Winter days

I haven't written much about running lately. Well, to be perfectly honest, I haven't written much about anything lately. Life is getting in the way of writing about life. Life has been getting in the way of running, in particular.

It's always harder to find the motivation to go out in the cold and especially in the dark and cold. These days, by the time I get done in lab, it's pitch dark and the weather has suddenly turned rather wintery here in NY. I have to admit that today for the first time, I skipped a race I had registered for, and I didn't have a very good excuse for it. It was cold and I was hungover and it was in Brooklyn at 9am. Instead, I didn't set an alarm and woke up at 10:30 with big headache. After some coffee and chocolate (sugar is the best cure for everything, I strongly believe!) I felt human again and decided that it was Brooklyn's fault: if the race had been in Central Park, I would have gone, for sure! Well, regardless, I felt bad.

Last weekend, there was a 10K in Central Park, which started at 8am and it was really cold then too and I somehow managed to get up and take the subway to make it perfectly on time to start in my corral, which does not always happen, even in the summer months. Signing up for races is a good way for me to make sure that I actually go running, especially in the winter. Sometimes, I can't find the time all week - like this past week - and my only chance is on the weekend. It's not fun to set an alarm for 6:30am on a Sunday, but once I am back from the race, in the hot shower, with a hot cup of coffee and my day is starting before 10am with tons of energy, it's always a great feeling! I also know that once I am out and running, it feels amazing, regardless of the temperature. You just have to get past the first few minutes of biting wind and freezing fingers and face.

After running all my errands this morning - more like early afternoon - the sun just looked too tempting to stay inside. I was planning to study, but once I start thinking about running, I know I have to get in out of way, otherwise, it starts stressing me out. What I love about NY winters are days like today. Cold but not a cloud in the sky. I started out practically sprinting it was so cold, all the way to the park, and stopping to stretch for a few minutes was too painful too. After about 20 minutes, I finally started feeling comfortable. I didn't have a definite plan in terms of distance, just wanted to get to that place where I felt great and try to linger for a while. I headed to the reservoir and I started feeling really great after about half a lap. It's hard to explain to people who don't run, but at a point during good runs, when you find the right pace and rhythm, the mind starts clearing, stress dissipating. As the body is working harder, the mind quiets. Moments of pure physical effort and no thought can be blissful. Of course, as soon as you acknowledge the existence of such a moment, you started thinking again. This is my big issue with meditation and some yoga practices. But during running, I manage to find these moments.

They never last long though. The mind kicks back in. A couple of weeks ago, the yoga instructor in my class said that an average person had about 60,000 thoughts a day. I bet it must be even more for women! Most of those 60,000 thoughts are pretty useless and very distracting. The point of practicing yoga would be to quiet this crazy stream of thoughts, but sometimes I find it difficult, especially when I am trying. Today though, at the perfect time, when I started thinking that the best moments of my run were over and I should head back home, I saw someone I recognized running in front of me. It wasn't a friend, more of an acquaintance whom I go to school with and lives in my building. I have seen him running before and we occasionally chat in the elevator about running. It was nice to run into him. Without asking him if he minded - looking back, it was a little rude - I joined him and just ended up following him without knowing how much he was going run. It was really good since it kept me out running for about 15 minutes longer than I most likely would have otherwise. It's also nice to finally have a conversation with someone I have sort of known for almost 5 years but have never actually talked to much.