Winter Wonderland

This is my third winter in New York and most definitely the coldest. I went for a 5 mile run with my running club this morning and it took me two hours to defrost when I got back. Fortunately, my good friend Angela made me a deer corn bag that you just pop in the microwave for a couple minutes, and you’ve got a homemade heating pad that smells like fresh cornbread. It has kept my feet nice and toasty at night, so I’d like to give a big shout-out to Ange for the thoughtful (and useful) gift.

One perk about a colder winter is that we’ve had a lot more snow than I’ve seen in the past two. It snowed all day on MLK day and I couldn’t wait to get out in it. So, I suited up in my under armor, laced up my running shoes and headed out to Central Park, where the snow is always prettiest. I had never run in snow before. (Well, I take that back, I was insane enough to run in the Ted Corbit race right before Christmas, when it was under 20 degrees with slushy snow all over the ground. I couldn’t feel my feet at all for most of the race, so it seemed like I was hovering.) But, I’d never actually run with snow falling from the sky. It was beautiful. It felt like I had stepped out of a giant wardrobe, right smack into Narnia. The streetlamps on the side of the road helped with this image, as well. As I ran, the snowflakes clung to my eyelashes and floated into my mouth and nose, and when I ran downhill, the snowflakes seemed to pause in mid air so I could race through them as if I was in a video game. It was exhilarating for the first 4.5 miles, but then I started to get pretty wet as the snow fell harder and began to stick to the ground. I think I was a little too ambitious to try to run 6 miles in the snow, I knew I was pretty sure I could survive one more mile.

As I kicked into the last mile, my shoes starting to slosh by now, I tried to clear out my nose (because it tends to run when it’s cold), and so began one of my annoying nose bleeds. I looked down to see my sweatshirt stained with red splotches. Dangit! I slowed to a walk, plugged my nose with my glove and tried my best to look indiscrete as I meandered through the tourists and joggers with my head down. I was bleeding so much, though, that I had no choice but to bend down and clean my gloves off in the snow. To put it bluntly, it looked like I’d committed a serious crime. After several minutes, the bleeding finally quit and I was able to jog the rest of the way home, but not without receiving some concerned/disgusted stares. I was a sight to behold, wet, bloody, and frozen to the bone. So, what initially began as a magical winter wonderland run, ended up looking more like a crime scene from CSI.

Supply & Demand

It has come to my attention that there are select people who actually read this blog of mine and follow it. I'll admit, I'm flattered with this new awareness of demand, but a little nervous. I have found that it is easy to be open and vulnerable when posting articles about my life, while forgetting that it is conveniently accessible to the inexhaustible internet public. I'm not saying that I will proceed with caution, but with a more acute sense that I have an audience. I hate to disappoint, so I will endeavor to be more consistent with my posts. With that said, I should probably make a few disclaimers. I only pretend (and dream) to be a writer, so please don't expect any masterpieces like the great Andrew Shepherd, but in the case that I somehow produce something publish-worthy, I will soon be creating a copyright page and hopefully ward off any crazies that would want to steal my shoddy posts or pictures. Also, know that everything I post is an impulsive emanation from some sort of obligatory muse that appears at the most unexpected moments, so don't expect congruency. But, if you've been keeping up with this so-called "blog," then you know that. You must also take into account that I am a word-nerd. I love words. I may not know many, but I like to try to use new ones when possible. The English language is a lost art that I want to honor and hopefully contribute to. Please don't hesitate to let me know if I misuse any. I want to be an candid word-user.

I think this about sums it up. Thank you for reading my blog. I simply hope that it amuses you. I'm going to try not to take myself too seriously, and then maybe I would write updates more often. Time will tell...