Wind. A lot of wind.

Quite awhile back when I signed up for the Antarctica marathon (yes! Antarctica!) I said my training plan was to go out and run any time it's really cold or really windy. I'm a few weeks into the training cycle and I amped up the rigor of today's 8-miler by heading out on the Colchester Causeway in high winds.

Weather underground says it was 43 degrees (which felt pretty warm) and 17.3 mile-per-hour winds from the south. If you are unfamiliar with wind speed (as I am) I will translate: this is a lot of wind.

Starting at Airport Park, the first 2 miles are under trees, and then the bike path is exposed with open water on both sides for two more miles. Going out, the wind was at my back and helping me run fast. But at the cut in the causeway, I turned around and now was running directly into the wind. I had images of roadrunner cartoons in my head, where legs are arms and churning as fast as they can but you're basically standing still. I was able to get used to the headwind afte the first mile, but man! did that wind sap a huge amount of leg strength.

When I reach the shore, and the shelter of trees, I stopped to stretch and shake off the wind. And lucky I did! Three birders were standing around a scope and invited me to take a look at a snowy owl, sitting pretty in the reeds several hundred feet away. So pretty!

I finished the the stretch under trees back to Airport Park with an easy, slow jog. The snow we'd received earlier in the week was melting, leaving a fat muddy puddles on the trail and big swaths of green grass at the park. A weird mix that seems forgivable in November but will be offcially unacceptable tomorrow, the first day of December.

Mile 1: 10:33
Mile 2:  9:45
Mile 3: 10:26
Mile 4: 10:03
Mile 5: 13:15 !!
Mile 6: 12:36
Mile 7: 11:43
Mile 8: 11:42

Good morning, Winooski!

Accuweather said it was 9 degrees when I got up this morning (“Real Feel: 2 degrees”) but the sun was coming up and from my window I could see steam pouring off the Winooski River. Gorgeous! I headed out for a 4-mile loop around town, sucking in cold air, trying to stay on the sunny side of each street and picking over uneven, snowy sidewalks. My earbuds were piping Morning Edition into my fleece hat when I heard Mitch Wertlieb describe the cold (not helpful) and then deliver this hopeful line: “Tomorrow will be significantly warmer – highs in the 20s.” Sweeeet!

Can We Get A Little Help, Here?

We're feeling pretty beat up by the weather here in Vermont. The week of New Year's was downright nuts: wind chills in the -30s and severe health warnings about going outside with exposed skin. And, gray skies added to the misery.

And now the flip-side: a January thaw that is just as miserable. Everything is glazed with thick ice or rotting with snowmelt.I've been running in trail shoes on sidewalks, or running in the street and dodging traffic.

This is the riverfront path in front of my building:

Somewhere under this mess is a sidewalk in Winooski:




























And while I'm happy it's not -17, the probably with 41 and rainy is a few inches of really cold water forming a black-long pond where a sidewalk might be: