Running at Home; My old Home

Being home for Thanksgiving, I have been running in Michigan. These runs have lead me to a few realizations:

1. On Wednesday I ran on the treadmill because it was raining and snowing like cats and dogs. This treadmill is probably over 20 years old. It was purchased for my Papa when he got emphysema and needed to exercise. He passed away when I was 8. I was moving on that thing; or so I thought. I had covered up the screen with my shirt, so I wasn't focusing on time. When my 40 mins was up, I figured I had to have hit the 4 miles I was aiming for. The screen said 2.8. I was horrified. I was huffing and puffing and figured there was no way I had run only 2.8 miles. Eventually I gave up being upset, and figured it was either just old and didn't keep distance very well, or maybe I just don't gauge myself very well. Then, I woke up Thursday morning. I thought my hips were going to fall off. Oh. My. God. They were killing me. I totally have a love-hate relationship with running, but that morning, I realized I have a complete hate with the treadmill.

2. On Friday and today I ran on the streets. So much better. But, it has not gotten above about 30 degrees any of the days I've been here. It is COLD. While I've got all the warm clothes, base layers, etc, etc, I am not a fan of the cold.

3. Finally, today, I ran in my neighborhood that I grew up in. It is a 1.1 mile loop, with two courts off the sides to get a little more in. I was looking to run about 2.5 miles, which I did. As I ran, fighting the bitter cold wind and air temperature, what kept me going was memories. I would look around at the homes that I had trick-or-treated at. The ones with the best candy. Or the place where we used to get "sliver rocks", aka shale, and break them up into pieces and ride our bikes with them in huge bags back and forth. And the place where I flipped over my handle bars on my bike trying to ride no handed and busted up my face and needed many stitches to fix it. those memories got me through the run today. I usually have a hard time thinking about anything other than the pain that I'm feeling in my lungs, or my desire to be done with the run, but today, I could go somewhere else.

At Christmas I will come home again, and at that time it might be much too cold for me to run outside. We will see. I might be resorting to that treadmill again. But, I know if I do, that there are lots of places and memories to keep working on.