Winter weary

Guys? I've had enough.

Would be so lovely without the ice covering the trail

I've had enough of ice.

Screw shoes are great.
What's better is NOT NEEDING THEM

I've had enough of freezing cold meltwater on top of ice.

Soaked to the ankles.

I've had enough of not knowing whether or not I'll make it through a run without falling.

Roll those dice..

..and of sudden encounters in the dark.

Umm, I think I'll go 'round..

I've had enough of mashed potato snow and slush.

Energy-sucking mush

I've had enough of winds over 50kph blowing everything around, including me.

I'm so glad I only had to run into this for less than a mile.

It should never snow UP.

I've had enough of snow squalls so intense they make things disappear.

Like overpasses.
It had been sunny 10 minutes earlier..

And sidewalks

MY FEET

And even the whole Niagara Escarpment at Kelso!

And I've definitely had enough of my face icing up on runs.

Really wish I'd remembered to slather on some lip balm.
On my cheeks, that is.

It's made it very tough to keep trucking along with the 100 runs in 100 days challenge, though I have managed to stay in the top 25 (and first woman overall) to this point.

Just over 220km for February alone.

I did, however, break and go to the indoor track for one run on Sunday. It was after dark, and the wind was gusting over 100kph with vicious snow squalls.

What other shirt would I wear?

It felt so amazing to run in just shorts and a tank top, without having to worry about what sort of awful thing the next step might do to my feet or legs. I can't wait to get back to days that allow me to do that outside!

The weather, however, does not seem to be tiring of the cold, snow and ice.

Joy.

So it looks like it'll be a lot more of this, whether I like it or not.

Who needs feet anyway?

At the same time, I'm profoundly grateful that I have the health, fitness and gear to keep me running through what has been one of the most trying winters I can recall. Even apart from the awful weather, I have managed to survive and come out the other side of two of the most difficult months of my life. Tanker was out of commission for weeks on end after his hernia surgery in January - right after Stride Inside - and that put a lot of additional tasks on my shoulders. My workload at the office has increased significantly since last year, and January 1st-15th and the whole month of February are my absolute busiest times at the office. Somehow, while putting in 44.5hrs of overtime since the start of the year, I've also managed to survive a 3-hour trail race in a howling snowstorm, two snowshoe races, and anywhere from 7-11 runs per week.

I'm grateful for the moments of sunshine, the occasional clear sidewalks, and a run or two when I could go jacketless.

And especially the precious "all of the above" days.

So, while I may not be looking forward to more cold, snow, and treacherous ice, I'm quite cognizant that I'm in a whole lot better place than I was at this time last year.

Still beats being injured and unable to run.

I just need to keep the faith that spring is, in fact, on the way.

Stay warm, my friends!