Tag Archives: running

Wrist to Run

Posted on March 14, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was undecided whether to do a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post or another Running Commentary, so I thought I’d just start typing and see what comes out.

I kind of impressed myself by running two days in a row, because I really did not intend to.  I had a number of chores to attend to and no desire to attend to any of them.  Just to bring up my mental woes as a slight change from my physical ones, I am fighting another bout of depression.  My biggest symptom this time seems to be a huge case of Don’t Wanna Do Nothin’ (the double negative does not make a positive in this case).  Actually, I’ve been wondering lately if my physical problems don’t stem from that.  My body is obliging me with a nice bout of psychosomatics, giving me a marvelous excuse to, in fact, do nothing.

Be that as it may, I knew I must get some things done.  I went to the grocery store.  I did the dishes.  I began to make my prompt book for Leading Ladies (we begin blocking rehearsals on Tuesday).  I looked at the clock and realized I had time enough for a two hour nap before my husband would return home from work.  Yes!  Nap!  Just what I needed.  I forgot to mention that we have a murder mystery rehearsal at three.  I had forgotten it myself until Steven reminded me.

Naturally I could not sleep.  I’ve been having dreadful insomnia lately.  It is not the least bit unusual for me to have insomnia, so I did not let it bother me unduly.  As I gave up on the nap I remembered that I was also supposed to do laundry today. I gathered a load and threw it in the washer.  Ah, the joy of having a washer and drier on the premises.  While it washed I indulged in a check of Facebook and in reading several other blogs.

When Facebook got old and I got tired of reading blogs, I began to think about running.  It was just after noon.  I had plenty of time for the length of run I am currently up to.  I decided to do it.

Then remembered the laundry.  It was done by now, so I went down and put stuff in the drier, carefully pulling out stuff to hang on the bars upstairs.  As I brought them upstairs, I decided I really wasn’t feeling all that well.  I would not go running.  I hung up the non-drier items.  What would I do instead?  Contemplating the other chores awaiting me, running started to sound a lot more pleasant.

So  I went. It would be nice to report that I got a good dose of endorphins and felt terrific afterwards.  That does happen sometimes.  It did not happen this time.  However, no run is without its rewards.  If nothing else, one can feel satisfied that one ran at all.  I worked on my ability to persevere and keep going despite it being not all that much fun.  Of course, it’s never all Plod and Persevere.  I had several moments of feeling Not Bad At All.  And I hope I don’t have a reason to feel bad about this blog post.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

4 Comments

Posted in blogging, commentary, humor, personal, Wrist to Forehead Sunday and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Not Too Whiny of a Running Commentary, I Hope

Posted on March 13, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I would like to think Saturday Running Commentary is back.  However, I can’t be sure.  At least I ran this morning and I will try to write about it.

We had gotten up early for a Saturday, because I have this nagging cough that wouldn’t let me sleep (yes, more whining about my health woes, don’t judge).  Going running wasn’t even on my radar, but coffee was.  Two cups. AAaaahhhh.  I love coffee.  I also needed a shower.  Well, I didn’t want to shower and then run. One runs then showers.  So I decided to run.

By now I had been up for almost two hours.  I was quite hungry.  At this point, I would usually eat something and delay my run.  However, I had read that if you run before eating in the morning, your body will burn stored fat, not the healthy breakfast you just ate.  What a concept! I have PLENTY of stored body fat.  This was going to be great.

It has been so warm these last few days, I thought, I could probably run in shorts and short sleeves.  Um, no, my thermostat said the outdoor temperature was 30 degrees.  Leggings and long sleeves, definitely.  And my toque, of course.  After I started I wished I had searched out the extra warm running pants my sister Victoria gave me as well as a pair of gloves.  No matter.  I wasn’t going to run long.

It was 7:22 by my watch when I started out.  On a Saturday, that is still early enough for sparse traffic.  Excellent.  I could cross German Street.  I wanted to run down the path over what used to be a hydraulic canal, which begins a block beyond that sometimes difficult to cross street.  The sun was bright but still low enough in the sky that I was often in the shade of houses.  I could feel the warmth sometimes.  Ah, better.  Then not so much.  Damn.  Then I felt some breeze.  I KNOW that was not from me running fast.

After a while I could feel the wind penetrating my toque.  That was unusual, and chilly on my sweaty head.  My hands were soon stiff with cold.  No notations in the Running Journal till after my shower.  I have been quite remiss about making notes in my Running Journal.  I’ve been jotting down the date and time run on odd pieces of paper, meaning to transfer the information and, well, I just haven’t.  And now I can’t find all the odd pieces of paper. Finally I made a note in the Running Journal to that effect and once again started over.  I know, what a recurring theme for my running.  I say, at least  I DO begin again, eventually.

It wasn’t such a bad run. I started feeling tired a little more than halfway through but not too desperate to stop.  My breathing wasn’t bad, although there was no chance of doing the “in through your nose” thing.  Still, that is usually the case with me, so I tried not to let it bother me.  My throat was not best pleased with me, of course.  I did mention that nagging cough, didn’t I?

So I ended up running 25 minutes and walking for 10, the same amount I did earlier in the week.  It has perhaps been too many days between my runs, but, well, not to whine more about my health problems, but… you know.

As I was running I made the decision NOT to run this year’s Boilermaker 15K.  I do want to run more and continue to get back into shape.  I subscribe to the saying, “If you are too busy to exercise, you are too busy PERIOD.”  However, it is one thing to get exercise and quite another to train for a challenging 15K road race.  I can still get plenty of Running Commentary blog posts.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

2 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

I Pick Triumphant

Posted on March 9, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I left my house and started to run down the sidewalk, I said to myself, “Yes!  I am BACK!”  Then I thought, how many damn times have I been back?  Is there a point where one ought to be sheepish rather than triumphant?  Perhaps so. In any case, here is a Running Commentary in lieu of my usual Tired Tuesday.

I have observed many times that people who go on about their health ills are tiresome. I was feeling tiresome today, and tired of being tiresome.  I have many things I need to accomplish, some of them before tomorrow, but I decided to run anyways. I need to be physically active.  I need to lose weight.  I sternly told myself to do this one thing for me.  I know, that’s kind of a crock.  I do a lot of things for me, which is why I’m behind on all those other things I need to accomplish.  Still, I made up my mind to run.

One reason to run is that it was BEAUTIFUL!  The temperature was at least in the 50s.  I didn’t check, but it was delightful to be out running in shorts and short sleeves. Even my hands didn’t get cold. Most of the sidewalks were bare.  I leaped over or ran around any mud.  I soon attained a comfortable pace.  I felt it was slightly faster than my usual shuffle.  I pretended to myself it was the gazelle-like lope I sometimes see the young people do, but I knew it really wasn’t.  No matter.  I was enjoying it.

I decided where to run based on avoiding pedestrian and not crossing busy streets.  I turned one way rather than run into two teenage girls.  I wanted to avoid that awkward   feeling of do I go left or right?  Should I say hello? I almost always say hello. I found myself a block and a half behind a man.  Then a block.  At half a block he got to a corner.  I thought, “If he crosses the street, I’ll turn.  If he turns, I’ll cross the street.”  He crossed the street.

This had me headed down Main Street.  Lots of people on Main Street.  Why was I feeling so unsociable today?  I don’t know, but I turned onto Church.  It was really not a problem to run. Breathing was OK, legs didn’t hurt.  I didn’t use these words at the time, but I see now that I was rocking it!

As I ran down Caroline Street, a boy passed me on a bicycle.  As I was looking at his chubby legs and thinking it would be unkind to mention their chubbiness in the blog, the little jerk turned around and gave me the finger!  As I stared at him, flabbergasted, he did it again, with a big nasty grin, making sure I saw it!  Now I know enough not to take these things personally.  He probably had just learned the gesture and was trying it out.  I wondered if possibly he was psychic and knew I was thinking he had chubby legs.  Now I think maybe he had gotten picked on at school for his chubby legs and this was his way of making himself feel better. At any rate, you see that I have gotten my petty revenge by mentioning his chubby legs in my blog post.  How unkind of me.  He had chubby hands, too.

Two young men were a couple of blocks ahead of me as I turned down Park Avenue.  They turned around and looked at me. Was I making that much noise?  I didn’t think I was huffing and puffing.  A few minutes later, they looked back again.  What the hell?  Did I look weird?  They crossed the street to go through Meyers Park.  I had intended to go through the park but turned up Bellinger Street instead.  I didn’t need those guys giving me the finger as well.

A man was doing yard work.  I was just about to say I had to do that too, when he said, “The weather sure is cooperating for a run!”

“Oh, it sure is,” I said. “I’m loving it!”

I was loving it.  I hope the weather cooperates again on Thursday so I can repeat the experience.  Perhaps without the rude chubby-legged boy.

 

2 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Back on the Road

Posted on February 21, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I got up this morning with no plans at all, except for the already executed plan to sleep in.  We made it to almost 6:30, and that felt good.  We had been up a few hours.  I had eaten breakfast, written post cards and noodled around on Facebook for a while when I suddenly made the decision to go running.

The decision came about because my sister, Victoria, commented that I would probably like yoga because of the spiritual aspect of it as well as the “just you” time, although she supposed running did that for me “but with fewer distractions”.  I commented back that running was ALL about distractions.  A drill sergeant in Army Basic Training told me that was the secret to running: you just kept finding things to distract yourself from how much it sucked (I further learned that the other secret was to keep going despite the suckiness, but right now we’re talking about distractions).

Isn’t it funny how one minute you’re talking about how much a thing sucks and the next minute you’re hustling up the stairs to get properly dressed and do it.  The fact is that there are great periods of time during which running does not suck.  In fact, it is pretty enjoyable.  I hoped for one of those periods today.

One reason for my hope is that it was warmer than it has been.  It was almost warm enough for shorts and short-sleeves, although I set a lower temperature for that outfit than many others.  I went with leggings and long-sleeves because it was borderline and I have not been running outdoors.  I still wore my toque. I do like my toque.

Before I left the driveway I was questioning the wisdom of my decision.  Quite icy.  The sidewalks did not look much better.  I had taken the precaution of wearing an older pair of sneakers, because I was certain there would be puddles.  It turns out things were still pretty frozen.  It was only about 9:20 a.m.  No matter, I was outside in my toque.  I was running.

I took the nearly unprecedented step (get it, running, step?) of running in the road.  I’ve addressed this issue before. I do not like running in the road myself and I do not approve of it in others (yes, yes, I know, my approval is not necessary for anybody, so you needn’t get all hoity-toity and self-justifying).  At least I was on the left side facing traffic.  Perhaps traffic would not be too harsh at 9:20 on a Saturday morning.

And it wasn’t too bad, even on German Street.  I ran all the way down to the traffic light next to the high school.  I had originally had some thought of running up the hill by Valley Health and into the residential area beyond (what I call the suburbs).  After all, there were no sidewalks in that area, so I did not have to feel self-conscious about breaking my own rule.  Then I decided I would did not want to take such a long run.  After all, I am easing back into it.  The only runs I have taken in the past few weeks have been in place on the mini-tramp.

I was happy to get off German and into the quieter streets.  Here traffic was light enough that I could run closer to the center of the road, which was the place where I was least likely to encounter any ice.  It was kind of annoying when a car would be coming and I would have to get over to the edge of the road where there would be ice, a puddle, or an icy puddle.  However, I did not meet with any mishaps.

At a few points I noticed stretches of sidewalk that were perfectly clear.  I felt a little bad about that.  I really do prefer to run on the sidewalk.  Then again, it seemed silly to switch back and forth.  Then again, a little detour often burns more calories.  I saw a clearish patch and ran up a driveway to the sidewalk.  So far so good.  Then my foot slipped and I said, “To hell with that,” and got back on the road.

It was not a super long run, but I felt it was long enough to count as a run.  I also took a cool-down walk almost all the way around the block.  As I walked, I felt elated.  I did not think I had run hard enough or long enough to get any of those endorphins I keep hearing about, but a joyous voice in my head declared, “This was a GOOD idea!”  As I cut through the parking lot of the apartment building on the end of my street (remember, I said almost all the way around the block), I realized that running in the road had been a good idea too.  If I had tried even a shuffley jog there I would have landed on my tuckus or a less padded  part.

I felt pretty bad-ass after my run.  I felt, as I often do, “Yeah, I’m back.”  I hope I stay back this time.  For me, it’s a good idea to keep running.

 

4 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary, Saturday Running Commentary and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

And the Killer Is…

Posted on January 29, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Just kidding.  This is a Pedestrian Post masquerading as a Non-Sequitur Thursday.

I have been having trouble re-starting my run regimen (I use a most generous definition of “regimen”).  My knees have been bothering me.  Not horribly, but they do ache.  It is sometimes less than pleasant to go up or down stairs.  I have a dreadful suspicion that it is age-related.  I feel sure that if I lost more weight, that would help. Running may bother my knees,but it will help me lose weight, which will  be good for my knees. It’s kind of circular.

Monday I went for a nice walk with my husband.  Tuesday I ran.  Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I woke up with my left knee THROBBING!!!  I couldn’t go back to sleep at first because it hurt so bad.  Oh, crap!  I limped through work on Wednesday and neither ran nor walked afterwards (as you may remember, it was Wuss-out Wednesday).  However, if I don’t use my legs, they start to feel really crappy.

My knee felt better today, but I was not sure running was the best idea.   Additionally, it was Steven’s day off and you know how I love to maximize my husband time.  I made up my mind I would either run in place on the mini-tramp, while chatting with Steve, or go for a walk with Steve. Obviously, a walk was the more attractive option.

It was warmer earlier in the week, but it was not at all bad today.  We had to walk around some puddles, but surrounding grass was not too muddy.   There were a few patches of ice, which Steven boldly walked over.  I mostly skirted them.   We noted a few houses that still had their Christmas decorations up.  We like Christmas.

It was a very pleasant walk, and my legs felt wonderful with the exercise.  I will attempt another walk tomorrow or Saturday, I hope.  I’ll probably write a blog post about it.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, Non Sequitur Thursday, Pedestrain Post, personal and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Hill after Headache

Posted on January 8, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I went running today so that I could do a Running Commentary blog post.  The other reasons were (1) it was warmer than it has been for the past two days and (2) I had almost no headache all day.

As I left work, I reminded myself not to go crazy.  It was a little warmer.  It was not a heat wave.  I would still need to wear leggings, long sleeves and probably a hat. Still, the sun was shining.  It was a lovely afternoon.  Could it be over 40?

According to my thermostat, the outdoor temperature was 36 degrees.  Although it was sunny, there were clouds in the sky.  It is, after all, winter.  I dressed accordingly and got going.

At least the sidewalks were fairly bare.  I dodged some snow and ice as I ran toward German Street.  I wanted to run up to Herkimer College.  I thought it would make a better blog post.  Could I make it up that hill?  Maybe I should run up the back way.  Longer but less steep.  Maybe I should just run up the hill by Valley Health.  After all, I worked all day, and I had a migraine yesterday.

I looked at all the traffic and thought maybe I would not be able to cross German Street at all.  Well, I could just run around streets on this side of German.  There was no rule I had to run up a hill.  All I had to do was run and write a blog post about it.  It didn’t matter where.  There was a break in traffic.  I sprinted!  I made it!  But would I run to the college?  Maybe a run into Brookfield Park?

Oh, who was I kidding?  I wanted to run up to the college the front way.  It is the impressive way.  It is the way that makes my friend Phyllis say I am her hero.  I like to be somebody’s hero.  As I turned up Lou Ambers Drive, I looked longingly at Salvatore’s.  It would be nice to go out to dinner later.  However, I am trying to lose weight.  Additionally, Steven works till 6:30.  I would be hungry before that.

Sometimes I have to spit when I run.  I don’t always follow advice, but in general I heed the song that tells me to don’t spi-it in the wind.  I also don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger and I don’t mess around with Slim, but those situations usually do not arise when I am running.  Full disclosure:  that bit occurs to me almost every time I run, and this is the first time I used it in a blog post.

Oh, it took a long time to get up the hill.  As I’ve said before, there was no suspense.  I knew I would make it to the top.  The knowledge was no comfort.  I reflected that the bright day would make the view from the top better than the misty view on New Year’s Day.  There was more traffic than I expected.  One car slowed down and moved over.  When I gave a thank-you wave, the girl driving waved back.  I like little connections like that.

The view was very nice.  Everything around me looked nice.  I always think that sunshine is nature’s cosmetic, because almost any scene looks better in the sunlight. Then again, maybe things just looked better to me because I was at the top of the hill and I could breathe almost normally again.

My run down was not too bad.  My cool-down walk was maybe a little too cool.  The temperature was dropping by then and the wind had picked up.  By the time I finished I was cold and TIRED.  Well, why not be tired at the end of the day?  And aren’t you all happy that I’ve made a blog post of over 600 words where I did not once mention what I couldn’t write about?  I certainly am.

 

2 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Second Verse, Not Same As The First

Posted on January 3, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I ended yesterday’s post declaring it was a two-parter (even though my computer seems to think “parter” is not a word).  Additionally, I read in yesterday’s or Thursday’s paper (I forget which) that beginning a sentence with “So” is one of those overused verbal things that some academic group loathes and despises.  Ha ha, I like it and I’m using it.

Where was I?

Ah yes, on my way up the hill to Herkimer College, otherwise known in this space as HCCC.  In yesterday’s final paragraph I intimated that there was some suspense as to whether I made it to the top.  According to earlier paragraphs (and I believe earlier blog posts), there is not much suspense once I start up a hill.  I rarely wimp out halfway and turn around.  However, looking at the first paragraph, I realize there was in fact no suspense.  I pretty much said I set out to do something and I did it.

Nevertheless, you have tuned in for part two and I shall write it.  If I can remember it.

I debated back and forth in my head as I approached the hill, but I pretty much knew I would do it. And, sure enough, up I went.  It seemed to take a long time.  When I was partway up, I decided to turn around and see how far I had come.  I thought it would help.  It did not, and I felt a little dizzy from turning around.  I did mention that I had a raging headache, didn’t I?

When I made it to the top I felt relieved.  I did it.  Sometimes when I make it to the top of that hill I feel a triumphant desire to walk around with my fists in the air while somebody sings, “We Are the Champions.”  Yesterday I felt merely relief.  I remembered to look to my right to see the panoramic view of the Herkimer and the other mountains.  Most of it was shrouded in fog.  That was OK.  I knew where I was.

I took the earliest turn to get to the back road back to Herkimer.  It is a less steep, less traveled road.  There were cones across it, blocking traffic.  Surely they meant vehicular traffic.  One mildly overweight middle-aged runner would be OK (and I’ll call you Shirley if I want to).  When I was running up the hill I noticed they had repaved it.  No doubt they had repaved this road or sections thereof.

I always feel a slight amount of trepidation when I run past cones.  Perhaps they are there for a better reason than I can see, and I am behaving in an inexcusably foolhardy fashion.  As I said, this was not a well-traveled road.  Houses were further down, out of earshot.  No one would hear me if I called for help.  Still, I could crawl to safety. Couldn’t I? I pictured the road giving way underneath me.  I would remain there, trapped, while the snow continued to fall.  Eventually I would be a frozen statue, like what happened to Jack Nicholson in The Shining (I hated that movie).

That road seemed to take a long time, too, but at least it was downhill.  At last I was back in the residential area.   Not much longer now till I was home.  I would share my triumph on Facebook.  I would write a blog post about it.  I would take a hot shower with lots of soap.

As it turns out, I got lots of Likes on my Facebook status and two blog posts out of it.  I had a headache for the rest of the day, but that was probably going to happen anyways.  Looking at my “related posts” that popped up at the bottom of my post, I see that I do so spend a lot of time here complaining about my headaches.  Sorry about that.  I’m afraid I can’t promise much for tomorrow, though. After all, it will be Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Spoiler Alert! It’s a Two-Parter!

Posted on January 2, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sometimes, when you want to do something, you just decide to do it, then you do it.  Some of you are rolling your eyes saying, “I’ve been TELLING you that!”  Others, perhaps also with an eye roll, are asking me if it is really, truly that easy.  My good friends (I hope you know who you are) are saying, “Oh, good for you, Cindy, what did you do?”

I have been trying, without much notable success, to keep from prosing on about my dreadful headaches (my computer seems to think “prosing” is not a word, but I’m sure I’ve seen it used elsewhere).  However, to convey my real sense of accomplishment today, I must emphasize that I have been suffering terribly from painful headaches, often accompanied by nausea.

These headaches often begin in the middle of the night, my most hated kind of headache.  I mean, if you get a headache during the day, you feel that in the last resort you can always lie down to try to get rid of it.  If you wake up with it, what are you going to do?  If you wake up with it in the middle of the night, go back to sleep with it, and wake up with it feeling even worse, I think you may be forgiven for feeling extremely ill-used.

And that is all the whining about my headaches that I have been trying so hard to keep out of the blog.  I am truly mortified. Is anybody still reading?  Should I erase the last two paragraphs and start over again?  Should I mention or refrain from mentioning that I have a pounding headache now which is making it difficult to write?  Should I further mention that I am running out of adjectives to describe my headaches?

What a big, fat baby I am.  My apologies.  At least you can all feel a frisson of virtue that YOU do not complain so much about your aches and pains

Be all that as it may, the last time I ran was Christmas Day, when I took a short run in the cold followed by, you guessed it, a worsening of my headache.  I have walked and shoveled snow for exercise since then.  I did not want to wait too long to begin running again.  When Steven left for work shortly before 9:30 this morning (New Year’s Day; ignore the date under the title), I got ready and set out.

It was snowing and just above freezing temperature, so I dressed extra warmly.  I had it in my head to run up the hill to Herkimer College (which I persist in referring to as HCCC).  I had meant to run up that hill BEFORE 2016, but one does not always meet one’s goals and I find it is best to refrain from beating oneself up but to keep striving.  I turned down German Street, picking my way down the icy sidewalk.  It was not glare ice, but thick, uneven ice, the kind you can easily turn your ankle on.

The falling snow was pretty.  It would have been a nice day for a walk with a dog.  I felt sad all over again, missing my dear departed schnoodle, Tabby.  At least I had the happiness of knowing her.

Would I really run up the hill to the college?  I was out here running at all, I thought that was pretty good.  I could probably feel pleased with myself no matter what I did, short run, long run, no hill, little hill… hill by Valley Health?  Back way to HCCC?  I pondered as I went.  I can’t say I was rocking it as I ran, but it wasn’t too painful either.

If this was in a book, I thought, it would be very important to make it to the top of the hill.  If I made it to the top of the hill, it would mean I would meet all my goals for 2016.  I would finish my novel, do a great job directing for Ilion Little Theatre, lose 15 pounds, clean my house, grow a vegetable garden…  And if I got halfway up the hill and turned around, I would probably be homeless by March, friendless and despised.

I knew, of course, that I was being silly.  For one reason, if I started running up the hill to HCCC, I was going to make it to the top.  I pretty much always do.

Hey, I just noticed something:  I am over 700 words already.  That is a long blog post for me.  I’m going to sign off here and make this a two parter (what, parter isn’t a word either?  What’s that all about, computer?).  Did I make to the top of the hill?  Did I try?  Did I continue to get silly?  Tune in tomorrow, for the first Saturday Running Commentary of 2016!

 

2 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Not Wuss — Winter!

Posted on December 30, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Winter returned to the Mohawk Valley last night (Tuesday, Dec 28).  I could hear sleet hitting the windows when I woke up in the night.  When I got up I saw the back yard was covered with snow.  Well, we knew it was coming.

I had planned to go running today.  For one reason, I could make a Running Commentary blog post.  For another, I’m getting fatter.  And for just one more, I promised myself I would run up the hill to Herkimer College before the end of 2015.  Perhaps the rain would stop before I got out of work.

During lunch I left stepped outside of my place of employment briefly.  Cold rain was falling and a bitter wind blew.  Even more ominous for my running plans, the sidewalks were covered with ice and ice water.  Yikes!  I could probably talk myself into running in the cold, POSSIBLY the rain (although I don’t usually).  Icy sidewalks, however, are to be assiduously avoided.  I revised my plans:  I would run in place on the mini-tramp while looking at a movie.  I might still have a Boris Karloff flick on my DVR.

I was feeling dreadfully tired by the time I got home, but rather than have a Wuss-out Wednesday post, I was going to try.  Then I saw a neighbor shoveling the snow from his front walk.  The neighbors on the other side had already shoveled their walk, as had other houses.  I felt I should be a responsible homeowner.

Shoveling snow is exercise, I assured myself.  Were the shovels on the back deck?  Yes.  I went inside only long enough to put my bag down then went out and got started.

It wasn’t long before I realized that while yesterday I had worn my work shoes home, today I had sensibly changed into my sneakers.  I told myself not to worry about it.  Even if my feet got soaked, I wasn’t going to be out there long enough for it to matter.  I would be out there maybe a half hour.  Half an hour is a good amount of exercise in the middle of the week.

I started on the sidewalk.  It was crunchy, iced-over snow, but it wasn’t too deep and it wasn’t too heavy. I had my reward right away when a nice lady came along walking her dog.  I petted the dog and chatted with the lady.  She said she had seen me walking a little white dog.

“Did you lose her?”

“Yes, she had cancer.”

She offered her condolences and I petted the dog again before they moved on.  I do hope to get another dog one day, possibly in the spring.

As I continued to clear the sidewalk, a gentleman from the apartment building next door came out and started shoveling the end of their driveway.  We chatted a bit about winter, commuting, and store-brand cottage cheese.  This shoveling wasn’t a bad gig at all.

When I started on the end of the driveway, things got a little less fun.  Between the snowplow piling more snow up and our vehicles going in and out of the driveway, the snow and ice was more stubbornly in place.  I worked away with determination.  I was rewarded with further conversation when the neighbor who lives on the other side came out and started shoveling their driveway.

I ended up shoveling for an hour.  I did not get the whole driveway done, but I cleared enough that Steven should be able to pull in and park.  I wasn’t sure I could get a blog post out of it but decided to try.  You be the judge:  is this better, worse, or about the same as one of my Wuss-out Wednesday posts?

 

4 Comments

Posted in humor, personal, Wuss Out Wednesday and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Jingle Bell Jog

Posted on December 24, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I actually don’t call what I do jogging.  Jogging sounds too jouncy for me; I strive for a smooth pace.  But I wanted to sound Christmasy, and you know how I love alliteration.

Be that as it may, I am at my parents’ house in Rome, NY, having arrived last night.  I have not had a chance to run since Sunday, due to Christmas preparations and my usual not having my act together, so I was determined to get out there today.

It was supposed to be warmer, so I only packed shorts and short-sleeved t-shirts. I confess to some trepidation about running prior to sunrise.  After all, doesn’t it get colder in the night?  No matter, I told myself.  Just run faster.  As it turned out, the weather was nice and warm.  It had stopped raining. I could dodge the puddles.  Most of them, anyways.  Off I went.

My plan was to stick to sidewalks and not cross too many busy streets, although there was not much traffic to worry about.  I admired Christmas lights on houses and wished I had found time to run earlier in the week.  My legs didn’t feel bad, but I think they would have felt better without three days off between runs.  No matter, I told myself (you may have noticed that I often say that to myself), I was running now.  I could run tomorrow, this would be fine.

It felt like spring, although some houses made it look like Christmas.  I flashed on Basic Training, which I went through in March 1997.  Running on wet roads in the dark in early spring.  However, there was no drill sergeant hollering at me, and the rest of my day promises to be distinctly more pleasant than the army.  Also, I am much better at running than I was then.  Or do I flatter myself?  Once again, no matter.  I was surprised to feel humidity.  Of course there’s nothing wrong with working up a good sweat, I told myself. Keep running.

My longest run recently was 40 minutes.  I decided not to go for that long of a run today, because I did not want to feel too tired later in the day.  I have a lot of Christmas celebrating to do.  Still, I did not want to do too short a run because of all the calories I would consume later.  I compromised on 33 minutes.

Toward the end of my run, I saw a man leaning on a fence in front of a house.

“Good morning,” I said.  “Merry Christmas!”

“And the same to you,” he returned.

I saw that he had a white beard.  Could I have encountered Santa Claus?

 

Leave a comment

Posted in humor, personal, running, running commentary and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →