After three days of being cooped up by the weather, I couldn't take it anymore. I just had to go out for a run.
Towards the end of the day I said, "Screw it," threw on several layers of clothing and a heavy pair of gloves, strapped on the old cellphone tracker, and headed out the door.
Running was ... tricky. But so worth it. After the first half mile of warm-up, it was the warmest I've felt in days.
And I got to see this sunset!
The roads around here are extremely rural, and while they do get plowed, they're not salted. (That's fine with me. We don't need more junk dumped into our landscape.) And of course, nobody's going to come along and plow the beach.
I got to put down the first footprints!
Keeping my footing on the ice added a new dimension to the exercise. Keeping alert was key - aiming for whatever bits of grit and friction were available. But on the places that were ice-rink slick, I found that maintaining a steady, slowing pace in a straight line minimized any slipping.
My pace was about a minute per mile slower than usual, and I was only able to fit in five miles before it started getting dark. I was hoping for seven, but I'd put off the departure too long. I wasn't going to risk running in the twilight when I couldn't see the ice patches clearly. I'm reckless, not suicidal.
And what a difference in my mood. I've gone from feeling trapped and anxious to relaxed and optimistic.
It's always seemed strange to me how little conscious control we have over our emotional state. I'm in the same situation I was several hours ago - facing down one of the coldest nights of the last decade in a lovely but rattletrap house. Going for a run certainly has no practical impact on our situation, and yet as a result of some exercise my mood and approach to it are completely different.
It's no wonder science has made the attempt to bottle and sell the effects of exercise in pill form. It probably would have been safer for me to pop a few tablets rather than going out in this bomb-cyclone or whatever they're calling it.
But it would have been a lot more expensive, and a lot less fun.
Are you caught in this cold weather too? What are you doing to keep your spirits up?