Day 45 - Deep Snow Makes it all OK.

There are some people out there that just don't seem happy, and are determined to spread their misery.

Deep breath...

The budding Buddhist in me is concerned that I let these people get to me. But I can't deny that feeling of disbelief at how some people treat others, and how clueless they are as to how it affects them and those they touch.

My run was short. I was feeling frustrated and cranky, and was anxious to get back to my kids and the tray of Valentine's Day cupcakes.

(Who invented cupcakes and please tell me in what years she won the Nobel Prizes for Chemistry, Peace, and an extra couple for general brilliance just because she put together the idea of a cake you can eat in one bite, which I did today, twice.)

My street is treacherous. Still looks like a back alley on Hoth.

Other streets are clear, except for the sidewalks and shoudlers. There you have sure footing, which comes in handy when dodging the oncoming SUVs, ditching into the piles of snow that used to cover the road.

After a half mile of playing this losing game of chicken, I decided to go full-monty Eskimo.

Straight down an unplowed and barely trodden sidewalk we went. Snow halfway up my calf and who knows what the topology was of the frozen slush underneath.

The dog was thriled, leaping, bounding, actively hunting for the deepest drifts within a leash-length.

My heart rate skyrocketed as my pace plummeted. Without trail shoes, or socks for that matter, the snow and ice lashed at my ankles.

We came to a driveway that had been plowed and the two of us sailed over the snowplow-piled slough, took a few strides on pavement, and then hurdled the pile's twin, back to the cold, deep, icy, downright inhospitable snow that we were enjoying so much.

It was hard running. It was slow running. Man, did I feel alive.

And for those few minutes before the sidewalk ran out, I'd forgotten all about the clueless people that live to spread their own misery.

Back on pavent and heading home, frustration and anger were replaced with pity. What a horrible way to live out one's time on earth.

Find something that brings you joy, and spread some of that.

Good running,
Doug

Numbers: 1.7 hard, slow, most excellent miles, burning approximately 0.37 cupcakes.