I've really been waiting for Spring to (finally) arrive. The Onion wasn't far off when it ran its article about Puxsatawney Phil being beheaded for false predictions of warmer weather.
Unfortunately in Alberta, the weather cares nothing for my fitness, or my level of spirits, or time of year. If it wants to snow in August, it will damn well snow in August.
In any case, as I had promised my running buddy at work yesterday, I would run today. And to avoid a work social event, I really really did.
I do like my coworkers. They're a very friendly lot, but while we celebrate Les rendez-vous de la Francophonie (basically, a big celebration across Canada of being Francophone), there's a lot of mixing. Today, there was singing, and my introverted self was having none of it. I was so happy to be outside with one other person, rather in a dark, boisterous and loud meeting room that I sort of feel like I won a jackpot.
The jackpot being my peace of mind.
The sun was gorgeous and bright, the route was (mostly) flat and not-mushy, and the wind was quiet. My running buddy coworker and I caught up on each other's news, and essentially enjoyed ourselves.
Then my knee complained that we hadn't done this in a while, but I ignored it in favour of not only finishing the run but staying at least half a foot ahead of my friend as we finished our run with a sprint.
All in all, it was a lovely day.
Showing posts with label Groundhog Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Groundhog Day. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Why I Enjoy Groundhog Day (even if the premise is utterly ridiculous)
January was not the best running month for me. I started off sick, and then I became a little lazy; then it became stupidly cold, and I was very lazy, and then it got warm again and now it's February.
As we say in fond tones but with gritted teeth, only in Canada can you have -40C and +2C in the same week. Those Arctic fronts come in and wreak havoc, from snow to black ice, from stuck-solid windshield wipers to the car not starting, from having to keep various weights of coats in the front closet to trying to remember when you last saw the really warm toque.
February is deceptive. Sometimes it can be warm, but those Arctic fronts are still on the northern horizon, lying in wait for us to sigh happily in the sun, put our coats away, and think that winter is over. Then it sneaks in behind us, clocks us over the head with an icicle and refreezes everything.
The possibility of an earlier spring is incredibly enticing to any Canadian runner who has checked the weather and realized that the air is too cold to breathe properly.
Then this little rodent of various name and location is woken to pop out of the ground on February 2 and predict whether there will be six more weeks of Winter or if Spring is coming early.
In Alberta, it's Balzac Billy. Manitoba has Winnipeg Willow and Manitoba Merv, Ontario with Wiarton Willy, Shubenacadie Sam in the Atlantic provinces, and Quebec has... Fred. Since British Columbia doesn't have proper winter, they don't need predictions. Saskatchewan presumably relies on the predictive abilities of the cows (which I'd find a lot more reliable, myself).
I'm kidding, BC has plenty of winter. They call it 'rain'. (okay, so that's southern BC, sheesh, fact checkers...)
I do find the idea that a groundhog will accurately predict the oncoming of spring to be hilariously faulty. The problems with the hypothesis are fundamental: what if it's a cloudy day? What if the groundhog died the night before? What type of extrasensory perception ability does a groundhog actually possess? What if the groundhog is cranky the morning of February 2 and lies just to get these pesky humans off his back? The independent variables are so, er, independent.
They also ruin the fun of it. There's a simple amusement in waiting and hoping every February 2 for an early Spring (or six more weeks of winter, if you love cross-country skiing). If the groundhog predicts unfavourably, you get to hope he's wrong. In either case, you hope there's enough pancake breakfast (or whatever the local tradition is) for everyone and that they're still hot when you sit down to eat.
Anyways, most Canadian predictive groundhogs are calling for an early Spring. At press time, Billy had not announced whether Alberta would be lucky or not, but I'm just happy that my car will start today.
If I get a moment today or tomorrow, I may even be able to go enjoy the nice around-0C climes with a run.
As we say in fond tones but with gritted teeth, only in Canada can you have -40C and +2C in the same week. Those Arctic fronts come in and wreak havoc, from snow to black ice, from stuck-solid windshield wipers to the car not starting, from having to keep various weights of coats in the front closet to trying to remember when you last saw the really warm toque.
February is deceptive. Sometimes it can be warm, but those Arctic fronts are still on the northern horizon, lying in wait for us to sigh happily in the sun, put our coats away, and think that winter is over. Then it sneaks in behind us, clocks us over the head with an icicle and refreezes everything.
The possibility of an earlier spring is incredibly enticing to any Canadian runner who has checked the weather and realized that the air is too cold to breathe properly.
Then this little rodent of various name and location is woken to pop out of the ground on February 2 and predict whether there will be six more weeks of Winter or if Spring is coming early.
In Alberta, it's Balzac Billy. Manitoba has Winnipeg Willow and Manitoba Merv, Ontario with Wiarton Willy, Shubenacadie Sam in the Atlantic provinces, and Quebec has... Fred. Since British Columbia doesn't have proper winter, they don't need predictions. Saskatchewan presumably relies on the predictive abilities of the cows (which I'd find a lot more reliable, myself).
I'm kidding, BC has plenty of winter. They call it 'rain'. (okay, so that's southern BC, sheesh, fact checkers...)
I do find the idea that a groundhog will accurately predict the oncoming of spring to be hilariously faulty. The problems with the hypothesis are fundamental: what if it's a cloudy day? What if the groundhog died the night before? What type of extrasensory perception ability does a groundhog actually possess? What if the groundhog is cranky the morning of February 2 and lies just to get these pesky humans off his back? The independent variables are so, er, independent.
They also ruin the fun of it. There's a simple amusement in waiting and hoping every February 2 for an early Spring (or six more weeks of winter, if you love cross-country skiing). If the groundhog predicts unfavourably, you get to hope he's wrong. In either case, you hope there's enough pancake breakfast (or whatever the local tradition is) for everyone and that they're still hot when you sit down to eat.
Anyways, most Canadian predictive groundhogs are calling for an early Spring. At press time, Billy had not announced whether Alberta would be lucky or not, but I'm just happy that my car will start today.
If I get a moment today or tomorrow, I may even be able to go enjoy the nice around-0C climes with a run.
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