Winter, continued

This morning, I jogged and walked in a small parking garage on the campus of the Culinary Institute of America. I am neither proud nor ashamed of this fact (OK, maybe a wee bit embarrassed?). This winter has been challenging so far in terms of cold, wind, ice and snow. The cold and wind is difficult but mostly a nuisance. The ice and snow are a different story. Most schools were delayed or closed today, mostly because of blowing snow and icy secondary roads. In the predawn darkness, not much is worse than that. So our normal Friday morning Marist/College Hill 6-mile loop was canceled and I headed to the parking garage – mostly because I truly despise the treadmill.

Did I mention that this garage – I euphemistically refer to it as my “open air jogging facility” – is small? Well. It is. I’ve never measured it, but it’s got to be 10 to 12 laps to a mile, minimum. Not that it matters. When I go there by myself (yes, oddly, on occasion I have an equally oddball friend who joins me there?), I follow a 2 laps fast walk/4 laps slow jog pattern, and do that until it’s time to go home. Today, I did it for about 70 minutes; sometimes it’s a little less time than that, other times it’s more than that. Geez, I’m getting bored just typing this. But you know what? At least I’m moving forward and sort of in the fresh air but with some shelter. In that regard, it’s far better than the treadmill for me. About the only time I’ll do the treadmill is when I’m on the road and in a hotel.

OK. What’s my point? My point is that this has been a tough few weeks for outdoor recreational activity. This weekend’s going to get even worse. Monday, there’s more snow and ice in the forecast. But after that? It looks to bounce back to “normal” mid-30s and maybe a few days approaching 40 degrees. That will feel like a darn heat wave now, won’t it? So I guess the point is, as they say, “it never always gets worse,” and that better days are on the way.