"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Saturday, January 2, 2010

Breaking Resolutions Left and Right

It's 15 below zero. Not Celsius, not windchill. And I have no access to a treadmill today, so if I'm going to run, it's outside. It's rough today in Uffdastan.

[I've renamed the states. Wisconsin=Keggerstan, South Dakota=Flyoverstan, North Dakota=Stan.]

I ran yesterday at 0 degrees; 9 miles. This running thing is not much fun here right now. And the house is still full of food, just asking to be eaten, telling me my resolution isn't strong enough.

Finished my first book of the year, though: The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman. Didn't think I'd like it, but the first half was entertaining; it never occurred to me that there's nothing to hitch your horse to between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains (the rawhide strap used to hobble the horses got eaten by wolves). Last book of 2009 was Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, which I really enjoyed and which got me thinking about my own life - not that I'm not introspective by nature as it is! I also saw my lifetime book list is missing 10 titles: The Rover and Other Plays by Aphra Behn, Roman Sonnets by Giuseppi Belli, The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino (I love Calvino), Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau, Montcalm and Wolfe by Francis Parkman (honest, I'd never heard of Parkman and here he is again), Description of Greece by Pausanias, The Secret History by Procopius, Praeterita by John Ruskin, Letters by Vincent Van Gogh, Cyropaedia by Xenophon. That's seven languages, I think.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I am feeling the same way today. Its so hard to get the will power to run when its so bitterly cold. Tomorrow suppose to be much warmer (8 degrees) though.

Scream'n Turtle said...

Heading to YMCA for a 2 hour treadmill run. Yuk x100
I'm not going out to freeze my nuticals at -16 today and that's without windchill. Older I get, the worse I hate this cold stuff!

wildknits said...

How unusual - it is warmer up north than in the Cities. No run today (yesterday got 12 miles in - bit warmer though, tomorrow is another longish run) but will head out to snowshoe in order to justify eating more ;->

Kel said...

I found an indoor track and did a couple miles barefoot. Then did some weightlifting.

Love the new state names!

Anonymous said...

treadmill is a wonderful thing. even when it's not that cold out, it's very difficult to get in quality workouts outside. Treadmill is good on the body too, plus you can run without a shirt and just shorts like summer all year!

-wynn

ShutUpandRun said...

Post and let us know you're alive if you really did run in -15 temps.

Beth said...

I had access to a treadmill today but it didn't help. Yesterday was balmy compared to today and the cold just sucked the motivation right out of me. Looking at the forecast I guess I should get used to it.

Anonymous said...

I started reading the complete letters of Vincent van Gogh (3 volumes, 1957 New York Graphic Society edition, a work of publishing art) at the age of 24. Attempted to read 1 letter per night. 19 years later I am still reading the letters, 3rd time through. Van Gogh's writing equals his painting.

Went out for a run today, -1 degree - dressed in 7 layers, 2 hats, eskimo mittens, face mask, scarf - toasty!

SteveQ said...

Anon: I've been meaning to read Vincent's letters for a long time, but it's hard to imagine that they match his painting - the first of his I actually saw was at Boston's Museum of Fine Art (btw, I also visited the Museum of Bad Art!). It was the portrait of the postman Roulin (the first of two, I believe). I cried...

SteveQ said...

Maybe Wisconsin should be Packerstan.