a gray run

A gray run, brightened considerably by the chickadees.

November may be the most gray month of the year. It seems like the sun never shines during November. Of course, that’s an exaggeration, but still. One starts to run out of ways to describe the color of the sky: battleship, steel, iron, sooty, silver, ashen, dismal, smoky, powdered, leaden .. all synonyms or adjectives to describe that extremely dull color: gray.

The trees turned late here this year; some of them are desperately hanging onto their burnished golds and fiery scarlets, but most of the leaves are now on the ground. The decaying leaves give the air a certain earthy fragrance. They make a soft carpet to run on, even adding cushioning to the hardest concrete sidewalks. It is a slippery carpet, though.

Given the lack of foliage and the grayness, I suppose you could say this is one of the most ugly times of the year. Everything seems so dull and dead and dirty. It’s also often quite cold.

Not today, though.

I go running nearly every single day. Sometimes I run and I forget that I am running and suddenly realize I’m a lot further along than I thought. Other days are a struggle, though I almost always feel better for having run. Still other days I seem hyper aware of my surroundings; I become extra aware of every tiny little detail: from the wildlife to the mottled green, gold, and red colors on the leaves under my feet. It’s not just sight either, but the smells — the wafting scent of breakfast or burning leaves or a fireplace. And sound — the crunch of gravel underfoot, the soft padding over the leaves, the squish and squeak of a well worn pair of running shoes, the sound of cars and the wind whistling past my ears.

I ran down by the lake today. The lake is just as gray as the sky. It was unseasonably warm — 60ish — and as a result I broke a pretty good sweat. The air was thick like a warm, wet blanket and the wind was gusting out of the south-southwest. It made the way out a little harder than the way back which is much more sheltered from the wind. The waves from the lake lapped gently against the pale sand. The white water gradually crawls forward, then as if an unseen giant was pulling a string, the waves pull backwards.

I saw a few birds. A red-bellied woodpecker clung on the side of an old oak tree. Woodpeckers don’t like to be spotted. They are shy and elusive. I’ve learned that at Gettysburg, “pursuing” the gorgeous red-headed variety. The red-headed woodpecker is common in the woods between the Virginia and North Carolina monuments where the road dips down and then rises up again. I also see them quite often at the Loop near the Wheatfield. And I spotted quite a gathering of these blue-black, white, and red stunning avians in the large old witness tree at Devil’s Den. They don’t like for you to know where they are, and if they sense you’re watching them, they will take off, progressively higher and higher into the trees. Anything to escape the prying human eyes.

The chickadees are much more friendly. They are tiny balls of feathers and fluff with bright black eyes that sport a distinctive shiny black cap and bib, with a contrasting paintbrush strip of white over their eyes. Their eyes are like tiny black stars glinting out from the snowy white surrounding feathers. The back of a chickadee is a gray (but it’s a warm gray) and their bellies a very soft, chestnut-golden brown, not unlike some of the strands that pepper my hair. The chickadees hop happily back and forth at the many bird feeders along my route. I also sometimes spot them curiously and cheerfully peeking out from an evergreen bush: tiny tufts of gold, brown, gray, black, and white.

What I like most about the chickadees is for such a delicate bird, they are actually very hardy. I see them out even in the worst weather. In that way, I suppose they are kind of like runners. They also always seem so cheerful, no matter what the weather. They don’t seem to mind the gray.

I saw a few other birds. A hold-over robin with dull-colored plumage, a few large white seagulls. And innumerable house sparrows, as always. Several coal black crows were perched high in a buckeye tree. They were engaged in cawing at a set of crows that had taken up a spot in another tall oak tree. I have always liked crows; they are smart and funny. I still smile at the thought of a very large, solitary crow crawling into a discarded bag from McDonald’s at college; the crow crawled into the wet and dirty bag and emerged triumphant with a piece of half-eaten hamburger. The crow enjoyed that hamburger as we would enjoy a piece of fillet mignon.

I saw many squirrels too. The squirrels are incredibly busy this time of year, gathering nuts and acorns for the coming winter. They were moving a bit faster than usual today.

I think the red furry squirrels are moving a lot today because they do not need the Weather Channel to tell them that the weather is changing. The northern sky is no longer gray but is now like a fresh bruise: dark, purple, angry. The wind is picking up more, and it is starting to rain. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow.

If I run tomorrow (I feel as though I could use a day off), I’ll be looking for the squirrels and woodpeckers and chickadees. It’s amazing what’s there when you take the time to look.

something worse than cold rain

I have found something I like even less than running in cold rain.

Ice pellets.

I went for a run this morning wearing shorts, a fleece-lined longsleeve shirt, hat, and gloves.  The Weather Channel claimed it was 37 degrees.  A quarter mile into the run, it began to pour rain.  The wind was luckily at that point not in my face because I was heading due south and it was coming out of the west-northwest.  Half a mile in I started to get pelleted by ice.  Little pellets of frozen water.  They hurt.  By the time I got to the point where I turn to run west (slightly southwest to be precise), it had stopped precipitating.   I turned to run north and the wind wasn’t as bad I had feared (the Weather Channel claimed it was gusting up to 23 MPH).  By the time I turned again, this time heading east towards home, it had started to hail again.  The only good thing was the pellets were very small.  Had they been larger, I would have probably come home covered in ugly welts.

The weather has been very strange today — it will suddenly turn very dark (like a thunderstorm sky), then the sun will come out and everything takes on a sort of strange and eerie back lit appearance.  Then it will pour rain.  I can sometimes hear the ice pellets against my window.  And now the wind is gusting strongly.

Supposedly it is going to snow tonight.  We’ll see.  I don’t think any will stick because the ground is still too warm.  Hopefully it won’t snow because most of the trees here are still holding their leaves and as a result it would be a huge mess if you added heavy snow on top of them.

As much as I hate running in snow and slipping on the ice in the winter, I think I’d take some nice soft snowflakes over these ice pellets …

the gray period

Baseball is over. (Whoo hoo Cardinals!). Most of the trees have been stripped of their colorful coat of leaves. I have had on winter running gear nearly every morning for the past few weeks. Too soon I have been needing the vest, beanie hat, and gloves. Cleveland has entered the gray period.

October used to be my favorite month for running — its a lot cooler (but not cold) and the weather is often gorgeous, particulalry when you couple the pretty fall foliage with a bright crisp blue sky. This month, though, it has just been gray and cold and extremely rainy. I even took to calling it Octmember — its a lot more like November than it is October outside.

Depressing in a way. After all, who wants potentially EIGHT months of winter? (Winter may not end here until late May it seems like. If it starts in October that’s EIGHT months!)

I do not enjoy the gray period, though running in colder weather seems to be oh so much easier than hot weather. Give me 45 instead of 65. Heck, I’d take -10 over 70 any day.

But what gets me is how it is always just so gray. Sure we see the sun — sometimes. But mostly its just dark and gray.

Makes it hard to get up in the morning. Makes it hard to get outside in run. Makes it hard not to eat everything in sight. (I feel like a squirrel trying to build up a food reserve or something).

Ending daylight savings time helped some, but its still really dark in the morning for runs. Which means running isn’t as much fun and its sometimes downright dangerous.

But what can you do?

cold, wind, rain

Cold, wind, and rain. That was the “story” behind today’s run.

I woke up about 4:30 to the sound of rain hitting the house — hard. It was pouring. Of course, being 4:30 AM, I rolled over and went back to sleep for awhile.

When I finally did drag my sorry self out of bed, I got dressed to go running. It was very dark and gray. I put on a blue longsleeve New Balance tech shirt and a pair of Mizuno running shorts. From the forecasts, I knew it probably wasn’t a glove and hat day (as yesterday was). I walked downstairs. Flipped on the Weather Channel. Confirmed that it was warm enough to do without hat and gloves: pouring rain, 51 degrees, wind sustained at 21 mph gusting up to 28. What wonderful weather.

I had planned to do some fartleks (haha) but decided due to the chilly temps and the strong winds that speedwork — even of the informal variety — was out of the question. With all the leaves getting blown off the trees it was rather slick anyway. So I just ran the usual course at the usual pace.

I was soaked when I got home, although the free running cap I got from Road Runner Sports did seem to do a decent job of keeping my head dry. There is a sort of feeling of triumph that you get from completing a run under ugly conditions. I was most certainly the only runner out. I imagine most people who ran in the Cleveland area today did so on treadmills, not outside in the elements.

As much as today’s weather was gross, cold, wet, and bone-chilling, I still think I prefer it to running when its above around 65 degrees.

cold run

A cold run today. Actually it wasn’t that cold — it was in the 20s — but for some reason it FELT cold. Maybe because the wind was blowing, or maybe because it was cloudy and there was no sun. Anyway either way it felt COLD today. I did 5.25 miles in 49 minutes — not bad.My run was remarkably good for obtaining very little sleep last night. My bottom left wisdom tooth continues to be a problem. I run a low grade fever at night and its hard to sleep. Yes, I’ve been down this road before . . .

Tomorrow its on to Gettysburg. Which means travel. In the winter / bad weather. It will probably snow like crazy tonight and tomorrow … just for me.

the GRAY period

Cleveland has, I think, officially entered the gray period.

Monday was a sunny day — around 50 degrees. Yesterday it rained all day but it was nearly 70. Last night, the wind howled, it rained, and it got COLD. From 68 degrees at 9:30 PM the temp has fallen to 42, but it feels like 30 because of the wind. Ah yes, the wind. Its gusting from the south west right now up to 41 miles per hour. I’m really not quite sure how I’m going to run today in THAT.

I hate winter. Not so much the cold but the gray. I miss the sun. I miss being able to simply wear a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and be comfortable running like yesterday (my guess is that may have been the last day for 2005 I can get away with that). I don’t particularly like snow and ice is downright dangerous. There’s no baseball. The trees have no leaves. Its ugly.

The only people out now are the REAL runners. The fair-weather runners are on the treadmills or have packed it away until spring. The walkers are gone too.

I guess this teaches dedication. Anyone can run when its 60 and sunny; it takes guts to go out and duke it out with mother nature when its downright cold and she is throwing 40 mile per hour winds back into your face.