Saturday, January 24, 2009

A new post

Ok, let's just pretend that it hasn't been well over a year since my last post.

Now that we got that out of the way ... random ruminations from the road :

Definitions of a cold run:
  1. the zippers on your coat freeze and you can't zip it up or down
  2. icicles form on your eyelashes and/or eyebrows
  3. the items on your outer shell freeze into the shape of whatever body parts they cover
  4. your wife laughs at the sight of you as you step into the house from your run
  5. the water in your after run shower is hot on your head, cold by the time it gets to your knees
  6. body parts sting as the warm water thaws them out
I like the sounds of a run
  1. deep, deep, relaxed breaths, the ones where you are working moderately hard, just past conversational pace. in. pause. out. pause. in. pause. out. pause. But not too hard: in. out. in. out.
  2. the crunching of your running shoes on the frozen snow, sand and salt. crunch. crunch. crunch. crunch.
  3. the swishing for your (frozen) outer shell as your arms pump back and forth. swish. swish. swish. swish. in time with the crunch.
  4. through the forest, being carried by the wind, the sharp crack of a tree on a sub zero winter day
You can run for long periods of time on a rural road without seeing a car. Then, up over the berm, you see a car coming at the same time your ears pick up the sound of one coming up from behind. And all three of us arrive at the exact same spot in the universe at the exact same instant. Is there a runners' law that explains that?

In case you haven't guessed yet, yes, I had an awesome run today.

I'll meet you further on up the road