Um, But Why Is It Snowing?

Seriously Winter, it's not funny anymore.

Normally I try to post something, you know, like, deep and thought provoking, perhaps even uplifting. Not today. No, today I would like to give full vent to my pure and unadulterated hatred of wintertime. More specifically, this wintertime. And yes, hate is a strong word. All of my friends who like to "Shred the gnar gnar pow pow" (in Coloradoan that translates to "go skiing") you should probably quit reading now.

Anyway, the cold is fine. The dark early morning runs that could induce clinical depression in pretty much anyone in about two days are okay. The wind is bearable. The fact that it stopped snowing at the beginning of last May and started again in early September--meaning we had FOUR months of non-winter last YEAR (global warming? Yes please!)--all of that is acceptable. Annoying, but acceptable. I know I know, we live in Colorado, and it's winter, and there's still a couple months of it left, so get over it.

But do you see this?

Do you know what this is? Snow? Ice? It's both and neither. This is in fact a basterdized, hybrid version of frozen and re-frozen-and-re-frozen-and-re-frozen-again snow, ice, and slush that is everywhere right now. Every. Where. On every trail. You can't shovel it. You can't frolic in it. You can't play with it. And you can't really run on it. You can't escape it. It's not good for anything. I mean, LOOK at it. It's just sitting there. It's even more insulting owing to the fact that because it is RE-frozen, that means it actually got warm enough at one point to partly melt, and now it's not anymore, it's a tease. Ever tried to do workouts in this nonsense? Good luck with that. You have to pick your way along at 10 minute mile pace and watch every step and try not to eat s*** or break anything.

In really desperate times there's always the option of running in a parking garage, which is great till you get the boot. Then there's treadmill, which can be quite the blessing, but in a way I feel as though succumbing to the treadmill comes with a certain amount of shame, as though one must hide their face while using it, because it means the weather defeated you. But whatever you gotta do.

Sometimes winter days are wonderful and beautiful and magical, like this:

But on the whole our winter's been primarily composed of the unfortunate snow/slush/ice combo as I mentioned before. I've lived here my whole life and I dunno if I can remember a winter as long and unrelenting as this one. Sorry friends who like to shred the gnar gnar pow pow, but I'm over it.

But hey it all sure beats cross training, so there's that.

But enough of my gripes about the weather, I just needed to get that out of the system, and it's out now. So on a more upbeat and excited note, USA Cross Country is less than one week away, which is my favorite, and which I am stoked for, and after that Gate River Run is on the docket, which even though I've only run it once, still remains one of my absolute favorite road races. Not to mention it's in Florida, the land of never-winter. After that, I think I might put track on the back burner this year in favor of racing up mountains instead, but I haven't really decided.

In the meantime, I'll be crossing my fingers that Punxsutawney Phil was wrong, and trying to convince myself that winter training makes me feel like this happy little guy, instead of like a Grumpy McGrumpkins.