We will resume our monthly trail work days as soon as conditions and weather permit.

You can also check the SMT website http://salidamountaintrails.org/ for updates.

Please feel free to share this flyer with anyone who might be interested!

We’ll kick off the challenge with the New Year’s Day 5K Walk/Run on January 1^st.  With a late morning start time, you’ll have plenty of time to wake up, then come on down to the Scout Hut to register between 9 and 10.  The event starts from the Scout Hut at 10, proceeds along the Monarch Spur Trail, and will finish back at the Hut.  Make it extra fun by wearing a costume or funky get-up.  Prizes will be awarded to the top male and female finishers, as well as best costume!  Only $10 to participate, and all ages and abilities are welcome.

As part of the Challenge, we encourage you to track your participation on the 2012 Fitness Challenge log.  Pick up your copy at the pool, or find it online at www.SalidaRec.com/fitness.  You’ll find instructions for awarding yourself points for completing different activities, and a log to keep track of your points.  Anyone who logs at least 15 points will be entered into a random prize drawing, and top point scorers will be awarded prizes as well.  Prizes will all be geared toward helping you keep your commitment to an active and healthy lifestyle.

Finally, Salida Recreation and Hot Springs Aquatic Center are offering a punch pass good for discounted fitness classes during January and February.  Each $40 pass is good for 12 of any of the classes offered by Salida Recreation, plus 1 Zumba® class.  This brings the price per class down to nearly $3!  You can purchase them now as a gift, or a commitment to yourself, and they will be available during January and February.

The holidays are a time for celebration and enjoyment, and the New Year is a chance to renew commitments and challenge yourself to be your best.  The 2012 Fitness Challenge is a chance to participate in a structured 9 week program than encompasses nutrition and fitness—and most things are completely free!  You can, of course, pick and choose any of the activities to participate it, but we think the whole 2 months will be a great experience!

FREE TUESDAY SEMINARS (Scout Hut, 6-7pm):

January 3^rd: “Goal setting: Dr.’s Fitness Prescription & Guidelines”
January 10^th: “Exercise Myths and Exercise Prescriptions”
January 17^th: “10 Things You Never Thought Counted As Exercise”
January 24^th: “Affordable & Healthy Superfoods”
January 31^st: “Nutrition Myths & Food Journaling”
February 7^th: “Veggie Jeopardy & Sundae School”
February 14^th: No lecture.  Happy Valentine’s Day!
February 21^st: “Mind Over Matter: Maintaining Healthy Habits”
February 28^th: “Self-Care & Maintenance Goal Setting with R.N.”

FREE SATURDAY WORKOUTS:

The One Planet One Pass offers an array of deals from 26 resorts in the US, Germany and Austria. To celebrate this awesome pass I thought we’d go on a world tour and see what sort of deals a Monarch season pass holder can get at each resort. To do this I built a map. However, it’s more than a map – it’s an application that provides an interactive glimpse of all that the season pass holds. To explore the deals you can zoom in and pan around using the map (below) and click one of the map’s icons. You can also navigate the One Planet One Pass deals by selecting from the list of numbers below the deals. It’s meant to be fun way to explore the opportunity we have at our finger tips, and to provide some fun day dreaming material about all possible trips we may have cooking in the back of our brains.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to start rallying a trip to Germany and Austria to take advantage of all that unlimited skiing. Nevertheless, this season will rock!

If you live in Chaffee County or get all your food here, your feedback and input counts. Please take 5-10 minutes to complete a survey telling us more about how you decide where and what foods to eat, and what changes you would like to see happen in your community to increase access to healthy foods. We need to hear from every household in Chaffee County.

You will also be entered into a drawing for a $25 Gift Certificate to a local grocery or natural food store of your choice for completing the survey! Four gift cards will be given away.

Please complete the survey no later than December 2, 2011.

For more information about LiveWell Chaffee, call Director, Lisa Malde at 719.530.2569 or visit our website at http://about.livewellcolorado.org/livewell-chaffee.

Click on a SURVEY LINK:

English: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LQGG8H2

Spanish: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FY6SM5J

The book opens with a captivating story from Shovald’s youth when she dreamed of her Finnish Uncle Ainer walking through the woods with his daughters near Iron River in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

“I don’t remember how old I was, but I’m guessing I was 12 when I dreamed Ainer was walking through the woods, holding the hands of his two little daughters, one on each side.  The scene in the woods was beautiful.  It was sunny and bright and not at all formidable and they were walking down a path when suddenly a bluebird came down and landed on my uncle’s neck and the dream stopped.  it was like the film suddenly snapped in a movie.

I didn’t think any more about it until later that day when my mother got a phone call saying Uncle Ainer had been killed.  He was working in the woods when he was struck by a ‘widow maker’ – a branch that got hung up in a tree and suddenly let loose, came crashing down on him, breaking his neck.”

She goes on to get to the meaning of the book, “…When you use your dreams to guide you in diagnosing and treating your own physical and emotional problems, it’s like having a doctor who speaks a foreign language.  Your dreams have specific information, specifically about you, but you have to figure out what they’re trying to tell you.  That takes time and patience and a willingness to figure out the symbolic language of your dreams.  But as someone who has used dreams for years as a means of health advisory, I can tell you, it’s worth the effort.”

Come to Dragonfly Gifts, meet Arlene Shovald and learn more about her fascinating new book – available at local bookstores, on Barnesand noble.com and Amazon.com.  For a signed copy, order directly from Shovald by writing her at 1124 D St., Salida, CO 81201. Price is $11.95 plus $3 postage.

Calls regarding problems caused by our urban deer population have become increasingly common at City Hall. Some residents want to see the deer gone from city limits. Others love the deer and encourage them with food and water in their yards. Several communities has wrestled with this issue, which brings out strong opinions from residents. We encourage you to be informed about the issue.

Participants shared ideas for activities they might like to offer, such as foreign language lessons, tutoring, film screenings, circus workshops, field trips, and theater, fitness, art, and language classes. Others offered their assistance providing resources like space, equipment, time, and special skills. Organizations like Salida Recreation, the Boys’ and Girls’ Club, Southwest Conservation Corps, and Guidestone Colorado also shared their plans for programming to be held on Fridays. Local photographer Tim Brown advertised a photography internship he is offering, and Denise Wentz expressed her interest in developing a health professional shadowing program at the Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center.

Ideas collected by the ad-hoc committee will be prepared and made available on salidarec.com, salida.k12.co.us, and salidacitizen.com for further public input and addition. The hoped-for outcome of this will be to fuel the process of bringing these ideas and passions to fruition.

What we propose is not an easy task, but, when shared by many people, becomes surmountable. This is a significant opportunity to make a difference in the future of our children and in the vitality of our community. Please direct inquiries, ideas, resources, or current offerings to Maggie Murdoch at salidarecreation@yahoo.com.

With the help of community volunteers and in-kind donations from local and national businesses, the “Club” will feature a teens-only space which has an X-Box 360 Kinect game system.  Teens can hang out, play basketball in our full gym, get connected in our Tech Center, play pool or foosball in our games room!

Teens are encouraged to stop by and check out the new facilities as well as to provide input on what they would like to see offered.  Food and soft drinks will be provided.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Chaffee County first opened its doors in 2005 as the merger of two existing afterschool programs.  Realizing immediate success, the program quickly expanded to Buena Vista.  Up until now, the Boys & Girls Clubs have been serving elementary and middle school youth.  “It has been part of our long range plan to expand services to teens,” say Brett Haydin, Executive Director.

One reason for the change is the access and availability of scholarship opportunities for teens.  “I was astonished by the amount of scholarships available through Boys & Girls Clubs.  This year, over $400,000 in awards were handed out to Colorado youth at other Clubs.  It is important to us that Chaffee County Youth have that same opportunity,” says Haydin.

The Salida Branch is located at 340 East 5^th Street in Salida.  Normal summer hours of operation are from 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM.  Membership fees are only $25 per year, although scholarships are available.  Please contact Tammy or Lisa if you have any questions @ 539-9500