An Early Spring?

One can only hope. As February comes to an end, I start to look forward to spring again. This is the end of my fourth "real" winter since leaving Arizona and my second winter in Ohio, which means my second winter of asking myself "Am I doing this right?" every time I shovel snow from the driveway and sidewalks. It seems simple enough, and I think I do a pretty good job of it, but no one ever showed me how, so I'm left to wonder things such as "Should I shovel now or wait to see how much more snow will fall? Will this snow melt soon enough that shoveling is unwarranted? Is this the most efficient way to move the snow?" They may seem like silly questions to you, but this desert native feels self-conscious thinking that the neighbors are all peeking out their windows saying to each other "Look at that silly girl! Doesn't she know this snow will melt on its own?" or "What is she doing scooping the snow that way? She should know to do it this way!" But I don't know what "this" way is, so I'll just keep doing it my way.

New Year, New Race

I took a good month off from running after finishing the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon last October.  Even in December, I didn't run much since we were gone almost half the month in Spain, but I spent a good portion of January trying to get back to it.

I'll admit the winter weather has made it a challenge. Fortunately, we have a treadmill in the basement, but I find it really difficult to go more than 3ish miles indoors. Come snow, rain, wind, or sun though, I'm going to have get committed again. Michael and I are planning on running the Capital City half marathon in May, and training starts on Tuesday! I figure that the more people I share my plan with, the less likely I am to skip out on it.

While I went with beginner's training for the marathon, I'm going to try an intermediate level training plan for Cap City. Again, I'm using the one provided by Nike+. My goal is to finish in 2'15". My half-marathon split from the marathon was 2'18", so I'll have to pick up the pace a bit, but I'm looking forward to trying.

Tiger Weather

Happy Chinese New Year! We are leaving behind the Year of the Tiger and turning the page to the Year of the Rabbit. As 100 million-ish of us can tell you, the Year of the Tiger did not go out without a fight. Icy rain, thunder snow, and blizzards affected most of the country, including Columbus, OH. I think we got off comparatively easy though. The freezing rain closed schools on Tuesday, so I didn't have to go to work, but we didn't get any snow accumulation. Granted, icy roads are much more dangerous than snowy roads, but at least we're not still buried like Chicago. Then, at about 8:15 Tuesday night, as I was doing yoga in the basement, our power went out. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, so I slowly crawled toward the laundry room, feeling my way along until I found the door, the shelf, and the flashlight that I knew was there. Luckily, Michael and I had just bought some candles recently, so we lit all those, and then, with nothing better to do, went to bed.

I thought there might be a chance that school would be canceled again yesterday, but I had no way to check without electricity, so I got up and got ready in the morning and headed out. The radio stations were saying that some schools were closed and that the complete list could be found on their websites. Sure, if you've got power, which some 50,000 of us do NOT. Finally, a station shared the complete list (Thanks, WNCI!). Sure enough, mine was included, so I did a very careful U-turn and went back home. I was actually looking forward to work because I knew it would be warm and well-lit, unlike our still powerless house. Rather than stay under a huge pile of blankets with nothing to do, I packed up my computer and books and left for Caribou Coffee. Shortly after getting settled and updating Facebook, etc. I had several offers from friends who were willing to share their warm homes with me. I felt so blessed by the community God has given me here in Columbus. It is often hard for me to believe that we've lived here less than two years because it feels so much like home. I ended up hanging out with a couple from our Lifegroup at their house, and it turned out to be a pretty sweet time of fellowship. When I returned home in the afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find the power back on.

To celebrate the holiday, Michael and I went to Hong Kong Buffet last night after he got off work. The food was underwhelming, but we left stuffed nonetheless. We both decided that we just should not go to buffets (unless we're in Vegas) anymore. At home, we played a couple rounds of Mahjongg, which is supposed to be a four person game, but we modified it. I won best of three :) Despite the craziness of the weather, I really enjoyed the day and am looking forward to the Year of the Rabbit.