Alaskan Outdoor Guilt setting in

I have been sitting on the couch with a stomach virus for 4 days now. Thinking back, I am trying to remember the last time I did nothing for 4 days and I can't. Maybe not since I broke my leg two years ago. Only that was 4 months. There is this condition I get while living here in Alaska that I like to call Alaskan Outdoor Guilt.

Spending just one day without doing some sort of outdoor activity when living in Alaska is difficult. When I step outside of my house I see the snow capped mountains and I want to go. I think about the trails dusted in snow and the crisp winter air and I want to go for a run. I think about the frozen bike trails and I want to test out my studded tires. I think about the waterfalls freezing in the canyons and I want to put on a 40 pound pack and climb them. I think about the snow piling up on the peaks and I want to skin up them and ski down with my new dog. Then I remember that I barely have enough energy to get up and get a glass of water.

I hobble to the kitchen, pour a glass of water and crawl back to my home on the couch. My newly adopted dog looks at me with sad eyes as if to say, "I thought you said you were active?" Alaskan guilt sets in. I should be outside. Why do I feel so guilty? The mountains are still going to be there when I get better in a few days, are they not? But for some reason I have this overwhelming feeling that I need to take advantage of every nice day that I'm here. I don't have any plans to move from here anytime soon. I guess a day on the couch just feels like a waste.

Soon I'll be better and get back out there, but right now I sit and watch the muscles I have been building whittle away. Okay maybe it's not that bad, but that's what it feels like! Typing is exhausting... I need a nap...