Snow Snow Go Away

and don't come back another day! Just stop! No more! I surrender!

I admit that snow is prettier than frozen dirt. But this snow is cramping my ... running. It is NOT a good winter to train for Boston, that is for sure. Most people simply resort to the treadmill when snow and ice threaten the possibility of a scheduled run. Not me. Why?

Because I don't have access to a treadmill.

How is this possible? Me... a person who relies so heavily on running to keep me sane has no way to run unless she has childcare and can go outside. I used to belong to the YMCA so that I could have BOTH childcare and a treadmill. But I found I wasn't using the membership much, and I didn't like spending money on something I didn't use. I will go outside to run barring the most extreme circumstances.  This was my reasoning when I canceled my membership last fall. I am a bad ass. I run in all weather. Me strong like bull and no need treadmill.

Alas...little did I know that, in fact, when the going gets tough I can only stand so much. I have been beeped at, covered in slush showers repeatedly, I have risked my life running around corners with snow banks so high there is no way I will be seen. I have run on ice, I have run on snow, I have run during snowstorms...
But this week. This week I caved.

On Tuesday there was a steady snow and when I started my run there was only a thin line of black pavement clear on the road. I wanted that pavement. There was no sidewalk, no curb, no break down lane--not even two tracks in the road for car wheels. Just one thin sliver, dead center in the middle of the road. But it wasn't mine.

I ran on the side of the road, slipping and sliding. And I tried to stay clear of cars... but they couldn't (or wouldn't) go around me. They would just stay behind me, going about 1 mph. They beeped. I kept running. They beeped. I wanted to cry.

And I went home.

The next day the roads were covered in ice. The snow had changed to freezing rain. Everything was a thick sheet of slick. School was called off. Everything was called off. I put on my running shoes, and walked outside. Then I slipped in the driveway and fell straight onto my ass.

And then I went back inside. Defeat.

Finally yesterday I made it outside. Sure, I got dirty looks. Sure, I got totally slathered in icy slush sprayed from cars. Sure, my pace was not rocking fast as I tried to navigate cars and snow, ice and slush. But I did it. I will survive this winter. I will.

Either that or I will move south. One or the other.