april flowers

here's a photo of lush-looking ferns and foliage.

i don't like to talk about the weather here, but seattle had 9 inches of rain in march.

so, i'm gonna talk a little about weather.

even in rainy seattle, nine inches of rain is a lot of rain. it easily broke the previous record for march, at least for as long as people have been keeping track of such things around here. we have no idea what the actual record may have been before that, but my official guess is "12 feet during the cretaceous period."

weather's a tricky topic. nobody wants to hear about it unless it's extreme, and things are either flooding or bursting into flames.

this fact is not lost on the weather channel, which recently started assigning scary names to major winter storms.

weather channel marketer: "people love big storms, epic storms, storms that have names! it's a shame there aren't more hurricanes every year."
weather channel intern: "well, we could start naming WINTER storms. boreas, kronos, maximus..."
weather channel marketer: "that's huge!! go get me some coffee."

here's a photo of me
running in the rain.

with all the rain, there's probably a big ol' bolus of ferns and flowers and other foliage in our future. i think this may already be true, in fact, because for the first time in years i have allergies. or a weird, achy-dizzy cold. or an invasive pulmonary moss.

despite the weather, i spent a good bit of time outdoors in march. 112 miles worth, according to my handy-dandy garmin, plus an unknown number of miles walking the dogs. they got wet, too, but so far have exhibited no signs of moss.

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it's april now, and viola! like somebody turned off the faucet. and just yesterday we had a 70F day. it was glorious, and i celebrated by doing nothing. game called on account of flu-like symptoms. wait, i did have a lunchtime nap in my car, does that count?

if things go according to plan, april 2014 will be remembered not for a mysterious ailments, but for a spring break trip to hawaii and many miles piled up in preparation for a 50k trail race in may. the past few days, however, the miles have not been piling up because the symptoms have been piling on.

i find this worrisome because a 50k trail race is no joke, and i'd really prefer to be prepared for this one, as it's my first. i don't have time to be sick. so after today, i won't be. that is all.

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saturday is a travel day, and then instead of putting on extra layers we'll be putting on sunscreen. "barefoot running" won't entail minimalist footwear, it'll mean running while actually barefoot. and for the first time in a while, staying hydrated via osmosis won't be possible. we will counter with hydration vests, handheld bottles, and a cooler full of coronas at the beach.

here's a photo of weather at kailua beach, oahu.

the 10-day forecast for kailua beach calls for highs in the upper 70s with a chance of showers. it's the kind of weather ~ boring, predictable, perfect ~ that no one wants to hear about.

unless they're enjoying it themselves.

despite this, and with your kind permission, there's a near-100% chance i will talk about weather here in the coming days...