Our rainy and snowy weather has gotten me down lately. It’s not so much the precipitation, which we actually need, but the constant gray skies. However, next week has a much brighter forecast, up to 13 degrees and mostly sunny. Also, say what you will about Daylight Savings Time, but when we got home tonight at 7:30 pm, it was still not quite dark. My husband and I had gone out to dinner on a dreary Monday after work, drank some wine, and talked about our garden: planting our cherry tree into the back yard, planting the heather (now in pots) into the ground, extending the trellis for our honeysuckle out front, trying pumpkins again, and growing leaf lettuce, green beans, chives, kale, herbs, and snap peas in the yard instead of in the planters. The talk of growing and renewal is always exciting each year!
Then it’s planning our outings. My next trail run this year is scheduled for Thursday at Deer Lake trails. And another one this coming weekend for Mundy Park. What’s more, my husband bought me a lightweight barbell for balance and squat lifting exercises. So I am really excited right now to train better in strength and balance exercise to tone my running muscles.
I thought about running over the past few months when we’ve had ice, I’ve had a broken toe, or have had a terrible cold–the last good outdoor run I had was in late January near Annapolis, Maryland and the eastern coast. But even that was a real soaker, with pouring rain. I do like running in the rain, but with trail running, things are tricky–rocks and pebbles get wet, the trail gets puddles, and I slip around. The older I get, the worse balance I have. Still, running in the rain is quite nice compared to hot summer runs!
So my plan this year is really no more competitive races. Or even fun runs, except the 10K in October, which fundraises for solar energy in the lower mainland. The other races are generally 5K, and I do those anyway on any given run day. I’ve realized these past two years of running that being around huge crowds, running on pavement, and running among city buildings is not my type of running. I like to jog in cool forests, away from people, taking in the great aromas and sights of nature.
I’m already planning my three day a week running, but also various vacation outings we’ll have, including Kamloops in two weekends, tent-camping up on the Sunshine Coast in early May, running in my favorite-since-childhood-park, Turkey Run, when we go to Indiana this summer, and all the other weekend trips we make to places nearby, including camping and being away from society. Also I’m hoping my daughter can come up in the fall this year, and we’ll meet and go mountain hiking in Washington or Oregon.
This feels more exciting than when I began to run in late 2014. This is a pickup after knowing that thrill, after having not been able to run outside too much in the last month and a half. I feel like a bird in a cage, winging to get out.
I had really meant to talk more tonight about some old photos I saw today of ancestors and the kind of family I grew up in (I learned recently that a couple cousins might be around this summer when I visit the Midwest, which is awesome), but I’ll save that post for another time when it’s not so hectic. I have been super busy at work lately and have meetings all day tomorrow–another time, friends.
The featured image is of the rainforest in Mundy Park–taken by me.