Chillin.

You know you're having a mellow Sunday when you wear your pjs ALL DAY LONG. Seriously, I got out of this outfit for about an hour today, then got right back into it after a shower.  I'm mixing up my daily photo to include the occasional non-sweaty version of myself. However, the non-ponytailed version of myself has ceased to exist, so don't be looking for me to mix it up too much in the hair department.

My hour out of my pajamas was originally intended to be a run. That proved more complicated than I had hoped, due to last night's snowfall. I stepped out into a light sprinkling of snow, and was pretty proud of myself, considering it was the first time I've set off into a snowstorm for a run. I was supposed to run 12k, and conditions seemed like they could be in my favor. The weather network said it was only -1 degree. The street I can see from my window looked clear and the sidewalks shoveled or melted. Plus, yesterday's snowstorm was pretty short-lived - it cleared up right after I got home from my bus adventure, so I figured there couldn't have been that much new snow. And on top of that, it was early afternoon by the time I was hitting the pavement - lots of time for the snow plows to have cleaned off the sidewalks.

Or so I thought. In reality, only the streets had been plowed. And where did all the slushy, dirty snow from the plowing go? Up onto the sidewalk, completely obliterating any hint of a path and leaving a thick sticky mess almost up to my knees to tread through. The moment I turned off the residential street, it was like I was treading water. I was determined, so I tried to slog through it, but I felt like I was moving a kilometer an hour. Running rapidly turned into shuffling which degenerated into an awkward, slow, high-knees walk. My shoes filled up with slush, my lower legs were damp and cold, and the snowflakes settling on my eyelashes were no longer feeling as cute as they were when I stepped outside my apartment. For the duration of my slow creep back home, I was cursing mother nature and swearing that if I never saw another snowflake again, it would be too soon.

But then, later on, eating my evening eggs in my pjs, I saw an adorable pooch romping chest-deep in the snow.  Despite the foot and a bit of snow covering his back yard, he was having a blast and he was getting his cardio for the day in. In fact, instead of it being a nuisance, it seemed like he was even enjoying the snow. I aspire to be more like a puppy on my future winter runs and remember that snow can be, if not always the most fun, at least a bonus workout challenge.