A long day…

Well, at least it has kind of felt long although it has passed pretty quickly. I’m still frustrated over things at work, trying not to let them bother me…it’s this time of year. I am a spring/summer person. I live for the day the leaves start to change, the green, the freshness, the rain washing away the dirt and grime of winter, the flowers slowly starting to bud and open and perfume the air with their beautiful fragrances…the days start getting longer, each day gets a little warmer, neighbors that I haven’t seen all winter are now lingering outside longer to enjoy it and you get a chance to get reacquainted and all the fun and joys of the long summer days stretch endlessly ahead. There are summer festivals, live outdoor music, runs outside in shorts and t-shirts, road races, fresh fruit and veggies as the farmer’s markets open, flowers to plant…you get the picture. As fall comes I hear people talk about how beautiful the leaves are, granted, they are pretty, but it doesn’t seem to take much before they are blown off the trees, the make a mess to try to run through (and dangerous roads!), the rainy days are cooler and not as much fun to run in, the days are getting shorter and there is a bite in the air when you try to run outside, winter is going to get it’s cold grip on the earth soon and all the trees will be dead looking…people are bundled inside and you don’t see them for the rest of the winter except maybe in quick passing at the mailbox….this past spring one of my neighbors upon seeing me for the first time in so long stated he thought I had gotten married and moved out or something…I told him no, I’m much too smart for that….but I digress!! I just can’t be happy about the fall, particularly when I live in Minnesota and the days have gotten very cold, including an overnight low last night in the 20s. It was 23 degrees outside when I got up this morning. It SNOWED yesterday!! Yes, you read that right. Granted it didn’t stay, except a light dusting on some of the houses, but it was flurrying today as well. I had to dig gloves out to drive to work in. Tonight when I get home I’m actually going to maybe light a log in my fireplace. That’s the type of weather we are at. I don’t care for cold. I really don’t care for cold at all. I’m a wuss. No matter how many layers I have one, no matter how well I dress I’m always still uncomfortable outside on runs in the cold (and usually uncomfortable because I am wearing too much to move comfortably). I’ve done my first two treadmill runs of the fall/winter season for the 2006/2007 winter already. It will be many, many, many more I know too…and I’m already so bored by it I can’t stand it! I hate running on the treadmill. I ran on it once this summer. That’s it. And that run was only because granted, it was hot out, but I could’ve done it, but it was just easier cause I was already strength training anyway. I do need some more warm weather stuff so I can continue to attempt running outside on at least the less bitter days…