Forever Trapped in February...

I am trying to be more optimistic and positive, but I am not the least bit remorseful to see February hit the damn road.  The weather here in Big Wonderful has been even more mercurial of late than usual.  It has alternated between days of 40 degrees or warmer and days of zero degrees and snow.  That vacillation has lead to a near constant frozen glaze on the roads that makes running (and driving) a crap shoot at best, downright threatening to life and limb at worst.  I look forward to a time when I can go for a run and have confidence that my next step will not lead to injury.

I have also missed six days of running this past month.  I have been fighting off a bug that began as a touch of the flu, then morphed into a head cold, then hit my stomach.  I've been feeling it for the better part of three weeks.  The runs I did get in were short, slow, and not particularly enjoyable thanks to the aforementioned ailments and weather.

Hit the bricks, February.

March welcomed us with the 10th anniversary of the sadism that is the Twin Mountain Trudge.  From the frying pan into the fire...

Finishing my sixth Trudge in a row.  Photo: Lindsay Sweley.

I will dedicate a proper post to that adventure soon.  The Trudge deserves that much.

With improving weather and a little inspiration, I am again filled with wanderlust.  I am in the process of outfitting my pick-up for camping purposes.  I have it rigged-out so that I can sleep in the back and have storage for gear.  It can be used as a base camp from which I can make forays into the wild.  That has always been my dream.  Time to realize it.

Elizabeth and I have been trying to see each other every month.  I went to Boise in January, she came to Wyoming last month, and this month we are planning to meet in the middle.  The middle, in this case, being Moab.  The canyons and desert always have an ability to sooth my wanderlust.  The vastness of the space has a unique ability to add perspective to my life.  And going in March has always offered a welcome respite from the travails of Wyoming winters.