Odd but Beautiful Weather

Day started out just fine, a pleasant midwinter day with highs in the 40s.  The last vestiges of our mammoth 38" snowfall still lay scattered about our backyard, but melting quickly.

This shot I took on Wednesday morning.  That's our water garden across the foreground, still half buried under the leaf screens:

Then around 5:30 pm we experienced some odd but beautiful weather, as a strong front surged through.  On the one hand, we saw thunderstorms with lightning in the southern sky, while a double rainbow simultaneously hung to the northeast:

Interesting Running Weather...and a Blue Flower

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Tuesday the bride dropped me off in Greencastle on her way to volunteer at Mister Tristan's school (the 5 year old human being, not the blog).  I first had to stop at the bank, then ran the 5 miles or so home. 

The east was getting lashed by a big rainmaking storm--the snow remained north of--but the temp hovered right at the freezing mark, yielding a freezing rain that stuck to anything above ground.  Thankfully, sidewalks and road were just warm enough not to ice up.

So, I needed a crappy weather run to rejuvenate my batteries.  See, whenever I run in poor weather, I ALWAYS have a great run.  It probably goes back at least partially to the notion of smugness (you're out there toughing it out while nobody else is).  Regardless, it was a great run.

When I arrived home I wanted to photograph a couple things.  First, a wren house in my front yard that I built from some old chestnut boards, today bearing icicles:

Then on the pergola out back, icicles hanging from the lattice and the outdoor (wet location) fan:

 

 

And then this reward.  I 've posted about this blue flower before, but I just love it.  Here we have a flower that I have to think is, well, optimistic, blooming as it does in late fall.  How cool is that?  Plus...it's blue, my favorite flower color ever.  What a treasure! (I should say that I seem to recall that the name is something with "alpine" in it, so it is a non-native for this area...and explains the late blooming).

 

First a shot of the clump, then an individual flower (about 1.25" across): 

 

 

 

All images by Gary.  Enjoy your next bad weather run!

 

 

Good Day for a Run...Bad Day for a Hawk

Yesterday (Tues) I put one of my pet running theories to the test: namely, that I have some of my best runs ever when the weather is crappy.

Well, here in southern Penn's Woods, yesterday was the coldest day of the winter and probably the coldest day in 2 years.  Real air temp when I started the run was about 14F, warming to 18F at the end.  And the wind was howling out of the west at 15-20 steady, with higher gusts.

As I typically do for windy winter runs, I headed west into the wind to get that nasty part over first.  The run was a big rectangle of some 16 miles, so the first quarter was tough, but then the wind was either quartering or from behind.

I was dressed in my maximum wind chill outfit and actually was quite comfortable.  Running directly into the wind was unpleasant but doable, and it didn't last forever.  And I felt smooth and strong and happy, like I could run forever.  And I loved all the puzzled looks I got from drivers passing me!

There was one major downer early in the run--I found a dead hawk in a box beside the road.  It obviously had been tossed out of a vehicle, and the hawk spilled out of the open box.  To me it appeared the tail feathers had been removed, so I couldn't confirm my supposition that it was a red-tailed hawk.  Plus it was frozen and contorted, making ID difficult.  Nor could I note an obvious cause of death, for that matter--it may have been shot, or perhaps struck by a car and collected for its feathers. 

I'll leave that part to the authorities: when I got home I drove out to bring the bird and the box home and called the Dept of Natural Resources to report it, but the game warden has not yet contacted me.

The hawk was magnificent, even in death:

As found

The claws

The beak

Such a sad thing.  I also was amazed as just how light the hawk's body was--maybe a couple pounds at most.

So, back to the overall theme here.  Bottom line is not to hibernate when the weather, by any objective standard, sucks.  Get out there and run--you will be happy you did.

 

A Cold and Ugly Run

Just got back and warmed up.  Today, needing some 22 miles prior to the end of 2010 to reach my target goal of 100 miles per month average and thus 1200 miles for the year, I headed out at 0-dark-thirty for a 12 miler.  That'll leave me 4 days for the other 10 miles.

The temp was only about 20 degrees F and the wind was howling out of the NW at 25-35 MPH, with higher gusts.  There was a trace of snow but it wasn't slippery at all.  The real accumulations of snow blasted the Mid-Atlantic coastal areas and New England, but we are far enough inland here in south-central PA to have completely missed it.  Seems the storm has already been dubbed the Blizzard for 2010 for those folks.

But as usual, whenever I run when conditions pretty much suck, I had a great and wonderful run.

Call it the smugness factor, but the feeling of knowing I'm out there and nobody else is, makes me feel, well, determined and tough.  Apart from the others.  More dogged, braver, better...or at least better motivated.  Ah, but I did see another runner on a backwoodsy stretch.  He was young and fast and overtook me from behind, scaring the crap out of me.

Most times (there have been exceptions) when I almost have myself convinced to wave off, I say to self, "Either you're serious about running, or not."  And then I (usually) head out the door. 

Today I was under the gun for my annual mileage--not that I'm anal or anything--so waving off was not an option.  And true to form, when the weather, by any objective standard, sucks, I invariably have a great run.

As I did today.