No winter fatigue here

It's been a long time. A lot of my absence has been work related, but a substantial portion has also been that I've been trying to live up to my nickname--Adventure Girl. Since December I've skied five mountains in two countries, passed a course that allows me to fight wildand fire, taken two snowshoe excursions, summitted one above treeline mountain after dark, and spent one night winter camping. I'm topping it all off with a day of ice climbing this coming weekend.

But I'm especially happy because I've also fit some running into the last hectic month. Not a lot, mind you, but a bit. There's also promise to step things up a notch over the next few months. I've discovered two groups of runners to spend time with--one that holds midnight runs and another that focuses on long, weekend runs.

I'm always intrigued by how my other physical activities effects my thoughts about running. Here are a few themes of late:

• NIMBLENESS So important in winter's icy conditions. Also, there's immense please in imitating a mountain goat. Watching a person's level of nimbleness is often an indication of natural athletic abiulity and awareness of body. Working on nimbleness is one of my favorite aspects of trail running, but it's also extremely helpful to have when you're wearing awkward snowshoes.


• SURVIVAL Being fit, ideally especially fit, often means that you're going to be better equipped to cope in extreme situations. So many things have brought this to mind recently from Haiti to a seriously struggling hiking companion on a recent trip to VT. It also was top of mind while practicing use of fire shelters. Knowing that I can run 10+ miles makes me feel much more confident about my survivability.


• COMMUNITY I'm notoriously anti-social at times, but I love spending time with people when we're engaged in an athletic activity. It is, hands down, the best way to meet good people. I particularly value the fact that you can quickly learn about an individual's character and driving motivations. Whiners tend to show their true colors very quickly.

I'm beginning to seriously consider two half marathons for the spring and summer. For spring--the Bear Mountain 1/2. For summer--the Bend, Oregon Haulin' Aspen 1/2. Both are trail runs, which is more and more my preference.

I'll post some ice climbing shots soon and will look to continue to diversify my winter sports portfolio by finding an opportunity to ice skate and learning how to curl. It's too bad there isn't a broomball team at Yale!