I was running along in the 90-degree afternoon when I saw two baby turkeys staring at me from the side of the road. There turned out to be several little ones and two adults. The small ones flew when I got too close.
(But the real turkey is the guy who didn’t think quick enough to hold his phone horizontally. Damn.)
I went running this afternoon despite the pouring rain that has been soaking New Jersey all day (and is forecast to continue into tomorrow). Five soggy miles that were the most refreshing part of my day. With the amount of aggravation I’ve been coping with at work lately, I was pretty much living for this run today. In the morning, a coworker asked, “You’re not going out there in this weather, are you?” I assured her, “Yes! I need to get away from my cube!” To which she replied, “That’s crazy! You must really hate your job!” I ventured out around 1:30 in the afternoon.
The rain wasn’t all that bad. It stung my face a little now and then. It got chilly in the wind for a while. But I must have somewhat of a half-drowned spectacle near the end because somewhere close to the four mile mark, while my sweatpants and jacket were thoroughly soaked and weighed half a ton each, a car slowed down. The driver lowered a window and blew the horn as I was passing by. I stopped thinking that maybe she needed directions.
“Do you need a ride somewhere or something?”
“Excuse me?”
“Do YOU need a RIDE? Can I help you?”
“Ohhhh! No! I’m out for a run!”
That gal’s eyes opened so wide, I thought she was Marty Feldman for a second!
“THAT’S CRAZY!”
“Noooo! I only have a mile to go! Thanks!”
I sloshed my way through that last mile.
I guess some people think going out in the rain is crazy. It’s just water. As long as there is no lightning and no high winds, I love running in the rain.
Here is what is crazy: at the end of that five miles in the rain, I am still 25 pounds overweight. THAT is crazy. That is like carrying around a large bag of dog food every day. I am 214 right now. I lost 8 pounds over the last 3 weeks. Four years ago I was tipping the scale at 236. I lost 40 pounds over several months. Slowly over the next three years, I gained over half of it back. That has to change. I’m tired of carrying dog food. I’d rather be healthy, even if it requires being a little crazy once in a while.
This winter has sucked for running for me. Between wrecking my hip, while bowling, of all things, and all the snow we’ve gotten, I’ve hardly gotten out to run at all.
But I changed that as of a week ago. Thanks to a few yoga classes I’ve taken recently, I discovered ways to improve my hip pain. A week ago, I could no longer stand not running. I almost literally dropped everything and ran out the door last Sunday morning. I ran 5 steady miles and found that running does not worsen my pain. That knowledge, coupled with promised pain improvement through yoga, has set me on the running path again.
Yesterday, I ran a little over 6 miles. I was tempted to go farther because I felt very good. I held off out of fear of further damaging myself.
It was also enjoyable out there yesterday because it was snowing. I had some motivational issues in the morning. But when I saw the light snow, I couldn’t resist going out there. It snowed steadily and was starting to stick to the roads near the end of my run. I admit it was a little dangerous running out there due to roads narrowed by snow piles and decreased visibility at times when the snow was really coming down. But sometimes determination meets up with motivation and a guy has to just get out there and run despite the weather.
Best of all: I found a quarter on the road. So, it was a “profitable” run.
Yes, that is snow in my eyebrows. However, the beard is mostly white even in the summer. Such is life.
My gal and I ran the Westfield 5 Mile Turkey Trot on Saturday. It was cold, but we had a blast! And our running times were pretty good!
Here are a few pics!
