Spring Thaw

Saturday was my first run of the year. Since I started 5K training in 2016, I've become so used to running outside that I don't think I can ever go back to treadmills. During the winter I just don't run at all, and yet the break doesn't seem to take much of a toll on anything. My pace is always within just a couple minutes of what my average for the previous season was; my muscles aren't any more sore afterwards. Still, this year I had big plans about intense yoga at home three days a week until the ice melted; instead I just slept in.

This is a miserable time of year for me. It's nice that the sun's back, of course, but now with the melting ice and snow means gray, sad trees and (in Stockholm) giant mountains of gravel and snow. Mostly gravel. Spring is lauded as a time of warmth and flowers, but in my experience it's mostly just muddy and unpleasant. There's two weeks of spring, maybe, that's nice, and by then it's practically summer.

Still, once you get out in nature, the thaw becomes a lot more attractive. And that's exactly why I've been put off the treadmill forever.