Category Archives: Running

A Western Day

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It was a day that made me feel that I was in the west.  The sky was clear blue and the winter air made it seem I could see forever.  The snow on the mountains shone brightly in the sun.  Everything seemed to be in high relief.  It was a high contrast perfect type of day.

It never rose about freezing.  The highest temperature I noted was 27 degrees.   The sun, however, warmed things enough that the children ran around for a couple of hours without jackets.  I trust that they know when they are cold.  They will ask for more clothes if they need them.  Today they were good to go with sweatshirts.

The air was dry.  I ran six miles this afternoon, abandoning my winter hat not long into it for a brimmed cap.  Once I warmed up I did not worry about frostbite on my ears even with a breeze.  The sun is higher now.  Two months ago the same temperature and wind conditions and clear skies would not have felt so warm.  Spring arrives in one month.

I felt tired running today.  I might be fighting off the sickeness that my wife managed to catch.  She spiked a fever.  She never spikes a fever.  If I had even a touch of that business, it makes sense that I would be tuckered after six miles.  Although, admittedly, I felt tired even at mile one.  What gives with that?  But I slogged it out slowly and felt fairly good by the time I got back.  I hope tomorrow gets me going in better shape than that.

My run today reminded me of runs I have taken in the west–cold, clear days with air that feels fresh.  It only feels that way around here in the winter.  The trees are bare so I can see much farther and the air is dry.  We rarely get that dry air here in the summer.  We get plenty of humidity and lots of green.  I don’t think of that as western.

There is a good chance we will get a storm later this week.  Tomorrow will be another beauty and I am taking it off for President’s Day.  I need to celebrate my patriotism and all that.  Wave a few flags and remember the deeds of great men.  I will do some playing of some sort.  We head to the Adirondacks in a week.  I am hoping we get a blast of snow in time for that.  Then we can do lots of playing, western day or not.

One Foot After the Other

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So on the one hand I feel all “look at me I’m running eleven miles when it’s twenty degrees and windier than the prelude to the Wizard of Oz” and I know no one else is out there and boy am I special and aren’t I one tough dude?  And on the other hand I feel all “I hope no one drives by because I’m so frikkin’ hot from working so hard and my remaining hair is plastered down to my tiny head with sweat and I’m plodding along slower than a three-legged dog on heroin” and so old-mannish I’m almost embarrassed.

Sometimes when I run for that long (two hours today you can call me Mr. Pokey McGillicuddy) I have way too much time to think.  I mean, who cares what I look like or how slow I’m going?  I’m running eleven miles when all you couch potatoes are reading trashy novels or watching old war movies or whatever and my lungs could beat up your lungs any day, so cram it if you think I look like some greasy old jogging slug.

I haven’t run that far since August.  Back then it was hot and at least no one could see my sweaty wisps of what is left of my hair because I wore a brimmed hat.  I wore a hat today but it was of the fleece-because-its-winter-and-I-want-to-keep-my-ears-no-frostbite-for-me-thanks variety.  Also, I wore shorts and short sleeves in the summer and any passersby could see my burly arms so they wouldn’t notice if I moved slowly in fact they would be grateful because they would be pondering my resemblance to Adonis.  But of course I had to go with sleeves today.

I have my mileage in for the week now.  I could give up on a run tomorrow and still be on the positive side of my goal.  Of course, the more I manage to get in the less I will plod.  My goal here really is about running far, but if I can enhance my image at the same time, who’s to say that won’t do?  I live here in the United States, after all, where image matters more than substance much of the time.  I’m just trying to get my piece, if you know what I’m saying.

Seriously, it was a good run–slow but I got it done.  That’s a confidence booster, for sure.  The wind is still howling, although the temperature is now just above freezing.  I’m glad I went earlier.  I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m a wuss.

Getting in a Few Miles

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So the deal is this.  I would like to run the Vermont 50 in September.  That’s 50 miles.  I’ve done it before.  I wanted to do it this past fall.  That was not in the cards.  I have plenty of time to make it happen.  I’ll tell you, though, it isn’t easy to get the miles in during the winter.  It is cold, it is slippery, I have to wear lots of clothing, I get sweaty, the roads are narrower, I use more energy, yada yada yada.

My schedule needs to match well in the winter, too.  Getting up early is fine when the sun gets up early, but these days I need to be long home by the time the sun gets to rising.  I do love to run early, but when it is 1 degree, like this morning, and dark and breezy and slippery…  You see where I’m headed.

This is why people don’t do things like this, I realize.  It is easy to make excuses.  It is easy to make other things a priority.  It is the accumulation of runs that makes it attractive to me.  Any given run might be a drag, or it might be amazing, but piling them all up makes for some feel-good stuff.  So I need to make it happen.

It will take time, I know that.  I will do a couple more short weeks of twenty miles or so.  Then I need to start getting in some longer runs.  By the time spring comes, I will hopefully be in the position to take advantage of the warmer weather right away.  When I ran the marathon in Burlington every year, I was always amazed at how many people I would see running once it got warm out.  I would have the roads to myself, as I do now, until the fair weather runners came out.

Already I feel pretty good.  Today was 10 degrees but I felt fine.  I got in a few miles before I had to meet my daughter getting off the bus.  I will run again this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday if all goes well.  I won’t get in that many miles for the week, but enough for now.  Once I get into it, I look forward to the next run.  I am starting to feel that way now.  My run today was too short.  I can’t wait until I can take the time to run the eleven mile loop.

That will feel like I am getting in the miles.  Then maybe 50 miles will seem within reach.

Seventeen Miles and a Friendly Copper

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Halfway through the Superbowl and I watch the fuzzy television, tuckered out.  I wish I had run seventeen miles today.  No way.  I ran seventeen miles this week, but that still is pretty good.  At least I am up to that.  They were tiring runs this week, all three of them–slippery, cold, windy and hilly.  When every step slips backward on a long steep hil, it makes one tired.

Plus last night I spent a few hours are Waterbury Wings to see my friend Skip play with his band, Generous Thieves.  They were pretty great.  I had not seen them yet and I danced with the rest of them.  This meant I was out late, and so got to bed late.  My children don’t sleep in.  Ever.  Therefore I do not sleep in.

Driving down Route 116 at 12:30 last night, I got pulled over.  The blue lights flashed in the mirror and I pulled to the snow bank.  I haven’t gotten pulled over in over a decade.  I knew I wasn’t speeding but my adreniline was pumping.  This Williston police officer was pretty dang nice.  “On your way home?” he asks me.  I told him I was coming from Waterbury and he asked “Off skiing?”  He gave me a warning for having a headlight out.  I felt like he stopped me to do me a favor, as if he just wanted me to be safe.  The guy had a huge grin.

I still have to get the headlight replaced and send in the ticket with a signature on it.  From some certified repair guy.  That will still cost me, I suppose.  I do need to replace it.  Too bad I just noticed it a couple of days ago.  Anyway, I have some new respect for Williston police.  At least I wasn’t speeding.  Or drunk.

The ticket was dated February 1.  See you later, January.  Maybe this week I will get up to twenty miles.  I don’t plan to drive to Waterbury any day soon.  Or anywhere at midnight for that matter.  Now I just need to get that damn headlight replaced.  Tomorrow.  The copper may have been nice, but he didn’t give me much time to deal with the problem.  At least I will be taking the day off from running tomorrow.  That should give me a little time to deal.

Coffee Cake and Two Days of Running

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Kid Pic of Morning Goodies

Kid Pic of Morning Goodie

(Originally posted 1/25/2009)

I rose early to rekindle the fire in the stove, to get coffee started for my beautiful wife, and to bake something. I had purchased sour cream yesterday and dumped into the cake above. The photo was taken by my daughter, who ran upstairs to tell me she took a photo of the coffee cake.

It was fairly tasty, although I left off the icing and did not add lemon, which I prefer, since my spouse does not prefer. All in all, however, a fine breakfast food item. It was my first item of the day, the other major kitchen project being the tofu pot pie, which is hard to beat on a cold day.

I ran again today. I have not run two days in a row for quite a while. Leavensworth Road is perfect at the moment, the right combination of temperature, snow and traffic making even the class four section runnable. It was not as cold as yesterday, but cold enough. It was below zero last night but got into the teens by this afternoon.

Since I pulled a muscle at the end of the summer, I have had to take it easy as I slowly recover. I figure I need to keep it down to 20 miles per week for another month. By spring I should be able to turn it up, as long as I take it easy. By the time it gets warm, and running is easier, I am hoping I can get in some long runs. We’ll see.

We have plenty of coffee cake left, and some pie, and even some bread from yesterday. I have an easy breakfast and an easy lunch. Which is a good thing, since I need to be out of here early, and I need to work late. It will be a long day. A long week, even. But I have a new soup recipe I’d like to try. I made some stock today and I have a lot of celery left. That will be a good project for maybe Tuesday. Since my wife works late that day, I won’t be able to run anyway. Might’s well make up some soup.

Another Chilly Run

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It seems they can’t be avoided, these cold forays with the running shoes.  I was busy today with all kinds of random crap–paying bills, trying to figure out how to refinance and being put off again (even by a second lender), taking a carful of junk to the dump, letting my children climb all over me.  So I got out to run at the end of the day.

I got to say goodnight to the sun, as it was setting.  I told it I looked forward to seeing it tomorrow.  It was 7 degrees when I left and 5 degrees when I got home.  The wind was light but I ran fast.  I heated up halfway through, enough so I was sweating, but it was chilly, especially with the breeze I created.  These chilly runs can’t be avoided this time of year, if I want to run at all.

When I got home I was sweating, as usual. I wore a wind jacket, and it got soaked through.  My gloves got frosted.  My hat had a rim of ice.  It was cold and I was pumping out water.  My body isn’t quite sure what to make of thermoregulation when the outside temperature is in the single digits but my core temperature is higher than normal.  It kind of freaks out.

The temperature is now zero, darkness having settled in for these many hours.  It will get much colder tonight.  I hope our blueberry bushes handle it well.  I was hoping to run again tomorrow.  I keep getting in these shorties–only four miles today.  I was hoping to do at least six tomorrow, but I may just do the same four again.

I like to get out there, but dang, I’m no popsicle, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Running In Icy Wind

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Earlier in the week I bagged going for a run, even a short one, because the time I had to do it was too cold. I don’t necessarily regret not going. It was ten below and breezy. I just wimped out. But I wasn’t going to do that again today.

It was much warmer than the last time I tried to make the decision to run, two days ago. It was 18 degrees warmer in fact. Of course, this meant it was only 8 degrees, and the wind was whipping. It was a frostbite kind of run I was looking toward.

I went despite the chill. I wore some layers and stretched and just went out there. I still am not going all that far. I went about five and a half today. I ran fairly quickly, to keep warm, and to just get on back to the house. But it was slippery. Road salt hasn’t done much of anything for several days now. Some sand had been spread on the road, but still, my traction could have been better.

My pace was average, even though I tried to go faster. I had the wind to slow me down, plus the slipperiness, plus some hills. A couple of times I had all these at once. Moreover, I was cold. My muscles were not exactly loose like they are on a summer day. I had to move quickly to keep limber.

My chief worry was frostbite on my face. I thought about wearing a neck gaitor to cover my face, but that would have meant that I was likely to get too warm. Getting too warm means sweating, and sweating can lead to hypothermia on day like today. If I had to slow down of stop (twisted ankle, knee pain, what have you) I would get too cold too fast. It turns out my own rising heat kept my face warm enough.

So I got out there and had a solid run today. I only got out two days this week, thanks to my fear of the cool weather (the temperature rose to 11 today, the highest and the first double digits since Tuesday). Maybe tomorrow I can squeeze in a few miles. It may get up to the teens again.

How can I wimp out then?

Fourteen Below and Thinking About Gardening

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Garden Beds Waiting for Spring

Garden Beds Waiting for Spring

That was the temperature this morning–fourteen degrees below zero. You might say it was chilly. I wimped out on going for a run. I had planned to do so today but I stayed inside, stoked the fire, got some work done and even read a book. So much for training.

I have been thinking about the garden lately. January is the month to plan it out, to figure out what to plant, how much of it to plant, and where to fit everything. The corn can’t go where it went last year, but it can be planted with the squash. I look forward to sitting down with the legal pad and sketching out the garden plan.

Of course, it is way too cold to do anything with the garden at the moment. It sits under the snow, waiting for spring. I am glad we have snow cover. The blueberries and strawberries will fare batter with the insulation. And the snow adds an element of beauty.

The circle I carved out of the lawn for our garden feels like a work of both labor and art. I want to grow food that is fresh and tasty and that I can’t get elsewhere (Striped Zebra tomato anyone?), but I also hope it adds some pastoral artistry. I want it to be beautiful. That takes work and luck and a willingness to let things grow as they need to grow. Seeing what the plants will do with what they have gives me joy.

So I wait it out and dream of warmer weather. I love this cold snap we are having, even though I chickened out of running today. Winter just isn’t satisfying if we don’t have some days below zero. I have seen the mercury rise to six degrees today and now it is back down to four. Once the sun goes down, I am sure it will break through the zero mark again.

Maybe some of those cucumber beetles will take a hit from the cold. I won’t count on it, but since I am imaging a perfect garden, I might as well dream that too.

Resolutions?

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I have never been one for New Year’s resolutions.  I have thought about the idea of them.  As in, “Now would be as good a time as any to set some goals for myself so maybe I should.”  But that idea has never really panned out, turned into action.  So here we are again at the turn of the year.  Good old 2009 has begun.  Should I make some resolutions this year?

So here goes with a brainstorming session on what I might resolve to do.  We’ll start with the classics and see if any of them fit me.  One of the most common resolutions, or so it seems to me, is to lose weight.  I guess I could lose a few pounds but I feel pretty solid, so to speak,  in that area.  I suppose I could cut down on candy but that will happen with the natural cycle of saying goodbye to the holidays.  And other foods to cut out?  Well, I did make a cheesecake yesterday, but once that’s gone I probably won’t make another for a year.  So much for food.

Another typical resolution is to quit smoking.  I wish my brother and sister would quit smoking, those addicts, but I can’t change them.  I don’t smoke, so that one is out.  Exercise more?  I have been getting the runs in and I plan to do a lot more but I don’t need to resolve to do that.  Join a gym?  Waste of money if you ask me.  So healthwise I think I am OK.

How about feeding the brain?  We get only one channel on television so I can’t really cut down much on the boob tube.  I read a lot of news.  I listen to all kinds of books when I am in the car.  I could read more books, the paper kind I mean.  How about I go with that one?

Resolution one:  Read more books, especially in view of my children.  No, that’s too vague.  How about:  Read at least one good book every month so my children can see that I am doing so.

I like my job so I don’t need to find a new one.  I already am in the process of doing a better job.  I am not too concerned with making a lot more money.  I spend a lot of time with my children.  I like to hike and I could do more of that, I suppose.  Dang, this is tough.  I make goals, but those are more fluid, arising with whatever situation I might encounter and wherever I find myself.  This seems a little forced.

So maybe this is why I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions in the past.  I don’t feel that I need to and if I am going to make goals I don’t tend to do it at an arbitrary time like January first.  Or maybe it is because I have too much champagne and then my mind is too fuzzy to think about that.

But I’ve got one resolution.  I will start right now, the first day of the new year.  Once I am done here I will grab the book I just got from the library and get started on a good story.  I guess I could narrow it down a bit further and just say that I resolve to this day read at least a few pages in a good book.  Since the high temperature today was nine degrees, it is a good day to make that happen.

Happy New Year from this freezing town in northern Vermont.  And happy reading to you, too.

Ankle Biter, Face Biter

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We did have a snow day after all today. This meant I had more flexibility in my schedule than I had planned, so I went for a run mid-morning. The snow had let up, but started again after I left the house. It was slippery but things started off well.

Gravel Road, Easy Running

Gravel Road, Easy Running

I ran down Leavensworth Road. Two cars (two!) passed me before I got to the section that is not plowed. Then it got interesting. I was doing that thing that dogs do when they come outside and don’t know about snow, picking their feet up high and looking ridiculous. I had to step high.

End of the Plowing

End of the Plowing

I have run in snow before and usually I find it fun, but we got a crust of ice, a thin one but a crust, between layers of snow. It cut my ankles. I took it for a while, tried to be tough, then realized that this was silly. Why hurt myself while getting wet in the falling snow?

Running in the Snow

Running in the Snow

So I turned back and ran down O’Neil Road, plowed the length of it. That was fine, except by then the snow had turned to sleet. It slapped me in the cheeks, except the little grains were so tiny it felt like it was biting me rather than slapping me. I took that for a while too but turned back again. By now I was laughing out loud–for real–the situation was so absurd. Why do I do this? I asked myself. Oh yeah, it’s fun.

Back Home

Back Home

It was snow falling again by the time I returned home. I appreciated the warm fire all the more when I got inside. Of course, I had to shovel a bit before I went in. That made me laugh as well. Ah, snow. How can I help but laugh?