The Long, Intermittent Winter

The weather comes in chunks here. That's not quite accurate, since there's always weather. As my wife tells me, it's not whether there will be weather, but what the weather will be. That's true enough. Here the weather goes from snowy and cold to just warm enough to melt it and then cold to freeze it all again. Recent;y we've gotten 2 days of snow, followed by a day of bright sunshine that melts it and turns it to slush and frozen mud. My new sneakers are fully worn in and I have ended evening runs two times now with waterlogged socks.

I enjoy the snow here, since it reminds me of home. I miss getting up 45 minutes early and shoveling our 2-3 inches every morning. It stinks when you're doing it, but it's also a nice opportunity to get a little physical activity in before work. And I get to feel like I did something for my family, clearing the driveway and making little walkways for them along the house. I also miss knocking over icicles, but that's just my love of smashing things, I think.

I am back on track with my running, although I have a lot of ground to make up. We are 2 months from the Marathon and 50 miler, and I can't afford to miss anymore time if I am to run confidently in April. I don't expect to run very fast, and the only thing I have truly to worry about is blisters. This is why it is so important to get a lot of miles under me now, so my feet toughen up as much as possible.

Things are quieting down at work, which is nice. I spend most of the day putting out fires other staff members start or trying to get our subordinate units to follow order as directed. Working with our subordinate units is like having children at daycare, since I have no real amount of authority. You can only punish them for naughtiness so far until you're yelled at by the boss.

I bought a mug and started drinking hot chocolate mixed with coffee. We have lots of swiss miss packets from the DFAC and a hot water heater, so there's no shortage. I also decided to eat a little healthier, since living off chili and turkey sandwiches wasn't really paying the bills.