On The Road Again

The thing about calling yourself a runner is that you have to actually, well, run every now and then. It’s been two months since the Rim Rock. I gave myself a couple weeks to recover before I got back on the road. But I’ll tell you honestly I don’t think I’ve logged more than 30 miles total since then. Even the beautiful, expensive, new cold-weather running gear languishing under the Christmas tree hasn’t called out to me loudly enough. “It’s too cold. It’s too icy. It’s too snowy. It’s too dark.” All of that is true, but it’s going to be cold, icy, snowy and dark for a few more months. So I posted my training schedule back on the fridge, signed myself (and Dan!) up for a 5K run in Gateway at the end of this month and re-committed myself. I glanced at the thermometer this morning at 6:45 as I pulled on that new running gear. It was ten degrees. Twice as warm as the morning before! I plugged my ear phones in under my head band, waved good-bye to my son as he pulled out of the driveway on his way to school, and set off down the road. From my driveway I have two choices for a three-mile run. One starts out uphill with stretches of up and down, but the finish is a nice downhill glide. The other way is mostly downhill but then of course uphill all the way back. I chose the latter. I confess the downhill was a lot easier than the uphill - which seems to have gotten much steeper over the last month. But all in all it was a blissful feeling. I had the road to myself, the views were awesome, and I relished the sound of the snow crunching under my feet. As I watched the sun come up I was reminded of how much I like to run in the early morning. As I pulled my new running jacket up over my chin I was reminded of how much I also like to run in the cold. Trust me, that ten degrees soon felt like thirty! It was cold, icy, snowy and dark for a while. But somehow that all turned into a good thing. I’m hopeful that new gear will be put to good use.