Friday 20 March 2009

Winded

Whew, I just returned from an early morning run and faced the full force of running into La Bise. La Bise is a Geneva phenomenon. A violent northern wind that sweeps down from the Alps across Lake Geneva ( lac LĂ©man) and storms over the city.

Living eight years in Calgary acquainted me with winds. In fact, I'm not sure I could have borne the long, dark winters without a frequent friendly visit from the Chinook wind which in a few hours could turn a winter day into a near summer day with its' warm coastal breath.

La Bise, on the other hand, distorts a lovely Spring day, into the chill of winter again and has been known to create interesting ice sculptures of benches, trees, and light poles along the shores of the Lake.

Turning into the wind this morning, my iPod earbuds were blown out of my ears, and wind-stung tears streamed down my cheeks. While climbing a hill, I might as well have been running on a treadmill. However, once I turned south and with the wind at my back, my tempo run was more than back on course and I returned home at an almost full sprint, ah silver linings.

1 comment:

Melissa Miller said...

That was the bise? I thought they were trying to kick me out of Switzerland a few days early!