Flahute
Last night before the run I stepped outside into the snow. The world was that dampened quiet that comes only with the falling snow. I was thinking back over my various runs, races and bicycle commutes home as I often do before another one and realized that I like to run or bike when the conditions are horrible. Not so much a fan of the wind but definitely rain, snow and dark of night.
To me there is something energizing about those conditions – as if I am being challenged to defy them – they have won over everyone else who has stayed in but their victory will not be complete unless I too succumb. I can remember many a time biking home after work in the cold, driving rain. So much water on the trail that I could almost see my reflection in the river that was forming under me. I could not feel the friction between my tires and the pavement – it felt as if I was gliding. Each pedal stroke pushed me forward as my quads burned from the hard rain trying to freeze to them. I looked foreword to stopping outside my apartment with my body steaming in the chilly air, dripping all over the newly refinished lobby. The feeling of warmth from the blood pumping through me.
So give me rain and snow instead of sunshine and dryness. I am so bored with the later. Anyone can handle them – there is nothing to be won from competing in them. But there is some kind of victory to be had in beating the elements. I reveille in it.