All Downhill From Here

Throughout this past hurricane season I’ve been rather smug.

In Calgary
“WE don’t have power outages due to huge storms that are so big they have names”
“WE don’t have to board up our windows and pray our homes won’t be demolished by weather”
“WE’ve never had an evacuation order in Calgary until this last summer, when the river got high in a couple of places”

Then this morning I nearly fell on my butt while going out to warm up the car. I had to pry my frozen car door open and pray I didn’t break the handle off in doing so. After 10 minutes of letting the car run I scraped off a thick layer of ice. Then I listened on the radio to the litany of accidents (at least one fatal) on nearly every major freeway as I crunched over ice and snow and watched vehicles sliding around me on the way to my son’s early band practice.

Okay, not so smug anymore : P

Last night’s run: It was lightly raining and close to freezing temps when we showed up at Gord’s for our Tuesday night run. We are not easily daunted, so we headed out for the medium distance option and noticed more and more moisture falling, the further we got into our run. Krista was having a really good running night, and was able to converse with me as we ran along the river. By the time we got to the 14th St. bridge we realized we were very wet, but not cold or uncomfortable. We faced a little breeze on the way back, and picked up the pace a little, as the faster we ran, the warmer we felt.

By the time we climbed the Centre St. bridge the rain had gotten light and fluffy, and at the top of the bridge there was a layer of snow on the grass. The sidewalk was starting to get slushy, so we booted it up the rest of the hill with the idea that the sooner we finished, the sooner we could warm up.

When we got in the store several runners were already there inside and dripping. I took off my foggy, wet glasses and exclaimed “Runners are the only people who would go out on a night like this, finish up absolutely soaked, and say “Wasn’t that FUN!” The really twisted thing is that I received several nods and big smiles in agreement.

I was very careful on the drive home, as the freezing rain/sleet/snow stuff was coming down hard and slushing up the roads. The pavement wasn’t frozen yet, at least.