It’s Sunday, and I’m preparing to head to the gym to a spin class. It’s my bit of bi-weekly torture. Sit on a bike, literally spinning my wheels, going nowhere and having crap for scenery and stale, sweat saturated air (mmmmm…delish). My bike shoes which are normally clipped into my Trek 2.1 (aka The Big Blue Blovey), are clipped into a spin bike that goes nowhere. It’s so wrong. So foul. To my bike shoes, I apologize for the betrayal. It’s a necessary evil though, as I prepare to start on another (sounds impressive, it’s only my 2nd) triathlon season where I’ve plotted out one tri per month, starting in June and ending in September. September will be the big finale for me this year, with my first Olympic Triathlon in Sag Harbor with the Mighty Hamptons Olympic Triathlon. A gorgeous place for a 1-mile swim, followed by a 25-mile bike ride through rolling, scenic green and beach vistas, followed by dragging my pathetically tired limbs through a 10-k run. By the middle of the run, I’ll likely see nothing for my own sweat burning my eyeballs and the pain rendering everything else that isn’t a finish line a hellish, sight I’d rather gouge my eyes out for seeing. But I digress.
Yesterday in 33 degree weather, I ventured out for my first run in a long while. In fact, the last run I’d taken outside was a 5 Mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. (Also known as the ‘Pass-Me-Another-Piece-of-That-Pie-and-One-of-Those-Mini-Cannoli’s-Would-Ya?!? Run’) As suspected, the slight inclines felt like mountains, and the post-nasal drip felt like waterboarding. But, in those few moments which were NOT that old guy passing me, I felt good. I felt REALLY good for the air, crisp, still smacking of winter and of wet ice taking a really gradual melt. It was lightly peppered with the smell of grass struggling out to see the sun, buds making their plots to burst forth off branches. And it stayed with me through the sniffling, hacking, and residual cold crap which carried me through the morning.
Later in the lull of the afternoon where my two-year old son, Noah SOMETIMES naps, I stole a few lazy moments on my couch and scanned the box. In the vast wasteland that is often television programming, I found the YES Network was finally, actually, and GLORIOUSLY showing baseball. RECENT baseball. LIVE baseball. The first of the Grapefruit League games for my Yankees. Sure, it was mid innings so I got to see Yankees I had no about while Nick Swisher was interviewed riding around in a golf cart off field, but it was BASEBALL. And to me, baseball is one of those sure signs of spring that makes my heart shine along with the promise of sun.
After a few minutes of basking in my ‘spring IS coming’ glow, I went downstairs to see how my older son, Cole was doing. He was flinging cars down homemade ramps while watching cartoons in the playroom.
Cole: ‘So Mom, what are you doing?’
Me: ‘Well, I came down here to tell you that I’m upstairs and guess what I’m watching? Baseball.’
…and he says (music to my ears): ‘Is it YANKEE BASEBALL?’
…and I say ‘Yes. Would you like to come watch it with me?’
…and he says ‘Yes.’ And he does…for a little while. And it makes me think of the end of summer, when it was still hot, but it smelled like fall was coming, when I went with Cole for the first time to Yankee Stadium. We sat right behind the dugout, protected by net, taking in pre-game warmup with Robinson Cano and Jeter doing long toss right in front of us, the net protecting us from Cano’s missing the ball for being lost in some other thought. At the end of the game, we stayed and waited for a game ball (which he still carries around) the fall air lurking as the sun started to settle itself lower.
It smelled like fall was coming then too, in the same way it smells like spring now. And I’m breathing it all in, and looking forward to it.
Posted by ramblingsfromtheleft on March 1, 2011 at 7:33 am
Great post,Kim. You make me homesick for the changing seasons.
Not quite the same epiphany as a morning run, but I loved that first morning walking up Bennett Avenue and feeling the light breeze, the smell in the air, the excitment of MY tree getting tiny buds and that promise of spring.
Nature lends us her magic for the first knowing of each season. It is one of the dozens things I miss. Here we get two springs, one fall, a six week winter and then we swim through the air for four months.
Good training
Posted by themommyvan on March 7, 2011 at 3:52 pm
thanks florence. I remember that tree.
now i have this beautiful tree outside my bedroom window which gets these little cherry blossom like flowers, which then give way to these plum colored leaves. it’s beautiful.. and it’s so nice to watch mother nature do her handiwork.