Posts Tagged ‘Kimberly Earnest’
Are Runners “Normal”
The snow started today after one and 8 hours later, it’s still snowing. When I got home from work, I changed into my running pants and thought I’d do today’s run outside. I absolutely love running after several inches of snowfall. It’s so peaceful and quiet because there’s no traffic. You don’t hear much except the snow falling and of course, your feet crunching in the white powder. I was two steps from walking out the door when a friend reminded me of my foot. “Probably not the best idea,” he said. “There’s still ice under the snow, and one misstep…” Truth be told, I don’t know what one misstep would have done. Would I have fallen? Probably. Would I still have been able to compete? Dunno.
I trudged through the snow to and from the gym, but did not run outside.
Bottom line though, it wasn’t worth risking it. With that, I headed to the gym. Wow! It was nearly deserted. I quickly fell into a run, motivated by the few people who did get out on the snow covered roads so they could get in a workout.
I’m often faced with people who don’t understand why I run or question why it’s so important to me. My mom, who would probably only run if someone was chasing her, swears I’m not normal for running so much. As I ran tonight, watching the snowfall, I laughed out loud. I had to scrape my car to go to the gym, scrape it again before I could drive home, and then I had to drive down the center of the road because it was completely covered and I had no idea where the lanes were. Maybe I’m not normal. I would never do this to get something from the store or to return something to the video store; I’d have to really consider whether I’d even do it for work.
Kimberly's eyelashes are actually full of ice after her 6+ mile run. Brrrr...
But then, maybe just to make myself feel better (or more normal) I think of my friend, Kimberly. She and the members of Columbia’s Tuesday/Thursday Running were out Tuesday at 5:30 a.m. for a 6+ mile run when the temperature with the wind chill factor was around -20! Oh, and since tomorrow is Thursday, I’m sure she’ll be back out at 5:30 a.m. in all this snow! She’s an inspiration… but not normal!
