This morning the wind woke me up at 4:00. I got up and peeked out the window at the snow on the ground and the wind blowing the trees sideways. I contemplated texting Tanya to tell her I wasn’t feeling well. I heaved a sigh and told myself it would settle down in the next two hours, and I went back to bed.
When I got up at 6:00 it wasn’t any better. I ate my oatmeal, got dressed and much like the other day, I went out on the porch. I went back inside. I went back on the porch. I actually repeated this a second time while contemplating whether to call Tanya. It’s a half hour drive to her house, after all, and I have a treadmill in my nice cozy basement just for such occasions. Much like the other day I told myself I’ve run in worse; that this is my one day a week that I get to run with a group, and if no one else was bailing, how could I? So I went to the car without hesitating this time, though I was muttering to myself while I scraped it off.
All the way there the car was being blown all over the road. The radio said the gusts were up to 70km/hour, which didn’t sound so bad, at least not if you were listening to a storm report. I got to Tanya’s and walked in the door.
“Good morning!” she said through a mouthful of granola bar.
“It sucks outside,” I replied.
“It really does,” she agreed. I told her that today it would take remarkably little to get me to just come in for breakfast (I am normally pretty stubborn); “Come in for breakfast!” she said. I dropped all my stuff while she told me no one else was coming, then suggested we get changed and….
This is where it gets really bad. This morning we not only thumbed our noses at the weather; no, we thumbed our noses at running. In one of the worst ways I can possibly think of.
We went to McDonald’s for breakfast.
But only because they have a fireplace! We had a lovely time – hash browns and a chat by the fire.
When I got home and told my husband what happened, he was aghast. “You went to McDonald’s? Without me??”
You’ll be happy to know that it ended well – despite being stood up then told where to go, running took me back. I didn’t even have to grovel. I just got changed and hopped on the treadmill.
Our Magazine
