Amateur Diagnosis

The weather yesterday and today meant driving with the windows down: Sunny, calm, and warm. The kind of warm that starts on your skin and seeps into your blood, bones, and heart. The kind where you sit in the car when you first get it in without turning it on, just to feel it. Thankfully, I had a pressing errand requiring me to make a quick trip to the post office, so I was fortunate enough to realize just how gorgeous it was. I immediately thought, "I love how I feel, and I want to share it! I should blog about how beautiful it is right now." Which, to be honest, has been somewhat of a novel thought for me over the past couple of months (if you couldn't tell, I wasn't really up for the task this winter). Then I realized it - just like my pal, Heather, wrote in this post, I must have seasonal affective disorder, aka the winter blues. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and will sing carols with the best of them from Thanksgiving on in, but the cold weather and short days really drag me down. I bundle up, don't go outside, don't exercise, and eat lots of carbs (sounds like fun until your pants become snug, get a tummy ache, and you are on the verge of scurvy).

So with that, once I returned to the office ten minutes later, I immediately nixed plans to take a lunch break indoors with a pal. Instead, I switched to grabbing a quick bite at my desk in order to head out for a little run in the sunshine. Fate definitely had this in store for me: I had appropriate workout clothes in the trunk (not leggings, but shorts! And socks! Which I normally forget), and a towel left in the locker room at work. Hooray! The stars aligned in my favor.

I pumped up my almost-forgotten running mix and hit the road. Needless to say, it was a euphoric 3 miles. Each song on shuffle was just right, and my muscles squealed with joy at such a foreign feeling (no elliptical or walking, no indoor workout DVD; just pure, unadulterated movement soaking in the Vitamin D). I returned with rosy cheeks, crazy hair, and a glow. Perfect.

Then I checked the weather for today - just the same, but warmer! I couldn't be more happy. To be sure, I made plans to bring back my gear for round two, and did just that. This time I had no head phones, but a co-worker. We had the birds chirping, and the sky was so bright and clear that we noticed buildings from afar through the still bare trees.

It felt good to get back the runner's high (and while I know it isn't the runner's high you get when you run a marathon or something, it was adrenaline and blood pumping enough for me). I don't dare to look at next week's weather report, because I know this is a small February miracle and I want to enjoy it as much as I can.

So with that, I knew. I knew I was not a winter girl, but a diagnosable spring one. One ready for sun, blossoming plants, and new adventures.