A Season Called Sludge

It wasn’t the best idea to invoke that rec. center track ban last week. Sure, it made plenty of sense last Tuesday when it was 75 degrees and sunny outside with the rolling hills ready to be conquered. But the sleeting sloppy snow-turned-rain that ruined today made it really difficult to run. Not only was it slippery and dangerous, it was one of those drippy days that leaves you covered in a slick, frozen sheen and shivering from the leftover dampness.

So, I ran less than two miles today and gave up. The stuff that was falling from the sky reminded me more of getting spat on multiple times than anything else that regularly comes down in winter. And it left the sidewalks crunchy and deep with the stuff.

Rather than running, I decided that it’s time for a change: we need to propose a mid-season between winter and spring. I would called it Sludge. I don’t know about other parts of the planet, but NEOhio is thick with sludge for at least 2-3 months between the time spring should arrive and winter has refused to leave.

I think it would prepare us better for the season in which we don’t know whether to dress for sleep, rain, snow or swell weather. Perhaps I would have more water-repellant clothing than the single pullover I wore for the St. Malachi run (that thing is great—even if it does say Euclid Panther Swimming across the back; not that there is anything wrong with that).

We have Mariel staying with us this week and it looks like it will be a good time. Neil is having far too much fun grilling her with rapid-fire questions about New York: doing laundry in New York, buying televisions in New York Best Buys, food shopping in a Queens grocery stores and which subway line to take where.

But I have my lunchtime all to myself tomorrow. To swim or to run? Weather.com is projecting a sunny, cold day, so it might be more of a swimming day. Plus, Wednesday through Friday are promising some 50-plus days. And that, my friend, makes for some good running weather (for me, at least).