It's getting cold

Today was the first cold day in Athens. In summer, I always think about days like this when you are chilled just walking around. It seems improbable that a place so hot for so much of the year can cool down. It took most of October to happen, but it was chilly. Of course, cold is relative.

In January of 2005, I went for an interview at Ithaca College, the other institute of higher education in Ithaca, New York. It was a great job, and I was frankly honored to have been called up for a campus visit after meeting them in Philadelphia at the MLA Convention. Anyway, I had been warned about Ithaca. People always seemed to say the same thing: "Ithaca? Great place . . . . Cold, but great." E. and I flew up there, but my luggage didn't make it until halfway through my visit, so I was left to fend for myself in the clothes I had left Georgia in--no hat, no gloves, and none of the artic gear I had assembled. The cold didn't just bite. It burned and tore at my exposed flesh. My feet refused to warm up after only a short walk around the downtown mall area. It was the kind of cold that can kill a stupid person in no time. That was cold. Today was Georgia-cold.

For me, a day like this marks the end of another cycling season. Sunday was ok but I kept armwarmers on all day and my toes were cold and that was high 60s/low 70s. Quoting my father-in-law again, "It's never too hot to ride, and never too cold to run." The inverse is true as well: "It can be too hot to run and too cold to ride. " Sure, I'll don the winter cycling gear when it is in the 30s but I can't help but feel a little absurd doing it: "I will ride, I will ride dammit, if it takes me $300 in high-tech, windproofed, insulated, moisture-wicking apparel to do it!" No, the season is turning from cycling to running--there are only two seasons for my elemental exercise. The question is, do I train for a marathon or not? It's hard to believe that in April I ran a marathon in 3:22 because now a 70-minute run at even 8-minute pace is a total workout. Last Spring, I stayed off the bike longer than I wanted to because of marathon training and I felt like I had to work hard to get back in bike shape. Regardless of what people might think, this is a dilemma for me. Some people say, "At least you're doing something," but that's not how I feel at all. I want to be good at both running and cycling and just don't have the time to be good at both. Forget swimming; I'll never be a triathlete.

Running and cyling: those are two of my elemental things. In the past, I was a potter--another elemental thing. The other thing that I do is read. The other thing I'd like to do is write. I don't do either of these two things as much as or as well as I would like to, but I try. It seems that there still is some intellectual juice left after the Ph.D. in English though not enough for me to venture out and be an assistant professor who strives to publish. I really don't think I have that much to say, either about Cormac McCarthy or ecocriticism. Perhaps, I will do my professional writing on teaching. That's my other elemental thing. I teach. It's the only thing I do well that will pay the bills.

So if running, cycling, reading, writing, and/or teaching or any of that combination is of interest, that's what you will find on this blog.