Fighting winter madness. I'm losing.

I'm feeling pretty defeated right now. I'm ok writing that, because I know I'm not alone. 

This winter has been cruel. The bitter cold temperatures have not only made it nearly impossible to be outside, but has made us all cranky and anxious. 

We all know it's going to get better. One day a few weeks ago the weather broke. I ran 7 miles around downtown Albany and it felt amazing. But now running means a choice between the bitter cold, an endless moving belt or a dizzying indoor track.

But when it's so cold outside, getting up and out is a challenge. Being out in the cold takes it out of you, after making it home from work all you really want to do is curl up under a  couple blankets and watch dumb television. 

I'd like to write about how Musselman is in six months but... I just want to bum on my couch instead. 

Yuck. 

Hey winter: You win

Taking screenshots of the weather is the thing to do.

It's cold out.

Warning: Do not read if you're sick of people whining about the cold.

Normally I put on a tough face when it comes to winter. I'll run in the rain and the snow. I'll bundle up and show up to races despite conditions. I'll admit to being a baby about extreme triple digit heat, but I've lived in Maine, Cleveland and Rochester. Winter I can do.

But today I'm crying uncle.

Uncle.

Normally I reliably get one or two colds a winter. That's throughout the entire thing, ya know, April or something like that. I'm currently on cold #3 (including my bronchitis bout.) It's January.

I'm down from work with less than half a voice, hacking up a storm and can't breathe. I pumped my heat up to 70, am huddled up under three blankets and I'm still freezing.

I'm mindlessly working on a database for work, but Scandal is my escape. And man, it's gotten good.

It's thrown off my routine because all I want is to be indoors. Every time I get into a good routine a cold spell hits and I get thrown off my game.

So winter, ease up a bit. Double digits. That's all I ask.

A delayed post for the new year

Happy 2014. Now that we're 20 days in I'm way belated in looking at the year ahead.

My big goal this year is to complete two half ironmans, the double Mussel and REV3 Poconos, with one of them under 7 hours. I also want to settle on a **gasp** full ironman to do in 2015, and volunteer this year for preferred entry. I'm between Mont Tremblant, which would be a cool trip, Lake Placid which is close to home, and Chattanooga, which is late in the year and benefits Crohns and Colitis.

Beyond that, no big goals, no New Years Resolutions that I'll no doubt abandon in a month. Instead, I wrote out three things I want to accomplish this week. My goal is to take one week at a time.

I'm taking the long-ramble-y approach to blogging today. Lots of stuff swirling around I've been meaning to put down. Actually I have about four unfinished drafts. I deleted all of them. Starting anew.

So, first, how are things going? Leaving Rochester was a tough decision, but overall the move to Albany has been positive. Living on Center Square suits me. I'm finding new haunts and getting better at that parallel parking thing. The job is great, I'm learning a lot, and I've met some really great people.

But, I fell of the wagon. I fell out of shape with the move and put on a few pounds that I'd like to get off. After Christmas, it was basically one excuse after another. Not that some weren't valid. Starting a new job is always taxing, and as awesome as tri training can be, the day job must always come first. Plus, getting my apartment together was a chore in itself. Crippling single digit temperatures (we did dodge the polar vortex) and a couple snowstorms did not help the situation.

Once you're off, it is so hard to get back on.

I thought about running after work for days and ultimately it didn't happen. The first thing that finally got me off my lazy butt was so entirely random, but you can't argue with what works. After it played on a loop while I was curled up in my favorite Lark Street coffee shop/hiding spot, I ended up on a Death Cab for Cutie kick. Most of their music is perfect for winter, lethargic yet cozy at the same time. But as I'm at work with my head in a database Spotify pulls up this gem:

My normal not-being-a-fan-of-dance-remixes aside, all I wanted to do was run to this. So, after work, I did. That was the first push I needed.

The second push came when I was in the middle of something and my Facebook starts blowing up. Who are the morons who included me in their frantic conversation, breaking my concentration?

Tara, Allison and Kim!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! (You are welcome to distract me anytime.)

The first thing that came up when I Google imaged "happy dance". 

Our previous Facebook conversations had ceased. My initial plan had been to run a race sometime this winter somewhere in New York with these ladies, but while I was in laid-off-no-money-land the race sold out. (Sad face.)

As I was busy not-running, though, I secretly thought "I am sure glad I'm not on the hook for a (longer race) right now."

But as I quickly discerned from the back and forth I was sneaking glances at while pretending to pay attention to something else, Kim had a conflict and couldn't make the race. There are no bib transfers, so somebody needed to pretend to be Kim.

I think I can look like a Kim.

Hence my vagueness on the race, which will be revealed after "Kim" runs this longer race somewhere in New York sometime this winter.

I was a little nervous that I couldn't run like a Kim though. I've been slacking. But Saturday I pulled out (half the race distance) on my own. If I can pull out (a longer run) then (an even longer run) I should be ok. Not fast. But able-bodied enough to crawl across the finish line.

Sad Kim can't make it, but I'm so excited to catch up with my other Rochester friends!

The second thing that came up when I Google-imaged "happy dance". 

Then my third motivation, which actually came before the second but I was more excited about that so I wrote about it first. I joined the Capitol District Triathletes! There hasn't been a lot of club activity, it is January, but it's a very big and very active group that I'm convinced will serve me well as it warms up and I'm looking for long distance bike routes and places to swim.

So, I'm feeling better. I swam and lifted today. I feel like I have something that resembles a plan.

Bring it, 2014!