Day 122: Thurs Dec 12th - My Peace and Therapy

Day One Hundred Twenty-two: 

My peace and therapy.

 

This is my peace, my quiet and my therapy. This is where my thoughts and feelings are filtered, processed and either discarded or put into action while my feet make an automatic rhythmic sound running below me on the frozen ground. 

This place is where my heart cries or sings with joy, without worry about appearing foolish or pitiful. 

When I start out in search of this place each morning, there are times I feel unsure, unwilling and sometimes fragile or lost. Sometimes I am just merely tired or have feelings of doubt or frustration. And yet other times I am neutral enjoying the solitude of the moment and excited to experience what is before me. 

But no matter how I start off when I come to this place,  I always leave feeling confident, sure, strong and happy.

 

This place is magic.

It is mine and with me always. 

I just need to remember.

 

 

 

 



 





Day 121: Wed Dec 11th - 1/3 Way There!

Day One Hundred Twenty-One:

1/3 Completed and finding the positive in the air.

 

Today marks 1/3 of the way toward my goal, not that I'm counting (yeah...right :) However, time feels like it's gone by pretty fast. Especially with the holidays and staying busy.  Not quite as cold this morning. Jax had fun and was bounds of energy.  He nearly knocked me flat in the snow once we got to the top of the hill where the snow was pretty deep. I'm pretty sure he thought the deeper snow meant it was play time and he bounced up and down trying to wrestle and chase me.  His head butted behind my knee and when I yelped in surprise and a twinge of pain, he settled back down with head held low, standing behind me with a pitiful look of sorry on his face.  Luckily I was fine and told him so, then we headed off running again. Silly dog.

 

Trying to find the bright side of the winter air is not easy, especially today.  I could literally taste the air when I first headed out. It tasted a mixture of burnt toast and exhaust. Once I got higher, it wasn't as bad.  

 

Positive:  ------------------------------>

 

The mucky air makes for pretty sunsets. This was taken last night.

 

 

 

 

 <-------------------------- Negative.

The bad air killed one of Santa's baby reindeer while she was out practicing her flying last night, and the wild dogs hiding in the trees carted off the body for dinner, 

Okay, not really. But from far away, this branch looked like an antler and that is the story my sleep deprived brain imagined as I was running.

 

Time for coffee.

 

 

 

 

Day 120: Tues Dec 10th - What the fox DOESN'T say.

Day One Hundred-twenty:  

Rebel am I and what the fox doesn't say.

I will not continue to bitch about the cold, it serves no purpose to do so. But yep, it was cold again.
The fox(es) in the forest - who I still haven't heard say a word - obviously love the cold weather. I see them scurrying about, red bushy tails trailing behind them. Occasionally they will glance my way as if to say "what the hell are you doing here lady.."  At least that is what I imagine they are saying to themselves when I humanize them.  They are beautiful though. Much easier to see in contrast to the snow, still not easy to take a photo of however.  Funny enough, even their poop is a reddish / yellow and littered all around the path / trails.  I can hardly get mad at them for not picking up after themselves however. So to answer the question from my standpoint. The fox say absolutely nothing, but their thoughts are interesting and somewhat surprising to listen to.

I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply to me :)

 

 

Day 119: Mon Dec 9th - a letter to my Fairy Godmother

Day One Hundred-nineteen: 

 a short letter to my Fairy Godmother & fun day with Izzy

Dear Fairy Godmother, 

If you could help me out a bit, I would very much appreciate it.

Please sprinkle me with magic calming dust to help through life chaos, 

 and this dang bitter weather.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, could you turn one of my problems into a treadmill.

Nothing fancy, just something that will help

me avoid some morning runs in the frost biting cold.  

My nose and toes will thank you. 

xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

Winter is beautiful.

 

Izzy and I kicked off our annual Christmas shopping w/ mama day

 with a healthy nutritious breakfast from our favorite bakery - yum!!

Day 118: Sun Dec 8th - Shoveling, salting, sledding and homemade spaghetti sauce.

Day One Hundred-eighteen:  

Shoveling, salting, sledding, running, shopping, 

& homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs.  

Endless bags of salt.

Simmering for hours and smells so good!

STAY WARM!!

Day 117: Sat Dec 7th - Mr. Sandman... you're doing it wrong.

Day One Hundred-seventeen: 

Mr. Sandman.... you're doing it wrong.

 

It appears the Sandman was confused last night.  Instead of helping with sweet dreams and good sleep (of which I had zero), he spread sand throughout the streets.  Now while this was helpful for the roads this morning as they weren't near as slippery, it didn't help that I felt like a stumbling zombie. Bleary eyed, zoned out and oh so tired.

I am working on maybe 1-2 hours of sleep. If I can call it that. 

Not sure where my restlessness came from. We've all been there of course. So I won't grumble too much.

 

On a good note, it was not as cold this morning (20 degrees as opposed to 7). I'll take that. Much better than the past couple of days.  More snow on the way today however, so it looks like I will have a day of shoveling the property I manage. Fun! ((groan))

 

So now I'm amped up on coffee and kale smoothie. 

Should be an interesting day.    

Day 116: Fri Dec 6th - 11 Commandments

Day One Hundred-sixteen:   

 

 

11 Commandments (for Celeste) 

Running on Ice and Frozen Mornings



 

 



1.   Thou shalt not take thy Lords name in vain or use obscene profanity (OUT LOUD) when you venture outside in 7 degree weather. Especially in front of your neighbors. 

2.  Thou shall tie thy shoes:  Please make sure your shoes are tied well and not just pulled on and loose.  Oh and for Christ's sake... wear warm running socks and not those flimsy things that are cute, fluorescent with St. Patricks Day designs. Unless you like endless frozen toes.

3.  Thou shalt not leave your scarf at home...... again. This, my dear Celeste, is helpful to bind around your face / neck as needed. You may want to invest in a ski mask to help your face from freezing off. Scratch that. You run the risk of looking like a feeling criminal.So just use the scarf and continue wearing your hat. Don't worry, the numbness on your face will wear off.

4.  Thou shalt not fall, slip or trip. Stay on the crunchy road, but not the large chunks of plowed snow boulders on the side of the road  - with their jagged peaks and deep crevices - unless you'd like a good ankle sprain. Stay on parts of the road that were previously flattened  by trucks with good treads and that are now frozen stiff. This will provide decent traction and is much less slippery than the slushy, salty areas and it sounds pretty cool to run on.


5.  Thou shalt not trust shiny blacktop roads. STAY CLEAR! 
The devil put them there. 
<-----------------------------------------------------------------


6. Thou shall run on Sunday (and everyday) regardless of cold.  This is your church I giveth to you.


7. Thou shalt not envision a mishap to befall those who drive past you as fast as possible, spraying you with fine particles of ice and snow, despite the fact that you are hugging the edge of the street to give them plenty of clearance.  Bastards!


8. Thou shalt not accidently pitch yourself off the trail head cliff by going too fast or slipping. -------------->
BE CAREFUL!
                                                 I'm not ready for you here.



9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors warm house as you shiver running by.  Ignore the smell of the fireplace and the warm glow of lights. Damned be to those who cook bacon the moment you are passing by, that is just cruel.


10. Thou shalt not shower in HOT water while you are defrosting.
It will sting.

11. Thou shalt not complain when you get up and do it all again tomorrow. It was your idea. Dummy.

Day 115: Thurs Dec 5th - "It's a marshmallow world..."

Day One Hundred-fifteen:    "It's a marshmallow world..." 

As silly as it may sound, listening to Dean Martin Christmas album on my mp3 while running in 9 degree temperatures, helps me forgot how bitter cold it is.  I find it impossible to be in a bad mood listening to him sing Marshmellow World.  It lightens my (careful) footfalls across the frozen ice and snow carpeting the roads and feels like dancing.

I can't resist branching off and sinking again in the snow path above the usual rocky trail, it's so pretty and peaceful.  No cars, no people.... just me, the snow, footprints of numerous animals who live in this little forest hideaway scurrying about and Marshmellow World. 

I challenge you.

Try listening to this song and not feel happy

      (or crave some sort of warming cocktail). 

 Happy frosty holidays :)

Day 114: Wed Dec 4th - Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Day One Hundred-fourteen:

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Pretty, icy and cold.  It was 11 degrees (according to my phone app) this morning. 
Running is a funny thing. It's somewhat like a box of unmarked chocolates that you eat a piece from each morning....you don't know exactly what you're gonna get.
I never know when I am going to feel like a warrior or when I am going to feel like a weenie.
I'm happy to report that today was a warrior kind of morning. I ran by myself, making Jax stay home as there were too many sharp ice fragments on the road along with loads of salt. Running by myself was a nice change however. I received a few funny looks from people scraping ice and snow off their cars, or driving to work. A couple waved and smiled.  The trail, which had disappeared into a sea of white fluff, was like running through frozen snow quicksand, but it worked my butt off even harder than normal and that felt great!   Stay warm!

Day 113: Tues Dec 3rd - "Oh the weather outside is frightful..."

Day One Hundred-thirteen -

"Oh the weather outside is frightful...."

 

 

Beautiful run, but a bit on the chilly side. ;)   

Jax was psyched!  I let him take off on the trail and he pranced and jumped around in the snow like a puppy seeing it for the first time. Sprinting ahead, burying his nose in the fresh snow, shaking off his fur, sliding around the icy spots and sprinting ahead once again. So fun!  I love fresh snow.  Not only is it peaceful and pretty to look at, fresh snow has good traction to run on.  Certainly a lot less slippery than the slush, ice or parts on the road.  Though I might need to waterproof my shoes... they were soaked by the time we made it back home. I wonder if they make Ugg running shoes??!  They should!  

 

 

Jax looking down the trail. I wonder what he is thinking?