Today is March 19. I'm looking out of my office window to bluebird sunny skies and a quickly receding snow pack in the side yard. There are no snowbanks left, and I've been hearing birds outside for the past week or so. By most people's standards, these are all good things, but I'm feeling a little bit down about the imminent arrival of spring.
Where did my ski season go? Looking back at the past few months, I feel like we got robbed. If March goes in like a lamb and out like a lion, maybe we'll get one more big powder day. There are still some good spring runs to be had, and I might try to get a crew to head up to Tuckerman Ravine, but I have a strong suspicion that my weekends are already looking pretty full through May. Our ski season came in with a disaster and went out with a whisper. I don't like the feeling that no one called 'last run' but it came and went anyway.
We had great snow early, but since we lost Ally to injury on the first run of the first day, my heart really wasn't in it. I managed to get out a few times, but it never felt right to head out to the mountain with her sitting at home with a broken leg that I had more than a little to do with. We had some great snow in the middle of the season, but it came with ridiculously cold weather and I have to admit to wussing out early on a couple of days that could have been epic. We had great snow at the end of February, but we managed to plan around it on a trip to Jay, and byt the time we got there, we had a day of rain and a day of ice. Fun. History is a good teacher, and I knew for sure there would be big dumps at the end of February and beginning of March that would make up for my lack of turns.
Except the big snow never came and I am getting close to admitting to myself that it isn't going to. And that realization is leaving me in a funk.
But if you are supposed to make lemonade when you get lemons, then I guess I am supposed to make some different tracks with the warm weather and clean roads. I have my road bike ready to go, and should be able to get a head start on cycling season. I'll be on Lauren's 100on100 relay team once again, so I will throw myself fully into that. I have 10 months until my 40th birthday and some fairly aggressive fitness goals I'd like to achieve by that day, so I have no excuses. This ski season was a wash, but I'll just have to leverage it into making sure I am ready to rip at the first snowfall next year.
And the one more silver lining here is that I get to meet my new puppy tomorrow. And he is going to want to hike, run, and play outside like puppies do, and an early melt is probably the best way to ensure that he gets to do all of those things right away.
