Truthiness

Saturday morning I woke up, groggy. I had slept on the couch. In my clothes. I had no memory of falling asleep on the couch. I didn't turn the lights out, I didn't turn the tv off, I didn't brush my teeth. Gross, right?

Me, moments after waking up on that very couch. My hair
is doing some sort of weird Helena Bonham Carter thing.
Then again, I don't own a hairbrush. Go figure.

But that's not what I wanted to tell you.

Instead, this is what I wanted to share: Saturday was the first day in months that I woke up, looked out the window, and wanted to go running.

I suspect it's the weather. No matter how rewarding a cold weather run is, no matter how much I need a run or how good I feel when I get back, putting on tights and a jacket and ear warmers is OVER for me. This winter has gone on way too long.

But I don't control the weather, duh. So what to do? Sadly, I don't have any secrets to share with you.

Running is math. You go out, you do it = you get better at it. You sleep in, you make excuses, you don't get your miles in = you don't get better at it.

You can't cheat it. Maybe you can have a fluke good race on little preparation every now and then, but that's a fluke. As a rule, there is one way to improve: training.

This winter has been miserable for me, personally. Terrible soul-killing weather, terrible time-killing Egyptian revolution, terrible morale-killing running. I'm ready for spring, and I'm ready to be excited about running again.

Lucky for me, Saturday was an okay run with pleasant consequences. Just think, if I hadn't gone running, I wouldn't have ever seen this crazy boat under the George Washington Bridge:

Better yet, if I hadn't gone running, I never would have gotten the mail and found the double whammy happy surprise of TWO unexpected presents: a cd sent to me by a friend, and the NEW ISSUE OF RUNNING TIMES!!!:

So lucky for me, my running got a boost when I could almost, sort of, maybe feel spring in the air on Saturday. And on top of that, almost-spring means that the running-related opportunities abound!

• Tonight, I'm hitting up the SUPER SOLD OUT NYRR/Team for Kids Stretching 101 group run/learning session. (Are you going? Let me know! Otherwise, get on the wait list. I intend to go to all four events. You should, too.) 
• On Wednesday, the Lincoln Square lululemon is starting up their Wednesday evening run club - it's free and they're encouraging of all levels of runner. Meet at the store and be ready to run by 6:45 (you can use their changing rooms to change into your running clothes and they have bag storage). I ran with them for a while last year and had a good experience.
• Then, next week, the NYRR has another event ("ladies" only) on nutrition.

And of course, soon enough it will be time to train in earnest for the Brooklyn Half. I ran a good race there last year. I'd like to do the same this year.