My Virginal Snow Run

My Running Rules:

1. Never run when the hair in your nostrils will freeze.
2. Never run when any form of precipitation is falling from the sky.
3. If you have to run during the winter, never run if the streets aren't plowed.
4. Avoid hills and running in the dark.
   
5. If you feel like you might pass out, stop.

Somehow, Steph has gotten me to break all of these rules.

I ran in the snow the other day. I once had looked at the prospect of running in the snow so romantically. Many runners had suggested what a beautiful experience it was as your mind slipped into a beauty that often passes unnoticed--the lightness of the flakes weighing on branches, the twinkling of the lights reflecting off the white ground, the thrill of catching the flakes on eyelids, and the surprise that the cold isn't as bitter as the day before.

There was no romanticism in my run. In fact, I rolled my ankle. Perhaps, again, it was mind over matter as my mind was never quite in it as initially I was breaking my first four rules just by going. Instead, this run reminded me that habits and mindsets are hard to reset. With the pain in my ankle and the worries that it might affect me later in the week, I kept rule five and walked.
As Steph and Marita ran another lap, I sat in the car.

I was close to tears, waiting... It hurt to feel defeated.


Time: 26 minutes (on Monday, 1/19)
Place: The Hilly Quarry
Weather: Snowy
Distance: 2.0 miles
Feeling: I thought it might be better than this...
Overall grade: D