It’s officially winter in the Pacific Northwest. Many of my favorite trails are covered in several feet of snow, and the closest local trail system closes from December through April to allow for mule deer migration.
I have historically always hated winter. I don’t like driving in it, I don’t like running in it, and I don’t even like being in it. As I’m nearing my thirties, I also feel like I get colder more easily than I used to and much prefer running in the heat.
However, if there is anything COVID-19 has taught me this year, it’s that life is what you make of it. You can sit back and wait for better weather or for a better job or for things to get back to “normal,” or you can forge on ahead. Last winter was one of the most difficult seasons I’ve experienced, and when I whined about not having enough food for groceries, a running friend (lovingly) said something that will always stick with me: “You have to figure out how to find the joyland.”
In this time of political unrest and COVID and snow and ice, I am choosing to forge on ahead. I bought Microspikes and will keep going this winter. I also have made a few trips to the track for speed work sessions. I’m hoping to work on my speed during the fall and winter to be able to come back and run the trails faster and more efficiently in the spring and summer. The most recent workout I did was a “ladder” (200 meters – 400 meters – 800 meters – 1600 meters, and then those distances in reverse to work “up” the ladder and then back “down”).
Ascending the ladder is mentally challenging to keep going further than you did the past interval, and then descending again is physically difficult to eke out some last reserves of speed from fatigued muscles.
I’m trying to learn to love the winter, and stay tuned for my adventurous summer 2021 goals.
x
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