Winter is Over

Okay, that title is likely premature, but today felt so warm at -4º C compared to the temperatures we have had for most of the winter. It has been a really cold and snowy winter.

Finian and I left for an appointment in Hamilton at 8 this morning. It was -22º C when we left. We got home early afternoon and played outside for a long time in beautiful -4º C sunshine.

Our street is narrow and has no boulevard strip, so it is almost down to a single lane due to the huge snowbanks on either side. The city came a few weeks ago and removed all the snow build-up with a huge snowblower and a line of 5 dump trucks. Within a few days, and 2 snow storms later,  the snow banks were back. I did a 73 point turn to get out of the driveway this morning.

This was the first winter since Fiacra started school that the kids had a day off due to cold temperatures. I think it was -41º C that day. I definitely prefer snow days over cold days. Snow days are usually not too cold and there is lots of new snow to play in. Cold days are, well, cold.

Fiacra came running with me again this past Sunday, it was -17º C. He mentioned once that his nose was cold but otherwise didn't complain. We did 20 minutes together, he loved it. He says that this Sunday, he is ready to do my full run with me. At least it will be slightly warmer!

Finian's snow angel

Fiacra's snow angel

Slight adjustment

Snow demon

Running Buddy

Fiacra came running with me this morning. There was a lot of fresh snow on the ground from the snow storm yesterday, so fairly hard running conditions, but he loved it. We did 15 minutes and then I dropped him home before continuing by myself. He wasn't too happy about that, but he hasn't been running over the winter. I wanted him to have a good run and be eager to come again next week. His adventure running club restarts in March so it will be good for him to get some running in before then. We plan to run together every Sunday morning.

Pre-run warm-up

Post-run stick hunt

The snow plow had passed early in the morning and pushed all the snow onto the sidewalk. There was a big workout waiting to happen to get the sidewalk cleared. Connell was very happy when he went outside, to find our friend had done the rounds with his snowblower and cleared it for us.