springtime running

Spring has finally arrived in my little state. Well, almost. If the supposed snow flurries actually come on Saturday I am going to freak out. It's been a little cold this week but every few days or so springtime awesomeness rears its head - sunny skies, warm temperatures, buds on trees, students blaring bass from their cars. Ahhh :-) I've miss it so!

For a variety of not-so-exciting reasons (namely snow and my health) this winter has kind of sucked. I have faithfully ridden my bike on my trainer in my living room and three days a week I've attempted a run outside. It's been brutal. Overnight temperatures hovered in the low 10s - a cold so bone chilling that even a neoprene face mask didn't help. The cold seeped into my lungs robbing my of oxygen and spiking my heart rate. Run, rest, breathe, run, rest, breathe, repeat repeat repeat. And speed? What's that?! How could I have possibly worked on improving my speed when I was wearing so many clothes?!?! Two pair of pants, a shirt, a polar fleece shirt, a massive windbreaker, two pair of gloves, a hat and my soccer socks. Fortunately I run mostly in the dark so I didn't blind anyone with my awful fashion sense.

A few weeks ago things started to change. First the last snow of the year fell (knock on wood). Then it all melted! All the ice and snow disappeared from the sidewalks and streets. I could run again without worrying about slipping and falling. Then the temperatures rose, first during the day and then during the night. The overnight lows are in the low 30s. A 20 degree difference! Then a funny thing happened. I started to feel good on my runs. An hour felt too short and I felt so light and so speedy. Everything that's wrong with the world or that's causing me massive amount of stress started to disappear while running. Not being able to run was one of my stressors. With that gone its easier for me to think about work problems or personal life problems and actually come up with solutions rather than let them spiral out of control with not being able to run leading the pack.

I am not a good runner and I am not a fast runner. I am a proud runner but that's not going to get me to the podium of any race. I don't care. I love what running does to my body, from my head to my toes. It gets my head in order and makes everything feel lighter. It's unlikely that I will ever return to triathlon (though you never know . . . ) but when I feel good on a run I start to think about competing in road races. My brilliant idea from running in Central Park was "maybe I'll run a half-marathon in the fall!!" Maybe, maybe not. Triathlon kind of killed my enjoyment of the sport - I am too competitive with myself. But running? I am so old and so slow its hard to imagine that I would ever kill my love of it by racing unless my body couldn't handle the stress.

It's been an odd winter riding on the bike trainer. I used to love riding my bike outside, in the mountains or on bike paths. I used to want to cry on days when I was going to ride outside and it would rain. I haven't ridden my bike outside since October and I haven't really missed it. Certainly I am tired of the boredom of being on the trainer pedalling to nowhere but I don't miss that I have to I have to I have to feeling I always felt with the bike. The riding around here is different - tons of cars that drive too close to cyclists and tons of potholes and other debris. If I were to get back outside I'd really need a different style bike. My racing bike isn't going to work; a proper road bike would be better. Even with a new bike I am not sure I would enjoy riding as much as I did in SoCal again. I feel guilty for riding my super expensive and light racing bike in my living room but when I visualize myself getting outside again I just don't feel it. If only my body could handle running better . . .