City Skyline

Trying out Skate Skiing

Only on Friday I blogged about patched of ground showing through the melting snow on a golf course used for x-country skiing during the winter. On Saturday morning, my friend Suzanne called to invite me to go skiing. Very quickly I realized that the Weston Ski Track she was talking about was the very golf course/skiing track I see from the train window every morning.

Together Suzanne and I, experienced classical skiers, took a private lesson in skate skiing. It turned out to be easier then it looked. Now I cannot wait to try skate skiing up in Snoqualmie.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Прогалины

Looking out the train window this morning, I noticed how much snow melted in the last few warm days we had. Large areas of brown dirt showed through the dark snow still covering the golf course used for x-country skiing during the winter. The Russian word for such a patch of bare ground, somehow exuding spring warmth even on a winter morning like today, is прогалина (progalina).

Immediately the word made me feel nostalgic, perhaps because I do not remember ever using it since I moved to the US. Somehow ground peeking through melting snow just does not come up in the few conversations I carry on in Russian these days.

Прогалина reminds me of elementary school, of reading about nature. It reminds me of the days when I was told almost daily and truly believed that Russia was the most beautiful country on Earth. It reminds me of Tyutchev, Bunin, Prishvin, Paustovsky--writers whose works I have not read in decades. And it makes me yearn for spring more then ever.

The Clay Crow

The "Clay Crow" song ("Plasticine Crow" actually) randomly came on on my iTunes today, and I decided to look up the cartoon. I realize that many of you do not speak Russian, and the subtitles are terrible, but I think this cartoon is still a gem. As you watch the cartoon, please keep in mind that both "crow" and "cow" are feminine nouns in the Russian language.

Enjoy!

Super Sunday 10K

On Sunday, February 1, my friend Eric and I ran our second 10K race—the Super Sunday 10K. The first 10K race we ran was the James Joyce Ramble in April 2007, where eager volunteers recited Joyce’s prose and poetry along the race course.

During the Super Sunday race, the volunteers on the course barely opened their mouths, and decidedly none of them recited any poetry. You cannot blame them—it was bitter cold. Yes, Sunday was a nice sunny and relatively warm day in Boston, but the key here is “relative”, and the nice part of the day really started in the afternoon. The race kicked off at 10:15am, not at 10am as scheduled, due to an unusually large number of people still lined up to use the port-a-potties. I am sure the cold had something to do with that.

The double loop course mostly ran along the Northern Avenue in South Boston, opening up views of the Boston sky line. However pretty, the course failed to become one of my favorites due to several areas where it narrowed creating a funnel affect for the runners. Still the clam chowder provided by Legal Sea Foods, one of the race sponsors, made up for all the shortcomings on the course, and we went home very content.

Though Super Sunday did not bring us any PRs (see race results), Eric and I still had a good time. In fact we had so much fun, we are thinking of running the James Joyce Ramble again this year.