We interrupt this New Year’s Resolution time of year to interject some fun and photos from a morning spent with my dad at Chestnut Ridge Park.

A few years ago, I bought my dad snowshoes for Christmas. He loves to walk around in the woods (and was the person who introduced me to the joys of hiking) and I thought he would enjoy and appreciate the ability to play around on trails in the snow. (Since, no, neither of us ski. In fact, I have never been on skis. I might one day, but right now, I just snow shoe thank you very much.)

With a healthy of amount of snow in the south towns of Western New York, temperatures in the mid-30s with no wind and the day off, we ventured to Chestnut Ridge Park to play around in our snowshoes.

I had already done my official training for the day — an easy 30 minute run on the treadmill — so this was purely just for fun.

We started out following the disc golf course backwards but at the point where it looked as if we might need to ford a stream, we decided to follow the cross country ski tracks which took us along the park and into the woods. Overcast but nice, it was a beautiful scene  — snow covered and peaceful.

When we came out of the woods, we stumbled upon a placard about orienteering. This is a skill I do not possess and failed my orienteering session when I thought we went left to return to the casino. As the route looked less than promising we flagged down a car to ask which way to the casino. Ah, follow the road the other way. I would not have made a good pioneer.

I wore no Garmin, no heart rate monitor and didn’t hit any buttons on my watch. A simple glance noted that we probably were out about 90 minutes or so on the trails. My dad thanked me for putting up with him noting that I probably wanted to do more.

It was nice, but my answer was an unequivocal no way.

I didn’t want to race through the snowy woods. I wanted to enjoy the morning. I wanted to spend time with my dad doing something we both enjoy. In fact, while I love all the intangibles endurance sports and racing have to offer me, the real pay off is in being healthy, fit and active.

It was a great way to send off 2009 and welcome in new resolutions, new thought patterns for 2010.