feb 8, 2019 / 3.4 miles / 0 degrees, feels like -15 / 100% snow-covered
My standard explanation:
Why do I like running in this weather? I like being (almost) the only one on the path. I like testing the limits of how cold is too cold. Mostly, though, I like running in the cold. Being out in the snow. Hearing it crunch. Admiring how it decorates the trees and the forest floor. Breathing in the winter air. I think I also like how there’s no pressure to run fast when it feels like 15 below. Just being outside is an accomplishment.
feb 8, 2020 / 3.5 miles / 15 degrees, feels like 5
Tick tock tick tock — the pandemic is coming. I think this is the last time we went to the Mall of America before everything shut down a month later.
Ran a little later today because Scott and I had to take our daughter to the Mall of America this morning. After a month of begging us, we finally caved. That place is the opposite of the gorge. Tight, confined. Too many people moving too slow and too fast. Too bright. Too many big words everywhere. Too much consumption. Too many sickly sweet, overpowering smells. Energy zapping. Water sapping. Soul sucking. I’ve never really liked shopping but now that my vision is bad, it’s very difficult, especially at the mall. Draining. Today’s trip was one of the better ones. Probably because we only stayed for an hour. There was a moment, near the Rotunda. A dance performance, accompanied by a recording of some cheesy, sappy piano music (some popp-y thing that I should remember but can’t). Passing near the roller coaster, listening to the overly loud, overly sentimental music, watching Scott and our daughter walk ahead, I felt this dreamy, detached sense of joy.
feb 8, 2021 / 3.2 miles / outside: feels like -14 / basement
Found a useful quotation about paying attention and the attention economy via twitter this morning:
Attention is a limited resource, so pay attention to where you pay attention.
Howard Rheingold, read in Attention Shoppers
Maybe last year or the year before, I had some thoughts about how attention doesn’t have to be a limited resource if we rethink it as a letting go instead of concentrating, where we don’t hold onto it, but let it pass through us.