Category Archives: Winter Weather

Cold Weather…

Posted on 27 January 2010 | 1 comment

is not conducive to running outside. But, when there is no option to run on a treadmill, run outside I must. I was trying to explain to a friend today about my inability to run on a treadmill. “I know. It’s boring,” she said. Well, yes, it is boring, but more accurately, I cannot (not don’t like to) run on a treadmill. I get some weird form of vertigo in which I cannot run in a straight line. I end up sort of wavering around and eventually falling off the back of the machine as I attempt to self-correct my missteps.

Really, I am sure my plight is funny for those watching in the gym. I am sure I resemble some sort of drunken barn-fowl being chased by a much too eager and conniving coyote. I sort of hedge around a bit as I try to adjust the gadgets and gizmos, then I succumb to motion sickness from trying to read while moving, until finally I am overcome with all of it, lose my footing, and sliding defeated off the back side of the machine. Seriously. This is how it goes every time, I simply cannot run on treadmill.

Today I ran for 30 minutes outside in <20º weather with the wind blowing and my feet pounding. My breath got stuck all slippery and breathy in my Buff, which doubles as a face mask and neck warmer. I hate to re-breathe my own breath, so I despise wearing the thing, but my cheeks get cold in the wind. It isn’t even that it hurts to breathe or anything that sane, but my cheeks get chapped by the Arctic wind and they burn. Really, I am pretty much a winter weather wimp.

Well, not entirely. I actually don’t mind the cold weather, but I have a hard time regulating my temperature when I run. I start with the recommended number of layers with the moisture-wicking stuff as the bottom layer, but I find myself taking off clothes and putting them back on, only to take them off again. Mostly, I find myself wrangling like a cattle hustler with my hat, my Buff, my gloves, and my outside top layer. They come off. They go back on. They come off; I put them in my pockets. They get annoying. I put them back on. I get hot. I carry them. I get tired of carrying them. The cycle continues. And, I despise running in anything except shorts. I can’t stand the way long pants touch your ankles when you run. It’s quite simply aggravating.

Don’t get me wrong. Running has been the best re-investment I have made in my life. I haven’t felt better in a long time. I just want spring to come. Now.

*

I am thankful for long naps in the winter.

Food: banana, juice, muffin, chocolate milk, almonds, salad with fake chicken, handful of M&Ms, two pieces of veggie pizza, breadsticks, broccoli

Exercise: walked the dogs, ran 30 minutes, walked from Burris to RB

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Posted in Food, Running, Winter Weather

Shortbread and Chai.

Posted on 23 December 2009 | Leave a comment

Never let anyone tell you that making chai tea from scratch is less expensive than buying tea bags of chai at the store. That person is lying to you. And probably smiling while they are lying to you. It is not less expensive. In fact, it is much more expensive, but the taste is outstanding and you can add your own mix of spices, which only includes those you enjoy. This is the trade-off in the land of chai.

Do you remember in middle school when you watched those economics movies that talked about trade-offs, supply and demand, and other economic concepts that seemed so cut and dry. They seemed too easy to be true, and for the most part, they were. Maybe they were true, just not simple. For each action there are multiple trade-offs. It isn’t like you choose the yo-yo or the teddy bear. You are also choosing the American factory worker or the Malaysian factory worker, you are choosing the plastic verses the fabric, you are choosing minimal packaging or no package or excessive packaging, and you are choosing a sedentary activity (cuddling the bear) or a more active toy (if moving your arm can be non-sedentary). Those fucking films made it seem like the choice was simple. One toy or the other toy. They lied, too, like the articles online that said homemade chai is cheaper.

I guess I am not so concerned with the cost of the chai as I make myself out to be. I really am not concerned with the price at all, because the tea is part of my Christmas gift to my family. (I am hoping none of them read this before Friday. Sorry, Abs; though you already knew anyway.) I also made some other delectable snacks that will join the chai in the gift bags. However, I sort of cheated on part of the presents because I reused instead of hand-making; I recycled instead of creating my own.

I cheated completely on William and Shannon’s gifts. I tried in vain to make hot cocoa mix from scratch, and it kept tasting like dried milk, cocoa, sugar, and salt. So, I went and bought a big container of cocoa mix and marshmellows and simply divided it into bags for their gifts. I am sure they will appreciate my generosity without even knowing it. They should; I am making special cookies for them, too.

*

Today has been a weird day because I got up so early to take Elizabeth to Indianapolis to catch her train. The Amtrak station is a little sketchy. There is no checking in like there is at the airport. You just sit on the bench and wait until someone comes walking through and says, “All aboard!” For real, the woman came out of the back room and yelled, “All aboard,” as she walked toward the elevator. Then everyone just walked up the stairs or took the elevator to the upper level of Union Station where the train sat outside. The way it is set up is weird because the trains sort of go next to the train station now instead of going through it like they used to. I mean, seriously, “All aboard!” I loved it. I hope Elizabeth makes it to Dallas unscathed, and I can’t wait until this summer when we take the Greyhound to see the Chavez/Lewises.

When I got home from taking her, it was around 6:30 AM. I walked the dogs, took care of the cats, and then fell asleep on the couch at around 10:30. I hadn’t fallen asleep last night until 11:30 or midnight, so I was exhausted. When I woke up, it was 1:30 PM and  most of the day was shot. I took care of the other critters I am watching, and then came home and worked on Christmas presents.

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My brother and I decided to create a fun event: instead of paying to go to Indy to run on New Year’s Day, we are holding our own run around Minnetrista. I think it will be fun. Basically, the idea is that we are just running for fun. You can run around the loop as many times as you want n two hours, and then we will all have some food and hot cocoa together. I am making cheap shirts for me, Bec, Adam, and William. Everyone else will be jealous. I think it would be fun if this turned into an annual event, but I won’t hold my breath.

*

I am thankful that Georgie’s surgery went well.

Exercise: walked the dogs three miles

Food: chili, milk, toast, tea, shortbread

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Posted in Christmas, Family, Food, New Year, Relationships, Running, Winter Weather

Reading. Grocery Shopping. Wild Rice Soup.

Posted on 5 December 2009 | 4 comments

One of the best books written, Mama Day by Gloria Naylor, was my occupation and my joy for the majority of the day today. I love the way Naylor uses the voices of her characters to tell a complex tale of spirituality and healing, the way she skilfully rends together the tale from Ophelia’s perspective and George’s perspective with the bits told by the omniscient narrator. I think if any writer writes a tale from back to front better than Toni Morrison, it is Naylor. The only way to describe this book is by talking about its beauty and elegance.

*

This morning when we went grocery shopping, we had two interesting encounters with strangers. Both were grace filled moments in which we were able to stand in the store and have great conversation with people we didn’t know. It always amazes me that among the chaos of the holiday season and the ridiculous frenzy of the shopping madness that some people become completely intolerant and mean while others become so kind and gracious.

*On a side note I just saw an American Airlines commercial where the attendees of a seminar had to stand face to face because “there is no personal space here. We are all molecules of one large organism.” I don’t rightly think so. Just because I am in favor of kindness and grace, does not mean that I am in favor of being comfy-close with someone else. Ick.*

One of the sweet encounters we had was with a cashier at Meijer, who had just started her shift, but she got to go on her first fifteen minute break after she waited on us. Sometimes when people who work in service jobs find out that they get their breaks, they rush you through in order to get off their feet. I don’t blame them; I’ve worked in the service sector, too. This cashier, whose name I read over and over again so I could remember it, but I didn’t, took her time with us, made small talk, even took two other customers after us because they had been standing in her line. She was friendly, smiled, and told us to have a great day and happy holidays. I think this is going of the way to give grace and make people feel special or human. I like this touch.

*

Bec made delicious wild rice soup tonight. She added fresh mushrooms to make it a little more hearty. We haven’t had it for a long time, so it was a welcome dinner. It is rich and thick and a perfect warm up before we go out to walk the dogs. I love a rich stew-like soup!

The Iron Chef secret ingredient is eggnog tonight. I think Bobby Flay got his chef’s hat handed to him by Morimoto. I love it when that happens.

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I am thankful for small but meaningful interactions with people we didn’t previously know.

Exercise: walked dogs 2 miles

Food: banana, hot chocolate, cheese ball, pretzels, celery, swiss cheese, rice soup, almonds, two clementines, Klondike bar

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Posted in Dissertation, Food, Grace, Literature, Reading, Relationships, Winter Weather

Swimming and Running and Working…

Posted on 17 September 2009 | 5 comments

Oh, my!

On Tuesday night I swam for the first time in a long time. I have been swimming recently, but I haven’t done a real swim–if you can call 2000 yards a real swim–for several years. When I first hopped into the water, I was a little uncertain about the outcome of the evening. To say the least, when I figured out that I could still swim a 500 in under ten minutes, I was completely shocked! I did kicks, pulls, and some straight-up swimming. I started off with a little warm-up and then swam two, 500-yard crawls, then I switched it up with some kicking and pulling, before easing out of the pool with a small cool down. It felt good. My body remembered the water, the motion, the groove.

When I came into class tonight, one of my students, Stephanie, told me that she saw me at the pool on Tuesday. She was in the lane next to mine. I have to say that she is faster than I am, but I am not ashamed because I am 35-fucking-years-old and S-L-O-W. But, I am going again tonight.

*

I woke up this morning before the sun and ran my four miles. It was only 45 degrees when I got up, and the leaves blanketed the sidewalks and roads with their crunchiness. I warmed up to a sweat pretty quickly and was glad that I had opted to leave the long-sleeved shirt in the house. For the first two miles, my legs felt stiff and uncooperative, but then I settled into my pace for the third mile. For some reason my last mile is always hard, but I continually pull through.

This morning the fall weather helped because I was on my own quest for solace and rejuvenation. As I began I prayed for a moment, asking for quiet and peace. I was given leaves. Every fall I am given leaves, and I accept them graciously as God’s own gift to me. I realize in my heart of hearts that God didn’t make the beauty of fall just for me, but I like to fantasize that [They] might have, especially when the leaves crunch and the wind blows and the sun rises up slowly, softly over the river.

I used to think that the sunrise was the only good thing about getting up early, and, realistically, it wasn’t good enough for me to get out of bed on a regular basis. In the past few weeks, though, I have realized that the sunrise is the first good thing about getting up early. The second is the silence of the morning. Particularly on Saturday and Sunday, at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning there are no cars or other people. When I get up that early, I have the birds, the breeze in the tress, the animals scurrying along the river bank, and the occasional dog barking in a yard to myself. I don’t have to share it with anyone else. Third, there is a certain level of peace that hovers over Muncie in the dark, in the quiet. There is a presence of God’s greatness that exists undisturbed. And, it is beautiful. It gives me peace.

I run my first road-race, a 10K, on October 10. It is called Soles to Souls and part of my entry fee will be refunded if I donate gently used shoes that will be distributed to those in need. My second race, a 5-mile trail race, will be on November 1 in Anderson, and I will run with Adam and William. I hope I can finish it, because I have heard that it kicks your ass.

*

Work is going well. I take my oral exams next Friday, September 25 at 10 AM. I am nervous, but I think I will be fine.

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Posted in Running, School, Swimming, Winter Weather

100° Heat Index

Posted on 25 June 2009 | 3 comments

Today the temperature is well above 90° and the heat index is over 100°. The poor dogs haven’t quite grasped the concept of their wading pool, so they drink from it instead of getting into it and sitting in the cool water. They mostly lie around in the dirt under the lilac bush, trying to bite the flies that swarm our neighborhood.

I want to go swimming in the worst way, so badly, in fact, that I am considering riding my bike to the HC to do a little swimming on the down-low in Dave and Alane’s pool. With my luck, I would get there and they will have decided not to fill it this year. I am sure they wouldn’t mind me swimming in it if they have filled it, so maybe next week I will lug one of my anthologies there and study after I swim.

I have attempted to start running again, hoping that I can continue this time. When I got so sick this winter, my lungs got a little angry with me, and they have only recently begun to feel strong enough to try to start up again. This first week has gone really well, and I think it helped that I have been walking so much. My goal is to combine walking and running to equal 3 to 5 miles every day. So far, I seem to have no problem doing that.

Tomorrow, I will get up at six to jog before the sun is really up. Hopefully, I will beat the humidity, too. It would be nice to be only mildly gross when I get home from exercising. This morning when I got finished mowing the lawn, my headband was moist, but when I got back from my bike ride, it was soaked. I could literally ring it out into the sink. Gross.

I am studying the Renaissance today. Maybe I can get friendly with Shakespeare.

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Posted in Fat, Gym, Running, Winter Weather