Saturday, March 23, 2013

The demotivating effects of H2O



I am a scientist...well actually, I just have a Geology degree and I taught science.  Sorta.  But I will say that I am a woman of science and thus I am always making observations.  Actually this isn't true either, I am like the most oblivious person ever, but I have made this one observation: there is strong correlation between snow and motivation.  I have made a super awesome scientific graph to showcase this observation:
As you can see, as snow accumulates, motivation diminishes greatly.  You can't argue with the graph, it has labeled axes.  Add a little wind to the snowfall axis and you'll see motivation drop well below zero and you'll just stay in bed all day and sulk (Sorry, I'm too busy sulking to make another chart, you just gotta trust me on this one).

What is it, you ask, that has me talking about my groundbreaking hypothesis for which I am applying for a government grant to study?   Well, 
I am looking outside to yet another winter "wonderland." It is 10:57am and I am still in my pajamas and I can't seem to get motivated to bundle myself up and get to the gym on icy roads.


Ryan's poor bike
Brendan's poor tent in the backyard
 (actually, the freaky kid loves to winter camp.  I think he got switched at birth...
he was the 2nd twin...this explains a lot)
Site of poor Jill's race where she was SUPPOSE to race today.  Note
Denver skyline in the background (if you squint through the blowing snow).
Why is it that on sunny days I am up and at 'em, but when it snows I can barely make myself get out of bed?  Because snow is evil, obviously!

I have lived in Colorado for half my life now.  You'd think I would have learned by now this is springtime in the Rockies and spring is when most of our snowfall lands.   Apparently not.

I loath, hate, despise, and detest snow.  I would have gone on but it would have involved me getting a thesaurus and as I said, I'm too busy sulking.  

People born here love the stuff.  If you don't believe me just check out my Facebook feed after a snowstorm.  Every status update says stuff like, "Oh goody it's snowing." "How beautiful this snow is." "My life now has meaning because it is snowing." "I'm actually crying tears of joy over this awesome snow." "It is snowing and it is literally the most magical, wonderful thing that has ever happened to me."  Are you kidding me?  Barf!  You'd think it never happens, according to my water bill statement that just arrived with an attached notice stating we cannot water our lawns but twice a week this summer due to severe drought.  I'm really glad now my budget didn't allow me to water my backyard grass last year and it died!  But Denver has on average 48 snow days a year and the only two months that show no average snow fall are July and August.  That's a fact, according to Wikipedia.  I know it's hard to believe the Internet would lie, but I ran up Pikes Peak in AUGUST of 2008 and it snowed!
It sucked!
I don't actually mind all the love for snow....I don't get it....but I don't mind it.  And, I actually love reading the Facebook posts about snow.  But don't expect me to join in the jubilation when it starts snowing.  And please understand where I am coming from - I'm on a roll with my training and this is royally driving me insane when I can't get out and do what I need to.

I grew up in Iowa, winter is much more brutal there, but I was a kid then.  Kids are forced to live where a parental unit reside and besides, kids have no common sense (I have 3, trust me on that one too) and being almost 50 and alzheimer's about to set in, I've forgotten how harsh Iowa winter's can be (and I don't ever plan to remember).

Here is a graph of average temperature in Camarillo, CA.  I've never been there, and I'm not even sure where it is, but it looks like a lovely place to live based on the chart:

As you can see, the four seasons are cool, warm, awesome, and awesomer.  My body drools over these perfectly year-round training temperatures, it doesn't like dealing with 60 degree temperature shifts that happen over the course of an HOUR here.  Now here is the graph for average temperature for Centennial, CO, where I currently reside:

As you can see the seasons here are: too hot, almost winter, winter, still winter, and spring blizzards.  Do you understand my problem now?

I hate snow and being cold.  I do and that is not going to change.  HOWEVER, I do LOVE Colorado (Shhhh, don't tell anyone I said it, but I do).  Despite that fact that it snows constantly (It doesn't but it feels like it does whenever I have some important training day scheduled!!!) this is the place that I now call home.  I love that there are over 300 days of sunshine a year.  I love raising my family here.  I love the culture, mostly the arts.  I love looking out my front door and seeing the Rocky Mountains.  I love the friends that I have made.  I love how active I am here in Colorado and how easy it is to find a great race to do!  It really is a fantastic place to live.   


Besides, I got in a couple great runs with last week before this latest onslaught of white evil....let's just look at those pictures and ooh and ahh and remember, eventually, all this white crap will melt.  Around July.
Monday:
Cheyenne Mt. in Colorado Spring; sight of an upcoming race
Running with my dear friend, Kathleen (Happy Trails), at Cheyenne Mt.
Even with a pulled calf muscle at mile 2, she still dragged my sorry slow butt up
those steep hills, which she deemed "manageable" and I deemed "deadly".  She's a rock star trail runner, even injured!
Wednesday:
Deer Creek Canyon 
Grateful (seriously grateful) I didn't encounter a mountain lion

Saturday:

My hands may be cracking and bleeding every winter, and my training is thrown out the window on days like today....

...but Colorado is home for me now and I couldn't imagine leaving.  But I am still going to complain about the snow though...I am so over dealing with it.

Now excuse me, that's all the time I have for now, I have a little treadmill 5k PR to set....

Btw, I just looked at my weather.com phone app to see how many more inches we're going to get today and all is says is, "BLIZZARD".  Does anyone live in Caramillo and can get me a job?  I make great charts!

36 comments:

BabyWeightMyFatAss said...

lol. I think that little rodent is a dirty liar this year too!

We are suppose to get about 4 inches tomorrow in my part of IL OR more. Hate this slow winter we have been having.

Anonymous said...

Yeah...I looked out my window to just about the same view up in Loveland. I bailed on any plan, decided to get bread-making stuff and saw a girl running on my way to the store. That made me feel terrible, but I'm still staying home to make bread. 50s next week! :)

Local Mind Media said...

I picked the wrong months to live in CO this time around (friend is in Napa today and she said, "It's hot and sunny - have to wear SPF 80 by the pool."

All I can say is it better pay off in race results for me this year. Now go train!

HappyTrails said...

That furry Phil surely seems prone to a lie now and then.... Yep, we are pretty much are desperate to be done with winter.... and please, spare me the drama about being so slow. You defeat yourself before you even get started! I am having to rebuild *everything* from scratch-the past two years of auto-immune garbage decimated every bit of fitness I had - we can rebuild together! You are well on your way. The only reason I was in front at CMSP was because I knew the route. I also knew where the mountain lion chased the poor lady (near our photo spot). We could've had some good speed work. Just kidding. That wouldn't have been too fun. :-) I want to go to Deer Creek. And lots of other places. Steve and I have some trail exploring to catch up on. You and I can drag each other over the hills and through the woods. Just remember that all that hill work will make you STRONG. Keep going - You can do it!!!

Jim ... 50after40 said...

I have asked you and Terzah, very nicely I might add, to please keep the snow in Colorado. What do I wake up to on MARCH 23rd ... 9-14" forcasted!!! WTF!!! Just when I get a little momentum going outside, I'm back on the indoor track which only annoys me, and the geriatric crowd that walks there ... very slowly ... in my way ... the whole time. Thanks for nothing.

Adrienne Langelier, MA said...

I too love Colorado! Unfortunately in Texas, it just rains til it floods or ices a little and everything stops. I once did a 14 mile treadmill run. Don't know where I found the will to go on with that one:)

ajh said...

You are getting a lot of snow! You know me I love snow and winter BUT the calendar says spring and I want it now. Today was really windy and cold. Snow on the ground - at least where I live. Brown grass in Burlington. We went and looked at bikes for my husband but not a day to test ride them. Hang in there, your snow will soon be gone!

KelleeLyn said...

I'm with you in every aspect. Colorado can suck it with this "spring" weather. This weekend was suppose to be 18 mile training run and I think I'm going to have to split it up into two sessions of 9 miles on the dreadmill, ugh! It's just WAY TOO COLD.

on and btw, I live right next to Cheyenne Mountain and often run on those trails!

Char said...

I have the same loathing towards our summers. They're too hot and humid and all I want to do is lie somewhere in air conditioning. And when people tell me they are so excited that it's finally hot I want to hurt them - punch them, push them into a ditch and cover them with dirt or smash a bottle on their head. As if it's their fault that summer's coming. I think I have anger issues.

Ransick said...

I'm tired of snow too and sometimes wonder why i ski at spring break instead of go somewhere warm.

Hopefully you didn't go out. The road's were horrible. I saw over a dozen wrecks on 70 and 25 going from the airport to my cousin's place then back towards a hotel near the airport so I could pick my mom up 12 hours late (due to snow).

Anonymous said...

Chaarts are fun!

Black Knight said...

I understand very well why you use the treadmill (that I hate).
Fortunately I don't know what snow is.
Have you ever thought to live in Italy (for the weather I mean not for the politicians)?

Christi said...

I hate snow too!

Anonymous said...
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Kate Geisen said...

MY part of Illinois is supposed to get 8-10", which forced me to leave adventure camp, which I've been looking forward to for YEARS, early. My favorite part of the weather report: "the rapid accumulation of snow will make travel difficult if not impossible". Awesome.

All of this is just to say that I'm with you!! With you, but in a much less scenic state.

Mike said...

I like the "Wanted Poster"...Funny!

Terzah said...

That was the most entertaining complaining I've ever read! If my kids could complain like that, I might listen to them. Especially if they used charts (desire for snack vs. # of snacks in the house; it would look like your graph). :^)

You know how I feel--I'd rather deal with snow than 95 degree temps and sun like an x-ray or one of those Bugs Bunny desert cartoons. So I know how you feel....but in reverse. I'm dreading August. I look at temp curves in Canada.

Teamarcia said...

It IS sort of hilarious that for once PP aka the groundhog predicted an early spring and we've got anything but. I usually love snow but I too am sick of it in SPRING! I am still storing up the cold temps for when it gets sweltering hot here. Yay keep up that roll!

Matthew Smith said...

I don't know how you guys handle all the snow! I was so glad to get out of Michigan and back to the South where even the winter doesn't demotivate you. It's not perfect this week, but it's warm enough to get out there and do what I have to. Hang in there! Spring/Summer is coming!

Anne said...

Looks so familiar...that's exactly what our spring is like out here in Québec! :) Yes, I do winter sports and can manage to enjoy the snow...but, I am so over it now!!! OVER IT!! :) I feel your mood.

pensive pumpkin said...

rodents are, in fact, dirty liars. lets move somewhere warm together. right now.

brg said...

i love the charts...I know big surprise, eh? Wait until you see my next blog post - FUEL test tomorrow. glad training is going so well. :)

Molly said...

Around here it's felt a lot like the movie groundhog day! I cannot BELIEVE how much new snow we got last week, and are getting even more this week. I don't mind when it snows in the winter, but NOT when it's officially spring!!!

Robin said...

Loved this post! I don't mind the snow in moderation...when it lasts too long or becomes too much it bothers me. I love your photos...spectacular.

Coy Martinez said...

Jill! This was an awesome post! I live on the right coast and it's annoying rain here AND wind. I would love to go someplace where the wind was barely there. I think if I lived in Colorado I would love the snow at first and then be completely over it after the first winter.

Liz said...

I am so with you. Whenver it snows a bunch of my friends start posting on Facebook about how great it is, while I'm sobbing in a corner. I HATE IT! It just gets in the way of doing anything!

Lucky we've just missed a lot of snow, but it's still freezing and windy. Can't wait for some warm weather...

Cory Reese said...

I have good news for you - there will be none of that horribly miserable white stuff when you come to Utah in a few weeks.

I completely agree, my motivation vanishes in that weather. And your son's tent? What??? Schedule him for therapy.

Lindsay said...

Bottle up the snow and save it for the summer drought. You'll be the envy of the 'hood! I hope you can grow your chart career in a warmer environment soon. Who wouldn't want those mad skillz??

PS: I hope you are starting to organize Jill's Blog Exchange Extravaganza... ;)

GZ said...

It is WAY better than Dubuque. Nuff said.

Whatever the weather.

Jenny said...

Best.post.ever. :-) Winter haters unite!
P.S. Love the prayer flags on the tent. We always hike with ours too.
:-)

Suz and Allan said...

No love for the snow at all from me! I say it every year and no one takes me seriously but I would always rather be hot than be cold. I feel like this winter is never going to end!

Brian said...

I share your loathing of snow. I love running when it's in the 30s, but snow just ruins everything it touches. It's not pretty, it's just annoying! :-)

Glenn Jones said...

Camarillo!?!? It gets cold there! I'd certainly pick San Diego over Camarillo!

Glenn Jones said...

Camarillo!?!? It gets cold there! I'd certainly pick San Diego over Camarillo!

C2Iowa said...

I HATE SNOW.
Period.
I live in the frozen tundra of Northern freakn Iowa.
Do not like it.
Wife loves it here.

End of story.

chris mcpeake said...

Thats a lot of snow.

Stupid groundhog