul. We went out snow shoeing in Crosby Farms Park, along the Mississippi River. (:20)

Cynthia McArthur: It’s a beautiful, sunny winter day—a little cold, but not too bad.

Not too bad means five degrees with a four-below wind chill. My feet are aching and my fingers are numb. But I give it a chance.

CM: I think I’m lucky that I’ve liked being outdoors and active all my life. …I feel kind of normal when I can just go out and enjoy the winter. I mean, really, if you stop and think about it, we’re out here right now and it’s cold. And yet, it isn’t that bad. But it is kind of a mindset. It’s like, winter’s here, there’s dark days, it’s cold, but when you can design something in your life that you enjoy doing, it makes it a lot nicer, and you even look fwd to it.

If someone like Cynthia, who I found out struggles with chronic fatigue syndrome, can be THIS optimistic on THIS cold of a day, then perhaps the key to enjoying winter is finding something about it you CAN enjoy. (:11)

James Levine: The first step has to be made in one’s mind.

Dr. James Levine is an endocrinologist I went to visit at the Mayo Clinic. Levine’s in the business of helping people become less sedentary.

JL: We encourage folk not so much to be active in the sort of rather pejorative, “go to the gym” way, but much more in the sense of that if you’re up and moving, you’re going to be having a good time, you’re gonna be having fun…

And, you’re going to be healthier. Levine’s research shows if you’re active, you’ll be happier, and if you’re happier, you’ll be more active.

JL: it always starts with an attitude of mind… if you decide for the next hour that you’re going to have a really good time, the first step in having a really good time, is to decide it.

I guess when it comes down to it, DECIDING to do stuff outside is the only way to not let winter… WIN. And that means preparing mentally… AND physically. For me, that means psyching myself up to go outside… bundling up… and knowing that if I can survive the first ten minutes of a walk in the cold, I’ll actually start to enjoy it. And that, I’ve discovered, is what it’s all about.

Suzanne Pekow, Minnesota Public Radio News.