Good tunes, good grub, but where's the good attitude?

Help me, fellow runners.

I went out this morning for a jaunt and once again encountered face-stinging, thigh-numbing cold. Enough already.

Many are suffering through far more severe winters this season. Running Jayhawk, Jason and Leah and Mouse all are getting dumped on by near-continuous ice, snow and arctic blasts in Chicago. Our previous home in Milwaukee has been getting dumped on big time this winter. One of the top 5 snowiest seasons, I think they are saying.

Still, even down here in the land of Oz, the ice storms, snow and cold are notching chinks in my runner’s resolve. I’m trying to catch a glimpse of sunny rays poking through the clouds, literally and metaphorically. Spring has to be coming soon. I’ll bet we shouldn’t have to deal with these truly unfriendly temperatures for all that much longer, but I need some help bucking up.

I would love to hear some of your coping with the bleakness of winter strategies, fellow runners. The Oz household has no gym membership nor treadmill, so those aren’t options. I need to get my tail on the road in the elements.

So I need to bundle up with fleece and other cold-weather paraphernalia. But most importantly, I need to wrap up in a good attitude. That’s the part that’s been hurting lately.

While not perfect, my approach involves good tunes and good food.

My buddy Henry, a fellow runner from Omaha, was appalled at my tendency to listen to what he considered to be boring podcasts while driving to and from work. He responded by sending me a tremendous gift: a couple of mix CDs.

Granted, I had at least a few of the artists already on my playlists. I had some KT Tunstall, Liz Phair, John Mayer and Colbie Caillat. But I felt even more tragically unhip than I usually do when I realized the depth of my tunes void when Henry introduced me to The Fray, Red Hot Chili Peppers, New Radicals, Feist and Natasha Bedingfield, among others.

I have been Jamming moreso than listening to Podcasts on my morning and evening drives lately. It’s definitely a welcome mood booster. I just have an old iPod classic, and not a compact iPod shuffle, so I don’t take the tunes on my runs, but I can see how that would be cool.

My other strategy involves food. Sure, I just about ate my weight in Girl Scout cookies in January, a couple of Dove Bars got scarfed in a fit of indulgence – and maybe a little self pity – and I did go for a juicy burger with piles of blue cheese and a mound of sweet potato fries the other day.

That’s not necessarily a helpful sort of food, though.

Comfort food – the kind that satisfies your soul and fuels a runner’s body – Now that is what I am talking about. On Sunday, I decided, I must roast a chicken.

Sliced some red potatoes, some carrots, quartered an onion and quartered some fennel (it looks weird, but try it; it’s awesome when roasted.)

Then cut a lemon in half, slice a whole head of garlic in half and then stuff it up the patoot of a chicken (after first removing the assorted stuff inside, of course)

Dump the veggies in roasting pan, put the chicken on top. I dribbled some melted butter over it, sprinkled with some salt and pepper. I got a little fancy schmancy with some sprinkled herbs de Provence, but you could also just toss on a dash of thyme.

Place that sucker in a 425 degree oven for an hour and a half to almost two hours. Take it out, let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then slice away and feed your friends, family, your soul and your runner’s body.

So I’m going to try leaning more on good tunes, good food (and the occasional Dove Bar) and thoughts of sunny days sure to come soon. Hope some of this works for you, too, and I would welcome your advice on getting through to Spring.