Winter

Its always tough when winter rolls around. Its tough to find the motivation to go outside in the cold and run, walk the dogs, and hardest of all to ride a bike. Let's face it, its even hard to run outside and get in your car that has been sitting out in the cold day and sit on the cold seat and drive almost all the way home from work before the heater is warm enough to be of use.

But its time to find the positives in winter. Here's my list.

I get to wear hats. Not visors and baseball caps, but real hats. wool hats, crazy hats, warm hats. I love hats. And sometimes I even look better in a hat than not. And it can hide a multitude of hair sins. So, let's just say that hats ROCK!

The 2/3 rule. If 2 of the 3: cold, dark, wet, are met, I get to drive the 3 miles to work instead of ride my bike. That means on the days I swim, I get to drive, because cold and dark are always met. That just leaves two (sometimes three) other days that I pray for some wet stuff to be in the forecast for the day so I can have an excuse to drive. Oh yeah, and by cold, I mean 25 or below.

I've always found it a little difficult to swim in winter, just the thought of getting in water when its single digits outside seems ludicrous. But seriously, its 80 degrees in there - air and water (or close to that). That's like freaking summer! So, when you really look at it, swimming in winter is so much easier than running and riding a bike.

Short course yards. Ok, I get to swim SCY most of the year, but its a guarantee in winter. And long course meters sucks, short course yards rules! why, you may ask?
One word. More turns! ok, that's two words. But more turns, means less swimming. And less swimming is what any retired competitive swimmer strives for. But seriously, less swimming, means your arms fatigue more slowly, so you end your workout stronger, and recover sooner. And, the number reason for loving scy is the 100IM. and for all you triathletes out there, IM does NOT equal Ironman! IM=Individual Medley. Individual Medley has been around much longer than Ironman. And there is nothing more pure fun than 100IM's in a SCY pool. Fast, fun, short. I love the 100IM.

My college swim parka. When I retired, I thought that big obnoxious red parka would never see daylight again. But as a person with dogs who get walked twice a day, every day, regardless of weather, the big obnoxious red park gets a lot of dog walking mileage. Its soooooooooooo warm. Best money ever spent back in college. (parents money, gotta give credit where credit is due).

Snow. It really is pretty. Somehow we often seem to miss the snow line. We get more ice and sleet, which sucks, but we also seem to have more dry road days than not.

Trail running is my favorite outside activity in winter. I love the quiet of the trails, but most of all I love that I get to take Daisy with me, and watch her have the time of her life. Its like she is on a happy vacation every time we go. SO many smells, so many spots to mark, critters to chase (she is a chaser, not a hunter, thankfully, unlike Sam, Max, and Junior, they are chasers/hunters/killers). And winter is when she really thrives on the trails, and she can go forever. The cold temperatures and the creeks that are flowing with water keep her cool and happy.



I am also thankful that four years ago I took up mountain biking. Because if you are going to ride outside in winter, mountain biking is a much better option than road riding. Riding on the open road is very exposed to weather, and very cold. The are much more protected from the wind, because of the hills and the woods. The speeds are slower, but you work just as hard, if not harder, so you can stay warmer.

Fires and roasting marshmallows!

Cashmere.

I spend more time reading books, which always seems like a good thing, at least I think I should read more books than blogs, which I don't always do. In the past three days, I've been spitting my time between three books, Trying to finish Metal Cowboy (short stories about a guy who loves to bike tour - this is very funny) because its due back at the library. Trying to get through the novel, Cutting for Stone, which is a fantastic novel, I' really enjoying, but I'm trying to finish it because another book I've been waiting for at the library is on hold for me until Tuesday. I also read the Pose Method running book yesterday, can't wait to try to work on some of the principles. And I've got a biography of General Tommy Franks that my dad lent to use months ago which I started but put aside to read all of these darn library books that I was waiting for and finally became available.

Neglected house projects get a little more attention in winter. The past few weeks, my non-training weeks, I got started re-painting my dining room, a room, that we never use. But my family is coming here after CHristmas, so I think we will need to use it then. Our house was built in the 50's, and many rooms had paneling.Lots of paneling. And I counted 5 different kinds of paneling. All of it ugly. We removed much of it over the years, but a couple sections remain. The dining room had some paneling in it, half of which the previous owners painted white. But half they left stained wood. Why! Laziness? Well, I finally get to sanding, priming and painting that. And that was a slow laborious task. And now I'm painting the plaster walls. They were a dark red wine color, whuich I like, but this room is small, low ceilings, and very dark. Its becoming a nice bright light color. Should be finished by tonight or next weekend at the latest. YAY! Then on to the next project. The list never ends in this old house.

The canopy of lights in beautiful downtown Bloomington:


So, this past week, the weather really turned to winter. I'm trying to ignore the cold toes, cracked, chapped, bleeding lips, the excessive articles of clothing I have to wear to go outside, and embrace wonderful winter!

Now, if I could only find a small 29er hardtail to buy for my christmas gift to myself, I'd be over the top happy!

Happy winter everyone!