My friend, Lindsay, decided she wants to participate in the Color Me Rad 5k run this
coming March, and she asked me to help her train. Wednesday night (12/19) we
commenced training by going to a nearby park. We ran two miles, stopping
briefly each half mile. We were managing 13-minute miles (including resting
time), which I thought was good considering we’re beginners.
Today, since Lindsay was busy, I figured I'd try running on
my own. That was a huge mistake.
The first problem was the weather. It's freezing outside!
Yes, it’s December, but it’s December in Georgia, the land that never really
gets cold. Half the plants outside look the same as they do in July, and
everything is bathed in warm, amber sunlight. If you sit in the sun by a
window, you start sweating. It doesn’t look
cold.
But winter is deceitful in Georgia. Step outside your door,
and that sun does no good, especially when you’re running through a park, where
trees that still have leaves cast shadows over most of the trail. And worst of
all, the wind is horrible.
Getting out of my car, I had a moment of doubt, which I
quickly shook off. I did this two nights ago; why should today be any
different? Was the air cold? No, it was invigorating! Was the wind sharp? Ha,
it was merely a light breeze wafting the pleasant scent of winter!
So I began the way one does, all cheerful and optimistic and
misinformed. I'd just fallen into a rhythm with my breathing when suddenly I
began coughing. Maybe that invigorating air was
cold. And that wafting breeze was maybe not so pleasant after all, as it fired
bits of sand from the path into my contacts.
As I hit the quarter-mile mark, I came upon a gaggle of
geese. A large one near the front of the group let out a tremendous honk.
Immediately, all the other geese raised their heads, furrowed their brows, let
out an even more tremendous honk, and lifted off, flying straight at me and
driving me off the path into some mud.
I finished that mile (although my time was thrown off a lot
by the geese attack). My coughing had continued throughout my run, and by this
point I was shivering—either from cold or fear of the geese, maybe both—so I
decided to throw in the towel. I came home, had a little brandy (to stop the
cough), and took a hot shower.
This is why I’ll probably never be a runner.
