The morning it was 13 degrees

I fell while running yesterday and I bruised my knees and my right big toe. I fell hard and the ground was frozen. It hurt and it stung. It was 13 degrees outside and somewhere around 6:30 AM when I found myself on the frozen ground. I will probably loose my toenail, but at least I didn’t get a hole in my second favorite pair of running pants.

I didn’t even want to run. I woke up agitated for not sleeping in my running clothes like I’ve been doing. Sleeping in running clothes is a time saver and it also keeps me really warm at night, so warm that I don’t dread getting out of bed in the morning. As I got out of bed [freezing] I grabbed my phone off the dresser and checked the weather. It was 13 degrees outside. I grabbed 4 shirts to wear under my jacket and I sent a text to my friend saying I’d leave the house at 6 AM and start running toward her. It was around 5:30 AM when I did this, and doing this forced me to run in the 13 degree weather (3rd time I’m mentioning the cold temperature) because now I knew someone was counting on me to suck it up, put on my four shirts, jacket, 2 pairs of gloves, and go outside into the frigid 13 degree morning. I know myself better than anyone else and I know that I do not get along with the winter–I know that I cannot stand being cold. In the winter I am dramatic, I shiver, and I will wear 20 shirts if it means that I won’t have to feel the coldness. I also know that if I say I’ll be somewhere or do something, or meet someone, I will.

I know that running in the mornings has been having an extremely positive effect on my overall happiness and my motivation to keep pursuing my running goals. I wrote more about this last week. As much as I am enjoying this lifestyle adjustment, there are some days that it just isn’t easy to be a pretend morning person, like yesterday when it was 13 degrees outside. On these days I am not ashamed to admit that I’ve decided I will be having Nutella or Hershey bars for breakfast before enduring the cold because, honestly, that gives me a happy start to a freezing cold run. Yesterday, however, I decided that the Nutella and Hershey bars were not good enough and I opted for two red velvet cupcakes that I conveniently baked the night before. Those cupcakes put enough pep in my step to get me out the door–I love red velvet cupcakes. It was bitter cold outside but I cheerfully ran down the street to meet my friend. We were having a nice run. She was telling me about warmer gloves that I could buy so my fingers didn’t freeze and I was excited about the possibility of having warm hands in the future. I was feeling really proud of myself for getting out the door on this 13 degree morning, and then with about a mile to go I fell onto the cold frozen ground. I had to sit there for a minute just to get the feeling back in my legs before getting up and continuing to run home. When I got to my house my watch read 4.75 miles. If you know me well, you know that I am the kind of person who would round up the run and jog around the block until a 5 appears on the screen of my watch. Yesterday I did not do that. I was so mad about falling and falling reminded me that it was 13 degrees outside and that reminded me that I hate winter and I hate the morning.

I was in a terrible mood because my knees and my right big toe really hurt, and then I decided [after I put both contacts in the same eye] that I was going to find the good in this crappy morning and drink a lot of coffee. Sometimes it isn’t easy to see the good, especially if you don’t put your contacts in correctly!

Yesterday wasn’t one of my favorite runs or even one of my favorite days. Sure, I will probably loose a toenail and my knees are bruised, but those red velvet cupcakes were delicious and I still started my day off chasing a goal–that was the good part of the morning. Yesterday was a reminder that there are obstacles, challenges, and ruts that we will fall into as we work toward a goal. Falling is a reminder get up and keep moving forward when it is cold and when you could just give into the negativity.