Wintery Mix

Winter weather was slow in coming, but has been strutting its stuff since it got here. Max canceled the Tuesday night running clinic a couple weeks ago due to cold and snow. And there was a stretch with snow every day. Very pretty. But it was still cold, and the snow was coming down just fast enough to require shoveling at home to get out, shoveling at the office when we arrived (the small parking lot and a couple hundred feet of sidewalks) and a repeat shoveling at office and home at the end of the day. With all the shoveling I was too tired and sore to get excited about running. Our little dog, though, never lost interest. We take him out for a daily jaunt in the park near the office. It’s about a mile total, and the little guy runs at least half of it – with appropriate stops at favorite trees and lamp posts. If not for the dog I’d have not run at all. Luckily I also had two or three spin classes a week to keep me working.

By the time the next Tuesday night running clinic rolled around, it had warmed up a bit and I’d gotten into the rhythm of snow shoveling (so I wasn’t always sore and exhausted). I actually looked forward to it! The paths had been cleared, but there was still enough snow that traction devices were required. Max gave us 1K repeats with 1 minute of rest between… it was fun and got me thinking about running again.

Then it warmed up and rained on top of all the snow. Slippery, yucky slush guaranteed to get your feet wet and cold. And the mashed potato slush would refreeze every night. Our spin classes took a one week break around Christmas. I was back to a short run with the dog each day.

A few days ago the rain stopped and the sun came out long enough to mostly clear some roads and paths. On Monday my lovely wife and I took the dog for a 3.5 miler and I added a couple miles on my own. It felt great! On Tuesday Max had to be creative because of a few very icy areas on the paths we use, but we got in a good workout and no one slipped or fell down. Wednesday was nice again and my wife and I took the dog for a repeat of the 3.5 miler. Our dog usually gets only one “long” run a week, and we hadn’t planned to take him again. But he’d been so enthusiastic on Monday and got so excited when we were getting dressed to run we decided to take him again.

Yesterday was New Year’s Day, and I planned to join the local running club for a 6 miler on the River Trail. It had turned warm again, so the trail was likely to be slush and mud, but I’d regained my runner mentality. I wanted to run. I was a little late in arriving and found every parking space full at the park. I saw several other cars doing a pass-and-review, too. I don’t know of any legal parking within half a mile, and I didn’t want to hurry to park and then run hard to catch the back of the pack. Plus, I knew I’d have a hard workout in a 90-minute spin class later that day. So I blew it off. Oh, well. The spin class was hard, and I would’ve had a really hard time if I’d done the run. It worked out. I’ve become such a wimp!