Susan Donnelly

Mr. Snowman on my grandmother's old birdbath.

This winter is remarkably cold, remarkably snowy and lately – oppressively dark and gloomy.

With a string of warm winters here in east Tennessee, this one’s been hard to accept, much less cope with.  The bravado of December evaporated immediately after New Year’s.  The last threads cold weather denial unravelled when the calendar flipped to February and every day still looked like the last twenty: low grey clouds and highs below freezing.  Even the novelty of the snow wore off this week (okay, it’s still pretty when falling and in the occasional beam of sunshine).

On top of that, mid-January to mid-February is usually the toughest time of the year for me to summon the minimum motivation to run.  It happens every year, warm years or cold, so on the bright side I now know to anticipate it.  Thank goodness for my birthday or it would be a long, bleak slog into March.

Still, it creeps so gradually that it’s apparent only when I reach a certain point.  If you’re dealing with any of these, keep the faith and hang on until March. You’re almost there!

• Blah motivation
• Revolving washloads of running clothes with no end in sight
• Can’t remember the last time I wore shorts
• Yaktrax now slip easily over my shoes
• Nose and lips, even ears are perpertually chapped
• Dodging streetbergs lurking in unexpected places
• Racing twice in snow without a change in annual schedule

How to cope?  Try anything!  I’m doing better this year than usual this year and here’s what’s working:

• Mondays, Rob drops me off at work.  At the end of the day, I can run home or sleep at work.  Which would you choose?  Yes, that’s powerful motivation.
• Tuesdays, I meet my group at Haw Ridge for a trail run, a date I rarely break and one that’s saved my sanity more than once (thanks guys!!!
• Wednesday, iffy.  With all the mud and late leaving work, I’ve been trying to squeeze in a run between work and home
• Thursday, it’s the last day of my work week so I run to work in the morning and run home at night.  It’s a great way to start and end the day.
• Weekends, there’s either a race schedule or we get out somewhere low nearby (not the AT, for example, which would have ice and be a wasted trip)
• Long-term – Fear of getting out of shape for Lost 118 in Florida next weekend with my sister crewing.  The most powerful motivator of all.  I’d like to stay in decent enough shape to enjoy the race and spend some coherent time with her, which is the real point of the entire weekend.

In truth, I wish there was a magic answer.  On the way out of work incredibly late tonight, way past dark and way too late to run, I passed a lone Canada goose nestled in the snow on the edge of the parking lot, nibbling on grass.  It didn’t look as cold as it should with belly on icy snow, so I say “hi” and it regarded me casually between bites.  Rounding the corner, the wind hit and I scrunched into my thick scarf, making soft, cozy cave against the wind.  Snowflakes swirled gracefully in the streetlight ahead.  The remaining snow shone like glass melted all over the lawn.

Sure it’s cold, dark, and snowy, but it can’t last forever.  And maybe there’s still magic for those that look for it.

Daffodils are trying. If they can, I can!

Posted: Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 11:23 pm | Tags: Blog | Respond | Trackback