The Strides of March
It's that time of year again where the chorus of "It's that time of year again"s rings through the early spring air from the mouths of People Who Know More Than Me. The days get longer naturally by celestial reasons I don't fully understand and then again artificially by Daylight Savings Time, which I fully understand and support. We spring forward into this long purgatory that is March-April in the Upper Midwest with a knowing hesitancy. For those of us who need to get outside and as far away from treadmills as possible it can be heaven. But when March comes at us less like a lion and even LESS like a lamb and more like some uncertain lamb/lion/gryphon abomination it's hard to be certain what's in store for the rest of the day, let alone the month. The blizzard and -30-degree days are dead and gone... right? In my experience the best thing to do is look at those impossibly dirty and shrinking snow mounds as less of an eyesore and more as unsightly harbingers of Hope.
Every sidewalk puddle you have to heroically hurdle and almost clear as a sign of warmer more agreeable days ahead. Wet socks as blessings! Insults from Horace Mann schoolchildren about the length of your shorts on 35-degree afternoons as... well maybe there's no silver lining to that.
The snow is gone! (Good!)
But the roads and sidewalks still have uneven ice patches. (Bad)
I can see grass! (Good!)
...I can also see four months of built-up petrified dog turds. (Bad)Uncertainty looms. We do our taxes and Hope we don't get an audit. We Hope that one weird coworker won't whisper "Beware the Ides of March" on the 15th like they're still in AP English or something. We approach the two-year mark of a persistent pandemic with Hope that there is a horizon. We Hope for stability and peace in a world that seems determined for Anything But That. We Hope for health and to show up to the start lines of our races, not just un-injured but fit. Because Hope isn't blind optimism. It is optimism aware that the world is not Perfect. That shin splints and April blizzards and annoying politicians are a reality but not a constant. Prepare but try not to fall into despair. All we can do is listen to our bodies and follow our instincts... unless those instincts tell us to wear split shorts around third graders who know WAY more swear words than you thought they did.
Stay Healthy and Say Hi
Good things,
-Caleb at Beyond Running
