Spring fever

Apart from the dirty remnants of melted snow and garbage in the streets, I love spring. The sun starts to feel warm, the earth slowly turns green, and I can turn off the heating, crack open my windows, and pack away my winter boots, jackets, and mittens.

I love the feeling of renewal - the old gets washed away with April rain, bringing hope for something shiny and new. One of my favourite activities is a good old-fashioned "spring cleaning." I tend to go through spurts where I accumulate a lot of stuff - both physically and virtually - and getting rid of what no longer serves me is a nice feeling. Who doesn't love a good Facebook/Twitter/Google Reader purge and/or a clutter-free closet/bookcase/kitchen?

Spring is a signal for the start of my running season. Since I failed in my goal to run the half-marathon last year (I blamed my thesis for that), I've been adamant at keeping up some form of training over the winter months. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to winter running, so I joined a cheap gym. I've reached the upper limit of my patience there, where there are too few machines that ACTUALLY work and too many people who hog said machines. I've been out on the mountain twice in the last week, and my poor legs (and feet, oh the blisters) are none too happy with me right now. Doing 5 km on a treadmill vs. 12.5 km up and down Mount Royal are not the same. Mark my words, I WILL RUN THE HALF-MARATHON THIS YEAR. I have 5 and a half months to train for it. And no thesis to get in the way.

Spring is synonymous with hockey playoffs. It's only a big deal in this fair city when the Habs are in. After last year's "miracle on ice" (yes, I'm stealing from Team USA's 1980 Miracle, I don't care), expectations are even higher than usual for our boys to succeed. This year, they've clinched a spot - before the last game of the season, for once - and though the seeding isn't final, everyone is already making predictions and over-analyzing everything... business as usual. That being said, this time next week, the city will be buzzing with excitement. I will be out drinking many beers and watching lots of hockey. The post-season brings the city together like nothing else (riots notwithstanding).

Spring also brings the promise of change. I've alluded to big changes previously, and though the timeline wasn't quite what I expected, there are in fact big changes afoot in my life. Nothing is set in stone, so I won't be broadcasting said changes to the internet just yet, but let's just say I should be on my way to bigger and better things. And I need to do some apartment hunting.

So here's to all things new, exciting, and clean! And GO HABS GO! (You knew I was going to throw that in there).