Subdued

This winter was my 4th in Minnesota. It has been by far the longest, coldest, least humane winter I have ever experienced.

There has been snow on the ground since early December, which means it has been four months since I've been able to gaze upon my yard without seeing any white. The snow itself hasn't been so bad. It's the numerous accompanying annoyances that pick away at you over the course of the long dull winter that eventually wear you down. All these little annoyances are enough to make even the most polite and reserved Minnesotan snap like Diana Ross at an airport security gate. And I'm not reserved, nor am I a native Minnesotan (by my own hedonist standards, I am quite polite, though).

The most recent example of the minor annoyance that almost made me put my fist through our truck window was when we were attempting to get the children in the car the other day. To someone not living in a land with air temperatures below zero, this sounds like an easy task, I know. Certainly not one that could require a well-thought out excuse for the new stitches now holding your fingers onto your hand. But by the time March rolls around in Minnesota, you are pretty damn tired of the 40-minute process of getting your children dressed and strapped into their car seats only to have to de-layer them after your ten minute car ride.

By the time you get all the 14 layers onto the children, you are quite sweaty, running late, and pretty frustrated. So, without the gentle nature that you possess in November, you shove them into the garage to get into the truck. Sensing your impatience they decide to rub against the mud-covered truck resulting in a thick batter of caked on dirt that couldn't be thicker if you had first dipped them in beaten eggs.

Now that the suppressed rage of hating winter is no longer blinding, I can look back and say that the children are not completely to blame. It's hard NOT to touch the truck given that there is a mere 1 inch of space left between the garage wall and the vehicles due to the layers of mud now stuck to it. You see, when it's below 10 f, the carwashes no longer operate. It only takes 2 days of driving on salted, muddy roads to coat your vehicle in a cakey batter of winter. So, we all get a little dirty, no matter how careful we are.

That said, even if there were room in the garage to maneuver past, the kids would still get covered in dirt...I am convinced that there is a direct and provable correlation between how much dirt is on your vehicle and how strongly your children feel compelled to rub against it.

I recorded data for many months and here is my final analysis:

Easter Bunny 2.0

Easter. Spring. Tulips. Bunnies. Peeps. Little girls with golden curls prancing about in their green yard searching for eggs...

Or...

Flu. Snow. Code push requiring husband to work on the weekend. Last minute shopping trips at Target and near fist-fights over the last handful of Cadbury Cremes.

If you ever get the choice, I'd recommend the former.

But spring is quite cruel to us Minnesotans. I remember the first year I moved here, dressing up the best I could as a 6-month pregnant person. It was the hardest I had tried to look decent in a skirt and a pair of heels in...well, 6 months. Of course, the day Easter came, it was approximately 8 degrees outside. All the cute little girls dressed up for church were adorned in beautiful spring dresses. You just couldn't see them underneath their winter-mud-encrusted coats. That's when I learned what all Minnesota women know. You can be tough, or you can be cute. If you want us to be both, then don't expect us to be nice.

But now that my kids are finally old enough to enjoy Easter, I wanted to have a little fun with it. We made elaborate plans for food, friends, family and the instilling of traditions. These were all quickly jettisoned when Adam came home with the flu. The next day it snowed many inches.

These two factors confined me and the kids to a veritable quarantine. Jason still had to work at 6 am on Saturday. By the time afternoon rolled around and I was finally able to buy the egg dye kit, Adam was feeling well enough to get into the spirit of easter. We had fun dying them, but after that, things got tricky.

I explained to Adam that EB (Easter Bunny) would hide the eggs that we had dyed. He didn't appreciate this. See, years prior to this, we spent Easter with Jason's family. His mother isn't fond of leaving eggs out overnight, so we used plastic eggs. Myself? I think a healthy background level of bacteria keeps one from violent reactions to an incidental ingestion of large amounts of same bacteria....it's why I regularly eat things like hot dogs, pizza left out overnight, and sushi. A little egg left out overnight? No big deal. Not yet a nutritionist or biology major, Adam wouldn't, of course appreciate my line of reasoning. I had to work on him at another level. Our ensuing conversation left me exasperated.

Me: "What's the matter with leaving these eggs out overnight, buddy?"

Adam: "The EB brings his own eggs...on one paw, he carries treats and toys, on the other he carries the eggs with candy in them!"

Me: "But EB wrote a letter to me this year and told me that he has SO MANY toys and candy that he doesn't have any room in a bag for any eggs, so he thought we could use our own."

Adam: "Can you give him another bag?"

Me: "Not in time for tonight...he's already doing delivery...?" (running out of excuses at this point)

"How about we write him another letter and next year he can bring us his own eggs..."

Adam: "OK, tomorrow write him a letter and send him a bag for his eggs. Tomorrow we'll just find our own."

So the deal was struck. Next year: plastic eggs. I guess I don't mind giving into a 4-yr old's demands, so long as he has good reasoning and arguing capabilities. Kind of makes a momma proud.

Though, I did learn from another mom, that actually writing letters to EB is so passe. Apparently, he has an e-mail account now!

Week 6 Wrap-Up

I'm 6 weeks into the 16 week training program for my marathon.

I was supposed to do: 4, 5, 4, 11 with no days of working out in between.

I was stupid.

I did: 4 tues, 6 weds, should have rested on thurs but instead I did weights and bike, friday should have been a 4-miler, but my legs gave out on me and I ended up doing 3 miles.

I should have rested Saturday, but instead I thought, "hey! Yoga would be a good thing to do!" so I ran to the 90 minute class. The super-fit bodies on everyone should have given away the fact that this wasn't just stretching.

I really did enjoy the class, but it was the most intense Yoga I've ever done. With the running, I am really good at finding my center and a focal point when external things try their hardest to get in your way (try holding "awkward pose when everyone else around you is falling; it ain't easy!) so there is plenty of crossover between this Yoga and running. It's not about tuning out the pain, it's about focusing on that which will carry you through.

Not surprisingly, my left leg is what gave me the most trouble in the class. Performing any poses that invoked the strength of my left leg was intensely challenging and left me shaking (literally). But I knew this was a good thing; these are the very muscle groups that cause me problems post-run (my motorcycle accident 5 years ago still haunts me)...I figured this Yoga class would be a good solution to my running problems.

Until I tried to run today. Muscles were on fire! I like to believe I've experienced some severe pain in my life. Like the time I fell and broke three ribs. Or the time I was in labor for 30 hrs (and pushed for 3!) or the time I rode my motorcycle with my knee out into Jason's motorcycle, hitting his tailpipe on the knee joint and had to limp for 3 months...Grrr...I am so ready for a robot body.

So, lessons learned: don't work out on planned days off. Stick to 4 days per week. And, also, get more sleep. I managed only 9 hours of sleep in 48 hrs at the end of the week. No wonder all I can think about is snuggling up in in bed.

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Here is a good summary of the 26 poses from our Yoga class. I am considering moving my long run day in order to accommodate this class.

26 Yoga Poses

10 Miles

I finally did it. I finally ran 10 miles (at one time).

Although I am still a giant cow, this is the farthest I have run in one attempt. Even farther than when I weighed 116 lbs and could run an 8:30 mile for 3 miles.

The curious thing is that I thoroughly enjoy running much more than I did when I was skinny and it all came so easy to me. Now, I can't just hammer my way through a run. I have to relax while doing it. That was not a skill I was ready to develop a few years ago. When you are 25, you think you can do anything as fast as you want. When you are 31, you know better (or at least you should).

Just 'cuz you take longer to do it, doesn't mean you can't do it.

So the thing I was supposed to focus on this week according to my training plan, was learning to visualize myself on my best run, or at the end of the marathon in order to have "positive mental tapes" to pull myself through the rough spots. I didn't make my mental tape according to plan, but rather, used what works for me...I always turn to the molecular level, trying to imagine glycolosis, aerobic respiration, CO2/O2 exchange - the crap I try to picture when I'm actually in school and having to learn something difficult.

When that fails, I turn on ESPN and watch college basketball.

Not Hot

Long run was sidelined this week due to illness. A GI issue on Sunday had me out of commission and now I've got a head cold. So does Natasha. So does Adam. Jason: You're next!