Time to put up another post. It has been awhile. Winter continues pretty much unabated. We had a couple of nice days about freezing this week but we also got almost 3" of snow on Wednesday night and then temperatures back well below freezing (-20C last night) and generally fairly windy. In one sense this is perfect and in another it isn't. I, like almost everyone, want some sunshine and warm weather, but we have close to 4 feet of snow on the ground and I definitely do not want it to melt too rapidly. We are going to have enough flooding and water issues without a rapid thaw. Below freezing and sunny would be perfect for most of the snow sublimating away.

Between bouts of cold and wind, 15 of my last 17 runs have been on the treadmill, which has made me very glad I bought it but I would still rather be outside running. At least I am running and getting some good workouts in; the treadmill is turning out to be a great tool for me for doing intervals, much better than outside on the road, and for hillwork in an area with no hills. I am also starting to get in the mileage that I need. Last week was 22.5 miles and this week should be about 25 miles, which is right in the range that I want right now. I'll start upping the mileage a bit more in mid-April, especially the long runs. I still haven't registered for any races this spring or summer and I need to get on that right away or it will be too late. I'm planning on running the 10k at the Saskatoon Police half (Apr 23) and the Half-Marathon at the Saskatchewan Marathon (May 29). After that I don't know. Certainly the Queen City Marathon in Regina in Sept and the Sask Ultra in Oct.

Meanwhile school proceeds with its ups and downs. Mostly this semester they are ups; I have some great students who are enthusiastic and doing great work. Teaching and working with them is fun and energizing. I found this really good op-ed column in the New York Times on kids and school. It really talks about the kind of teaching I would like to be able to do, and that I suspect most teachers would like to do, if they could. But I also think that the bureaucracy would go ballistic, as would politicians and far too many parents, etc. who are predisposed to disapporve of change and openness.

The cold weather and my timidity continuing unabated, I broke down last month and bought a treadmill, a NordicTrac middle grade machine. I have been using it steadily and am slowly getting back in shape. I can't say that running on it is all that much fun, but it is a lot better than not running at all. Soon though it will be Spring and I can head outdoors again, especially for the long runs. I have missed several races this year that I would normally do, but the training is not there at all.
The political scene continues to fascinate me, largely because of how disfunctional it is, here in Canada as well as the United States. Demagogues of various stripes are mixed in with a lot of people who seem to be saying "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts." And the sheer amounts of money floating through the system, especially in the United States, really influences behaviours and judgments. But I started this paragraph, this line of thought because of this article on Dignity in public discourse. I also have been struck by how much of our public discussion of issues is embedded in language that attacks and demeans the opposition rather than acknowledging our common humanity and freedom.
On a slightly different tack, I have been struck by several of the stories I have heard coming out of the sudden eruption of conflicts in the Arab world about people who have left good safe jobs to got to areas of great danger to start of participate in humanitarian activities, bringing in food, shelter, medicines, treating the wounded, caring for the sick because "it needed to be done." People like that are inspiring and awe-inspiring., a treasure in short supply in our world.