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Friday, February 13, 2015

Wimp

Slender, in windproof shell and running tights and knit cap, looking the age I want to feel, the guy was loping through the roadside glop this morning, and I envied him.

This latest bout of 'whatever it is that's going around that makes us feel like roadkill' plus the recent pattern of snow storms every 3 or 4 days have conspired to put my running on hold. Yet I'm missing my miles.

I was a tad nervous this morning about driving in to work, seeing that snow of some significance may be falling when I finish my evening classes. But there he was, unfazed, carrying on with his training program (the Marathon in April?) making me feel wimpy.

Okay, I hate running with wet cold feet, and I saw enough other people slip-sliding on under-cleared or slushy sidewalks to know that I could feel uncomfortable if I went out, and I might very well fall--the very last thing I want. But these sound like excuses for hedonistic reluctance. but you whom I saw this morning made no use of them.

Still what's the point of bravado? What am I trying to prove and to whom? That I'm tougher than the weather, tougher yet on myself? Still I admired the self-contained you whom I saw just hustled ahead. It could have been me but wasn't.

The final point is how well I feel after running. It's an exercise, not an exhibition., not a test of willpower.

Since then, I've had an emergency and had to run to get a train. Anxious about time, I nonetheless appreciated the cold dry air, the crisp snow underfoot, my lungs and legs in motion. Ahhh. I'm right behind you, fella.

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