‘Tis the Season

‘Tis the Season for many a wonderful thing—beautifully decorated houses, cheerful faces, amazing sales, thick and creamy egg nog, the wonderfully chocolaty chocolate covered Oreos and other goodies given to me by my vendors at work, carols sung by the mistletoe, rosy red cheeks…

…frostbitten fingers, moonlit runs, runny noses…

…and bundling myself up so warm and cozy before leaving the house for my pre-dawn runs that a half mile into it I’m begging for places to stash my clothes. I’m not used yet to this weather. I complain every other month about not being used to the weather. When it was 40 degrees I was overdressing. Now that it’s 18 when I go outside the past few mornings, I look more like Ralphie’s little brother in the Christmas Story trying to run in his snowsuit than an experienced runner. I’m never ready for this brisk cold, no matter how much I try to remind myself how quickly I warm up once I get started. At 5:00 in the morning, my brain isn’t listening to any reasoning as I shiver in my 100+ year old house, while Ted still slumbers peacefully underneath the down comforter, with thoughts of sugarplums dancing in his head. It’s as much mental as anything when I pile sweatshirts and fleeces, trying to warm up in general and prevent my body from forcing itself back into bed.

Ted is still enjoying his recovery time. I have a feeling his recovery time is going to be milked as long as possible, while I couldn’t wait to get back out. Will power is a strong trait, and it’s a very powerful and odd feeling when 50% of you wants very much to go out into the dark, brisk morning for a nice run, and the other 50% of you wants very much to head the other direction into the dark, and return to the layers of blankets and pillows and burrow down for another hour or so of sleep. Fortunately, most of the time, the run wins.

In two months, I’ll be complaining about weather some more. Two months from then, as it gets warmer, I’ll complain about not being used to the heat. It’s a vicious cycle and, unfortunately, the Eastern PA weather does not typically repeat itself, so nothing can be expected. Each season is different each year—two years ago, we had a foot of snow now. This time last year, I think I may have been wearing shorts still?

Regardless of the weather where you are, enjoy the runs. Each season has its perks for me, as a runner, as well as its downfalls. But each run continues to maintain the same perk, regardless of the temperature—and that is all I need to focus on…not the chapped skin I’m developing from rubbing my nose raw with my gloves or my chapped lips from licking them while running…or the realization that really, I have another 3-4 months of this.