OK, It's Official, Spring is Here

I know it's May 1, and spring has TECHNICALLY been with us since late March. And I realize that we've had a few random days of warmer weather. But for pete's sake (who's Pete, I always wondered), we had snow just this past weekend! And while buds came out on the trees a few weeks ago, a wave of cold weather prevented their opening in most locations around the Twin Cities.

I feel like I've been in spring the past couple weeks. After spending 4 days in Boston where spring was in full bloom, I spent a couple days in southern Minnesota which got their spring a week or two before us. And most of this week I was in Amarillo, where I did trail runs in 90+ degree weather. So I am READY for spring to finally come to Minneapolis.

And, I can report with confidence, that it has finally arrived. I ran in Hyland Hills this morning, and it was gorgeous. The leaves are just starting to emerge from the buds. The turkeys, deer, cranes and pheasants were making their appearances. The frogs were singing, the birds were chirping. It was a natural choir out there!

With the exception of Friday/Saturday (of COURSE it's the weekend), the long range output has highs in the 60s. That's full-on spring, thinking about summer!

Of course, now that I'm excited about spring, what am I now doing? Going up to northern Wisconsin where spring is probably still a week or two away. Smart move.

What are your signs of spring? I mentioned last year that my sign of spring was when the DQ by the falls opened up. But that happened months before. Here are my top signs.

1) Big guys in cotton tee's start lumbering around on the trails, trying to run off that winter gut. The trails get clogged for about 2 weeks until softball season starts, then they're gone.
2) All the accumulated dog sh!t from the winter starts to decay and smell up the neighborhoods.
3) That first hyper-pollinated day. I know pollen bothers most people, but I love the smell and it makes me happy (and only slightly itchy).

The problems with this winter is that it gave us brief glimpses of spring and gave us all those signs already. Then Old Man Winter said, "just kidding" and came back with cold and snow, on numerous occasions. So I have a new sign of spring: When I stop complaining about the weather for one whole week.

Then again, it will be in the 30s tomorrow. Dangit! Does that reset the clock?