Take advantage of every snow day

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

Ah, a snow day.

Whatever happened to snow days? A snow day, for me, always meant getting out of school and going sledding -- frolicking in the fluffy stuff.

Yesterday, when I heard that all the schools were canceling classes, I decided to enjoy an adult version of a snow day. I braved the snowy streets and near white-out conditions to go skiing at Flandrau State Park.

At Flandrau, when there gets to be around six inches of snow or more, they pack down the snow and cut ski trails with an attachment on a snowmobile. The state park also rents out skis and snowshoes -- when there is enough snow. The snow levels this year have not even come close to being enough for trails.

Lack of trails was not going to stop me.

Okay, there may not have been quite enough snow even for me, because my skis kept scraping over twigs lying beneath the snow, but it did my soul good on two levels. I was able to go out and enjoy the peace and subtle sounds of nature, and I had won an imagined victory over this weird winter.

This winter we have been stuck in a dreary, snowless limbo -- not enough snow to do winter sports, too cold lately to do much of anything. I have been careful to take advantage of those heavenly days in between and do my running when the temperature soared and it felt like spring.

With the recent cold, it has been a challenge to find a time to exercise outdoors, and I have been forced to make feeble attempts at exercising in my apartment or pay the three dollars to go swimming. And sometimes, that is just necessary, to keep from freezing your face off -- literally.

But I have made a conscious decision not to let winter win. Each of the four times winter has returned this year, I have been ready. Ready to be flexible.

The first time it snowed, I was determined that if I couldn't ski, I was at least going to do something.

"Not enough snow for skiing?" I thought, undaunted. "I'll go running."

My friends thought I was crazy. I thought I was crazy -- at what point did I cross the line between doing some running and being a runner? Runners do some crazy things. For goodness sake, it was 12 degrees.

But it wasn't really cold. Dressed in layers, with little skin exposed, I was actually a little warm.

The workout?

I was amazed. Yes, it was difficult to find traction running up the hills at Flandrau. Yes, I had to be very careful on the downward slopes too. But it gave me a great workout. The next day, I felt it in my muscles.

I felt like a good Minnesotan, braving the weather to do what I love to do.

Cold weather? Just be cautious. Watch the weather, and unless it's deemed dangerously cold, bundle up and frolic to your heart's content.

Next time you see white flakes falling, take a snow day and do something you love to do.